About Peppers
(Page 3 of 5)
May/June 1988
By Sara Pacher
Make sure the garden soil is moist before setting out the young plants. (If transferred to the garden in the evening, they are less likely to wilt.) Place them 18 to 24 inches apart with three feet between rows. (In very dry climates, put them closer together to conserve moisture.) Water as often as necessary to keep the ground uniformly damp. This is especially important when the blossoms open and the fruit is forming, since dry soil puts the plants under stress and can cause blossom-end rot. Don't, however, overwater. Organic mulches, such as grass clippings, help conserve moisture and keep down weeds at the same time. Be careful when weeding not to disturb the peppers' roots. As the flowers fade and the fruit begins to form, provide a dose of weak liquid fertilizer.
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When growing peppers in containers, water them every day, and once flowers and fruit start to appear, apply a liquid fertilizer each week. Handpicking a few of the first flowers will encourage fruit formation.
What to Watch For
If given fertile soil and proper moisture, peppers are seldom hassled with pests or diseases. Occasionally, they're hit with aphids, flea beetles or Colorado potato beetles, but all three can be controlled with hard hose sprays, sticky traps, garlic sprays, diatomaceous earth and wood ashes. In addition, ladybugs, lacewing flies and praying mantises consume aphids; nearby eggplant, flax and green beans help repel Colorado potato beetles; and tansy planted between rows discourages cutworms. The latter pest can also be controlled by placing cardboard collars in the ground around the peppers' stems. And, of course, keeping the garden free from refuse can help reduce most insect problems.
Among diseases, anthracnose (a fungus that causes ugly brown spots and black lesions on the fruit) can be avoided by allowing three years to pass before again planting peppers, or other relatives of the nightshade family, in a particular location. Mildew, bacterial spot and tobacco mosaic can be avoided by simply raising resistant varieties. (If you smoke, wash your hands before working with peppers to keep from spreading mosaic.)
How to Harvest and Store
Peppers will be ready to harvest from late summer until the weather cools. When fruits are of sufficient size and their flesh is firm with a smooth, even color, pick them at least once a week to encourage production. Green peppers will eventually turn a rich red or yellow, depending on the variety, and these brightly colored fruits will be somewhat sweeter than green ones. (Pimento and paprika peppers are always harvested in their dark red, ripe stage.) However, once the color changes, they'll also go soft quickly, and leaving them on the vine too long will reduce yields. These later-picked colorful peppers, however, contain more vitamin C (120 to 180 milligrams for each average-sized fruit) than do those in the green stage. Peppers also provide 700 to 3,000 international units of vitamin A, 30 to 70 milligrams of thiamin and 28 milligrams of phosphorus. All this nutrition is in a package containing around 25 calories.
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