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[Luvachicken]

How do you grow peppers ?

I've seen some plants in B&Q and am hoping to go to a garden centre tomorrow so I might get some.

I don't know the first thing about peppers except that I like the typical red, orange and yellow ones you buy singly.

Would you buy the plants from B&Q or somewhere else - I know B&Q aren't always that healthy.

Do you get nice big peppers from them and how many ?

What compost do they need, how much water, how much feed and what sort of pot do they need ?

I do have a small greenhouse they can share with my 3 tomato plants.

[sjp]

growing is the same as tomatoes an 8 - 10 inch pot will work they do benefit from a little bit of extra fertilizer early on growmore or blood fish and bone or pelleted chicken fertilizer

as for the crop that'll depend on the variety so a bit of a mystery with B&Q and most other garden centers as they don't always have the variety name on them

all peppers start green the ripen to red yellow black or brown/chocolate or purple again depending on variety

size could be anything from small/medium up to large

B&Q plant generally are good when they first get to the stores it's then they start to go down hill because most of the staff don't know how to care for them and if the staff member that in charge of looking after the plant section if not on shift they don't get watered in a lot of stores that's the main problem with the plants

if I'm after plants the first section I look at is the clearance section if a plant's just in need of a good drink and I know I can revive it I'll buy it/them I've done really well for bedding plants over the years from B&Q's clearance section once home they get put on the drive were I have a low spot then watered 2 or 3 times in the day they get to sit in water there next day they're nearly all looking good I get a few that don't recover but that's part of the gamble I've been growing long enough to know which ones to avoid

[Daphne]

I agree with everything SJP has said, particularly about B&Q plants, they may not always be looked after that well, but essentially the plants are of good quality and can often be a bargain when revived with a bit of tlc

 

As for growing peppers, I am in Portugal, where it is exceptionally hot in summer, with plenty of sun, and peppers grow well. I grow them outside alongside tomatoes and treat them the same, so they get a feed once a week after the flowers have set, and they also take a reasonable amount of water. Mostly I harvest the peppers at the green stage, it takes an age for them to ripen to red (we don't seem to have the other colours). However, they typically grow a very thin walled pepper here, which is smaller than we are used to in the UK, it takes less water and is faster to grow, and I am very taken with the flavour, so don't be worried if your fruit are smaller. I am not sure if how easy it will be to grow large and thick peppers like we get in the supermarket, as my sense is that they are grown in large glasshouses with very high tech.

 

When I was in the UK I did once grow peppers in large pots in a general purpose compost, in the conservatory/outside (a bit of carrying outside and back in if the weather was grim, I didn't have a greenhouse) and they worked well. The crop was light, but tasty. Again, I just treated them like tomatoes.

[Luvachicken]

Thank you both

I will have a look this afternoon.

[sarkymite]

I grow sweet peppers every year alongside many varieties of chillies. One thing I would say is that I have very limited success with peppers outside. They do best in a sunny, sheltered spot in pots, and even better in a greenhouse or conservatory.

I've had the most success with Anaheim variety (smaller, pointed, delicious when green so no need to worry about ripening them off) and with Romero (these are the classic bigger red pointy ones you get at supermarkets and markets). I've had the least success with the classic rounded types like the ones we most usually buy in supermarkets.

I have much more success with hot peppers than sweet... my freezer ends up full of surplus fruits and my pantry full of spicy chutney and killer ketchup

Feel free to PM me if you ever need any advice on any peppers (sweet or hot) - I've grown so many over the years, I've learned a lot on the way...!

[Luvachicken]

Thanks for all that sarkymite

 

I ended up with just one plant from a garden centre.

It is one of those grafted kinds and is supposed to give more fruit.

Something has been nibbling its leaves and as much as I hate using slug pellets I am going to have to.

 

Will have to wait for any fruit - it does have flowers but they haven't opened yet.

[mullethunter]

I've used nematodes with great success to beat the slugs, but still have an army of snails. I go out every night and fling them to the far end of the lawn!

[Cat tails]

According to a study, snails and slugs have an homing instinct up to 20 metres. So you need to fling them quite a distance before they properly get lost.

[sarkymite]

You can get a sheep's wool pellet product (I forget the name of it) that is supposed to deter slugs and snails. It would be no good in the garden as you'd need too much of it but I've used it and found it quite good in pots in the greenhouse. You put the pellets on top of the soil and when you water the pls t's the pellets sort of disintegrate and form a mulch or mat which is meant to be unpleasant for the slimers to travel over. As an added bonus it helps keep the soil moist by reducing evaporation. Its quite expensive though.

[mullethunter]

Cattails I know of that study, but I figure at least they probably won't make it back until the end of the night!

 

I have the wool pellets in the garden around my beans an lupins and in the cucumber pots in the greenhouse - in my experience they don't work.

[Luvachicken]

I am hoping to pick up some fleeces tonight, so that should deter the little blighters