How to Grow Colorful and Delicious Bell Peppers

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By Casey White
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Photo by Velachery Balu at Flickr.com

Before a bell pepper plant actually bears its delicious fruit, the plant displays beautiful and dainty little white flowers. The plant is very low-maintenance and while it supplies a plentiful crop of fruit, it also looks great while doing it. Bell peppers are among the most attractive vegetables you can grow. The bell pepper plant becomes a thick bush that might require staking in order to hold up the heavy peppers it produces. This article will address how to properly plant and fertilize bell pepper plants.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Bell pepper plants
Epson Salt
Plant Stakes

Step 1

Photo by jason_horvath at Flickr.com

Bell pepper plants are annuals. When you are looking for seedlings to buy, look for young plants that are short and stocky. You don't want to buy plants that are already flowering and you will want to stay away from bell pepper plants that are too leggy. If a plant is too large for the pot it is in, pass it by. Your vegetable garden will thank you.
Step 2

You will need to dig a hole that is two to three times the size of the bell pepper seedling's rootball. Mix in some compost with the soil you have dug, then fill the hole with the dirt and compost leaving only enough room for the rootball. It should sit at the same height it did when you bought it.
Step 3

Now, remove the seedling from the original container and if it is rootbound or tangled, carefully separate the roots, then cut off the roots leaving about 75% of the original roots. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of Epson salts around the base of the hole helping the plant to create a stronger stem. Place the seedling in the hole and pat the soil down firmly.
Step 4

Photo by enveehaze at Flickr.com

When it becomes necessary, stake the bell pepper plant in your vegetable garden so that the mature fruit is supported, and keep your pepper plants watered well.
Step 5

When you are ready to harvest your bell peppers, cut the fruit off at about mid-stem using a sterile, sharp knife. NEVER pull bell peppers off the plant. Pulling on them will break the branch which will, in turn, damage the plant. After taking pains to take care of your plant, don't risk the possibility that it will stop bearing fruit.
Step 6

Photo by lanmius at Flickr.com

Most bell peppers start out green, then ripen to their mature colors, which could be red, green, yellow or even purple and, although the plants are attractive enough to grow in a container garden, they will thrive in the ground, which will allow the roots to spread out.
Step 7

You should fertilize the plants with a low-nitrogen fertilizer (very lightly). Too much nitrogen will cause the plant to stop producing fruit. Also, keep your bell pepper plants in the sunshine, but keep them out of the wind and in well-drained soil. During the growing season, sprinkle compost beside each of your bell pepper plants in your garden.

Comments

harvard said

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on 12/20/2009 Great article again, Casey. I think of you as eHow's resident plant specialist. Adding epsom salt sounds like a new on eon me. Most planrs detest salt as I recall. It probably helps keep them regular and producing fruit contunuously. Ha!