How to Grow Pumpkin Peppers

Pumpkin peppers are a variety of sweet chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) cultivated for their unusual, pumpkin-like shape and subtly sweet flavor. The flattened, pale-green peppers appear in early summer and quickly mature into bright red, 3-inch-wide fruit with heavy ribbing around the edges. Unlike most species of sweet pepper, pumpkin peppers dry well and are often preserved in this fashion for later use or to use as a decorative wall hanging. Growing pumpkin peppers presents few challenges since they germinate quickly and require virtually no attention once mature, but they must be watered regularly to bear the greatest yield.

Things You'll Need

• 3-inch peat pots
• Potting soil
• Perlite
• Nursery flat with plastic dome lid
• Propagation warming mat
• Spray bottle
• Garden trowel
• 5-10-10 fertilizer

Instructions

1. Prepare sprouting pots for the pumpkin pepper seeds in late winter, approximately six weeks before the last frost. Fill 3-inch peat pots with a mixture of 3 parts potting soil and 1 part perlite. Wet each pot of soil with 1/8 cup of water.

2. Arrange the peat pots on a nursery flat to make handling them easier. Sow two pumpkin pepper seeds in each pot to 1/3 inch deep. Pinch the soil in around the seeds and press the surface to anchor them.

3. Place the nursery flat on a propagation warming mat set to 80 to 85 degrees F. Cover the tray with a plastic dome lid to mimic a warm, moist greenhouse environment. Keep the peat pots evenly moist by spraying water on them every few days with a spray bottle.

4. Watch for signs of germination in 10 to 14 days. Remove the weaker of the two pumpkin pepper seedlings from each pot once they reach 2 inches in height.

5. Plant the pumpkin pepper plants in a permanent outdoor bed after the last frost in spring. Dig the planting holes to two or three times the volume of the peat pots using a garden trowel. Fill the bottom of each planting hole with loose soil. Set the peat pots in the holes and fill in around them. Make sure the tops of the peat pots are flush with the surface of the soil before burying them.

6. Water the pumpkin pepper plants to a depth of 5 inches immediately after planting them. Water every seven days to a depth of 3 inches with an additional 1 to 2 inches of water during particularly hot or arid weather.

7. Apply low-nitrogen, 5-10-10 ratio fertilizer to the plants once the fruit is 1/2-inch long. Follow the manufacturer's directions when applying the fertilizer for the best results.

8. Harvest the pumpkin peppers in 70 to 80 days, or as soon as they display a solid red coloration with no green patches.

References

• "American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques"; Alan Toogood; 1999