How and When to Water Pepper Plants

One of the most common problems people have while growing peppers is over watering. Pepper plants need a lot less water than people think and regardless of whether the pepper plant is growing in a pot, raised bed or directly in the ground too much water is one of the worst things you can do to your plants. Over watering can stunt growth, washes away nutrients and invites pests and disease.

If you are growing your peppers in pots you will need to water much more frequently than if you were growing them in the ground. As a general rule you should water when the plants are wilting, but, make sure it’s not just due to excessive heat. When it’s very hot…say 95 degrees+ pepper plants in the direct sun may wilt during the day. This is normal and is just the plants way of reducing the surface area exposed to the sun to help keep it cool. When I grow in pots before I water I like to see some non sun related wilt and I check the pot to make sure it’s bone dry. Often while growing peppers in pots the top of the soil is dry but the bottom is mud. This can happen very easily especially if the pot does not have great drainage. If the pot is completely dry and there’s a little non sun related wilt (best time to check is earlier in the morning or in the evening when the plants are not in direct sun) I give each pot a good soaking. I like to see just a little bit of water coming out of the bottom. Too much and you just wash out your nutrients so soak them but not to excess.

If your pepper plants are growing in raised beds or in the ground a lot of the same rules apply. The main difference is you will find that you need to water much less frequently than when growing in pots. It’s not unusual for me to water my plants in pots every day – sometimes even twice – vs my plants in raised beds that can at times go for weeks in a row without water. When watering my plants in ground/beds I give them a long soaking to really get the soil 6+ inches deep really wet. Infrequent deep watering encourages deep roots which leads to plants that can go longer without water.

If you have any questions or comments about watering peppers feel free to leave them below.

Peach Bhut Jolokia Grow 2012 Part 1

I’m growing a bunch of bhut jolokias this year that I’m excited about and the peach bhut jolokia is definitely one of them. I can’t remember where I got the seeds (if it was you please post in the comments!) but I started the season with two plants. Despite a late start the plants were both some of the fastest growers I have. After they got started though that changed…one plant continued to grow pretty fast and already has a about 15 pods. The other plant, which is planted right next to it, is about 1/2 the size and only has a few flowers, no pods yet.

The peach bhut plant with the pods is one of my best plants so far. If the pods turn out like they are supposed to (nice bhut flavor with solid heat and plants that throw off a ton of pods) this one will included in future gardens for sure. Here’s how my peach bhuts looked about a week ago. More pics when I start to see some ripening.

Here’s a great video review of the peach bhut jolokia. I really hope the ones I’m growing are like the ones described in the video: “Really nice flavor overall. Heat was great. Not a bring you to your knees heat, but enough to get your blood pumping. Mostly in the tongue with just a tiny bit of burn in the throat. This chile makes it on to my top 10 best tasting list easily. I would say even top 3. I have had better tasting mild chile, but for a Superhot this takes the cake! ”

2012 Peach Bhut Update Posts
Peach Bhut Jolokia Grow 2012 Part 2
Peach Bhut Jolokia Grow 2012 Part 3

Yellow Bhut Jolokia 2012 Grow Part 1

This season I’m growing 6 yellow bhut jolokia plants from 3 different seed sources. I’m on a quest for the “perfect” yellow bhut.

First up are pods from two plants I grew from seed provided by BigT. Overall both plants are growing well and I like the look of some of the early pods.

 

Next up are pods from 3 plants I grew from seed provided by Spicegeist. These plants are also growing well. While all 3 plants are showing promise the second picture/plant is the best looking yellow bhut I have going right now. Unless the other pods on that plant look a lot different this one will be a seed keeper for sure.

 

Last up is a pod from the only plant I was able to get started from seed provided by cmpman1974. This plant has been a bit of a slow grower but the early pods are taking a nice shape. Really glad I was able to get at least one plant going from the batch of seeds I received.

 

I will post another yellow bhut grow update once some of the pods start to ripen. Stay tuned!

2012 Yellow Bhut Update Posts
Yellow Bhut Jolokia 2012 Grow Part 2

The Purple Bhut Jolokia – Buyer Beware

Does not exist!

Ok, to be fair a pepper does exist that is a called a purple bhut jolokia but in my opinion someone just named it a bhut jolokia so they could sell seeds.

1. It’s nowhere near as hot a bhut jolokia. Nowhere.

2. It doesn’t look a bhut jolokia, at all. Here’s a shot of some of my red bhut jolokias:
red bhut jolokia

And here’s a shot of the “purple” bhut jolokia:

3. The pods do turn purple but ripen to red. Here’s a shot of a purple bhut plant that clearly shows red pods on the plant:

No offense to anyone growing this pepper, from what I hear it’s a decent tasting pepper and the plants produce well. I’m just not sold on the name…it’s not a bhut and dos not finish to purple so should not be called a purple bhut. I believe the earliest mentions of this pepper were in mid 2010 from a user at TheHotPepper names JSKaiser. He’s been banned from the site for awhile and if memory is correct didn’t do right by a lot of folks in the pepper growing community and in general has a terrible reputation.

So there you have it. People can call peppers whatever they want but this is one of the cases where the name is completely misleading. I for one will not grow this pepper nor will I acknowledge that a true purple bhut jolokia even exists!

Vote For The World’s Most Influential Pepper Grower

Edit: Some folks have decided to ruin the contest by writing scripts to generate votes so please disregard the contest or any results that come from it. There will be no further updates and a winner will not be announced or recognized. What was supposed to a fun contest was taken way too seriously and a few losers ruined it for all.

Bracket style!

We’re starting off with 64 contenders. Vote early and often, the World’s most influential pepper grower will be announced in early May. Good luck!

bracket removed