Peppers
Dates below are counted from the average last spring frost or the average first fall frost. Enter a ZIP in the calendar for NOAA 1991–2020 station averages, or pick a zone and use the zone table.
When to plant
Soil and site
Warm, well-drained soil, moderate nitrogen — overfeed and you get a bush with no fruit.
Seedlings
Slow starters: 8 weeks indoors, and a heat mat speeds germination dramatically. Wait for nights above 55°F to transplant.
In the garden
Support plants before they load up with fruit. A bit of calcium and magnesium (a spoonful of epsom salt at planting) helps fruit set.
Picking
Green is fine anytime, but full color means full flavor. Cut, don't pull — branches snap easily.
Harvest
First harvest is about 60–90 days after transplanting. The picking window often runs about 8 weeks.
Green fruit is edible; full color is ripe. Cut peppers off the plant so the branches do not snap.
Preserving
Plain peppers are low-acid. Do not can them in a boiling-water canner. Pickled peppers are a different, tested boiling-water recipe.
USDA's tested method for plain hot or sweet peppers is pressure canning. Times and pressures are only in the linked guide.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Peppers →Pickled bell peppers are a tested boiling-water recipe, separate from canning plain peppers. Follow the linked recipe without substitutions.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Pickled bell peppers →Freeze sweet peppers with the NCHFP method. Hot peppers have their own page.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Freezing bell or sweet peppers →Dry peppers using the NCHFP drying guide, then condition them before packing.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Drying fruits and vegetables →A home freeze-dryer can dry this crop, but USDA has not published a canning-style time for it. Follow the appliance manual for load and cycle length, then store the dry food sealed. Freeze-drying is not a substitute for a tested canning process.
Appliance manual (no USDA process time)
Canning, pickling, and fermenting notes here are summaries of tested USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation methods. Times, pressures, and amounts live only on those pages. This site does not publish home-invented processing times.
Gear placeholders
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- Placeholder: seeds for Peppers
- Placeholder: canning gear
- Placeholder: home freeze dryer
Dates by zone
These pages turn the same frost offsets into calendar dates for each zone the calendar covers.