Updated at: 03-10-2022 - By: Sienna Lewis

Climate, water, and transplanting are all factors to consider when you don’t know how to produce bigger bell peppers. Continuously producing little and poor-quality peppers might be discouraging. Even though you’ve followed the instructions in the handbook and in the extension materials to the letter, you’re still getting a dismal crop.

The size of the bell peppers is influenced by the three elements listed above. Capsicum annum, like most crops, has a set of conditions and needs that must be met in order to produce fruit of the highest quality. The following tips can help you develop bigger peppers the next time you plant bell peppers.

How To Make Bell Peppers Grow Bigger – Conditions And Requirments

Climate conditions

Temperatures in your location may be to blame if your bell peppers are producing little fruits. Temperatures should be kept between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Krostrade.com can help you meet these requirements if you live in a place where it’s difficult.

The farmer can more easily regulate the temperature when peppers are grown indoors in a greenhouse. You can safeguard your bell peppers from harsh weather conditions by keeping them indoors. If the temperature rises above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the blooms are damaged, resulting in malformed and tiny peppers.

Beginner's Guide on How to Grow a Bell Pepper Plant

When the plant is transplanted into an incorrect climate, it will not develop as quickly and produce smaller peppers. Planting pepper seedlings in soil that hasn’t warmed up can cause shock. If the temperature is too low, the crop can take up to 20 days to mature.

Water requirements

Even if you live in an ideal climate, you may not be providing your peppers with enough water. It is possible that a lack of water can harm pepper flowering, which will have an impact on the fruit. As a result, your crops should receive an inch of water per week.

You’ll be able to better hydrate your bell peppers if you grow them in a greenhouse. Instead of showering the foliage with sprinklers, you can use a drip hose to saturate the roots. Consider the soil type as well, as some drain faster than others.

Transplanting

Early transplanting can harm the plants, according to Cornell University. As a result, the fruits’ quality is harmed. If you start bell peppers indoors, they will grow larger. Choose plants with at least three to five sets of true leaves because they will produce peppers that are the size of golf balls.

Three weeks after the last frost, you can move your plants outside. Covering the rows with a tarp should only be done sparingly because excessive heat can reduce the size of the peppers. If the temperature is excessively high on either end of the transplanting spectrum, the fruits may also be affected.

Before transplanting, provide fertilizer to the area and then fertilize each pepper plant after transplanting to ensure huge peppers. You may also use mulch to keep weeds at bay and keep the soil moist. In order for the plants to thrive and produce large peppers, they require a distance between them of at least 24 inches.

How Can I Make My Peppers Grow Faster?

It might take up to four months for a bell pepper to ripen. After you plant the seeds, you have up to 95 days to wait before you may harvest the fruit. Peppers can grow more quickly if their location and care are properly taken care of.

Location

You’ll want to plant your bell peppers in a place that is well-drained, sunny, and rich in nutrients. Bell peppers thrive in soils with a pH range of 5.5 to 7.0, especially when compost is used. Crops can be grown indoors if these conditions are difficult to meet.

Compost may help with drainage and nourishment in the soil while also adding light to the greenhouse. It’s possible that you’ve satisfied all of these requirements, yet your peppers are still taking an excessive amount of time to mature. The root system might be affected by a lack of space in an overcrowded environment.

Maintenance

Maintaining your peppers is an important factor in how long they last. Depending on the time of year, you’ll want to make sure the soil is always moist by making appropriate modifications. You may also speed up the growth of your plants by side-dressing them once they’ve been transplanted and once they’ve started producing fruit.

It’s preferable to cultivate and mulch the soil to prevent weeds from competing with nutrients. If you prune your bell peppers periodically, you’ll see a steady supply of fresh blossoms. Finally, harvest the ripe peppers to allow the plant to concentrate its nutrients on the remaining peppers.

Why Are My Green Peppers So Small?

If your green peppers are little, evaluate the weather, soil, and pollination in your garden. The quality of green peppers, like other crops, is adversely affected by high temperatures. If the temperature drops below 60°F or rises beyond 75°F, the flowers will fall.

During the winter months, when temperatures drop below freezing at night, a greenhouse may be your best bet. Add aged compost and verify the phosphate content of your soil in addition to the temperature. If the soil is rich in nitrogen, it promotes luxuriant foliage but reduces the amount of fruit that may be produced.

Last but not least, poorly pollinated plants often produce undersized, flattened peppers. When pollinators are out and about, it’s a good idea to plant. To aid pollen dispersal in your garden, lightly tap the plants.

What Helps Pepper Plants Grow?

Pepper plants thrive in full sun, well-drained fertile soil, moderate temperatures, and careful attention. Many extension manuals stress the importance of sun exposure for pepper growth and development. Using old compost in combination with well-drained soil will help the plants thrive even more.

After you’ve examined your pepper plants’ exposure to the light and soil, keep an eye on the temperature. It’s extremely important to verify the soil temperature before transplanting peppers. Maintaining a regular schedule of watering, feeding and weeding is the best way to ensure that your plants thrive without interruption.

Are Coffee Grounds Good For Pepper Plants?

It is beneficial for pepper plants to utilize coffee grounds because they include elements that improve the structure and nutrition of the soil. In addition to these advantages, mulching with coffee grounds prevents fungal and weed growth. Mulch or compost made from used coffee grounds can benefit pepper plants, according to numerous studies on the subject.

How To Increase Pepper Plant Yield

When you’ve waited all season for your pepper plants and taken care of them, there’s nothing worse than getting two or three meager peppers in return. These ways for increasing pepper plant yields can be helpful if you’ve had similar results in the past.

We’re here to answer any questions you may have about pepper plant growth throughout the season! Your plants will produce more peppers than ever before if you follow these simple rules. If you want to produce more peppers per plant, follow these procedures.

When To Start Pepper Plants Indoors

Your pepper plants may need an early start depending on where you live in the world. The prolonged growing season that pepper plants require can be provided by beginning them indoors in hardiness zones 3-7, where the last frost usually occurs in April or May.

Prior to the last likelihood of frost, sow pepper seeds indoors 6-8 weeks in advance. Use your hardiness zone to find out when the final frost usually happens in your area.

In Zone 6a, for example, pepper seeds are often planted around the middle of March. Nevertheless, if you live in a zone 9b, you can begin planting your seeds as early as January!

As it turns out, growing seeds inside is simple and inexpensive if you have a bright window or a full spectrum grow light. You can find out more about the finest pepper grow lights by reading this.

By starting your seeds as early as possible, you’ll be able to enjoy a longer growing season and more fruitful pepper plants. The plants can be moved outside once the risk of frost has passed. You can check your last Spring frost date here: Almanac.com.

Tip: To promote bushier plants, start your seedlings a few weeks earlier than usual. If you start your pepper plants early, you’ll be able to prune them to promote fuller growth and, therefore, better pepper yields.

Use A Grow Light

When it comes to purchasing an indoor grow light, there are countless alternatives to select from. We make use of energy-efficient, low-heat, low-noise LED lights. Supplemental lighting is provided through a clip-on, dimmable LED light.

How to Sow Plant and Grow Sweet Bell Peppers From Seeds - Dengarden

Check out our picks for the best pepper lights on the market.

Isn’t it enough to have a sunny window? When starting peppers from seed, a bright window is not optimal. To get off to a good start when your seeds sprout, they require bright, steady illumination.

In the winter, the amount of sunlight coming in through the window is reduced and doesn’t last as long as it should. In order to prevent weak and lanky pepper plants, use a grow lamp to deliver 16+ hours of light each day.

For seedlings and larger plants, we use Amazon’s high-output LED light for seedlings and larger plants before they are moved outside. This light is also ideal for seedlings and harvests grown entirely indoors.

Supplemental light comes from an Amazon clip-on LED light when we’re sowing seeds or harvesting fruit from our indoor plants.

Make sure to have a look at this more cheap LED light.

Continue reading to learn how to plant hot peppers.

If you can, steer clear of units that employ fans, as they can be noisy and are regarded out-of-date. Due to their lack of harsh purple and blue tones, we favor full-spectrum lights that resemble the sun.

Moving Plants Outside / Hardening Off Plants

Plant hardening off can be a difficult procedure.. read more.. Bringing new plants into the house exposes them to a wide range of environmental conditions that they haven’t yet adapted to. You must gradually move your plants outside in order to avoid shocks.

  • To begin, aim for no more than 20 minutes of daily exposure to sunshine or one hour of daily shade.
  • During the second week, you should only expose yourself to direct sunshine for one hour each day, or seek shade for three to four hours each day.
  • All day in the shade or two hours of direct sunshine a day is acceptable for this week’s regimen
  • In the fourth week, permanently move the plant outside.

Forgiving and harsher climates exist in different parts of the world. Watch your plants, especially in the first few days outside, for signs of damage or disease. Whether the plant’s leaves begin to droop, bring them inside immediately and wait until the next day to see if they recover.

A low overnight temperature should also be avoided. Temperatures below 50°F are not ideal for growing peppers. Peppers should not be rushed through the process of hardening off. It can cause the leaves to curl and the plants to become extremely stressed.

Using The Best Soil For Pepper Plants

A healthy growth environment is the first step toward a healthy pepper plant. In other words, the proper soil must be used. Two separate soils are needed if you wish to grow your plants indoors. One for seedlings, and one for transplanting after the seeds have germinated.

Seed Starting Soil

A well-drained, low-nutrient soil is ideal for starting seeds. It is possible to produce a pepper plant from a pepper seed since the seed includes nutrients that aid in its growth. Then, the plants can be relocated to a soil that is richer in nutrients.

When planting seeds, use a seed starting mix to ensure successful germination. Purple Cow Seed Starter Mix is available on Amazon.

It is critical that you do not start your seeds indoors using dirt that has been taken from the outside. Mold, insects, and other undesirables may enter as a result of this. Make sure to use a bagged seed starting soil to avoid these difficulties!

Potting Soil

The potting mix you use for your pepper plants should be more nutrient-rich as you move them to larger pots. Peppers prefer a light soil composition (more on the loamy side), but any well-reviewed veggie potting soils should perform just well.

Our recommendation if you’re planting in the ground is to replenish the soil each season with a good amount of organic materials like compost. Your soil will be enriched with beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms that aid in the growth of peppers.

Potting soil can also be supplemented with additional nutrients. Epsom salt and bone meal provide calcium and magnesium, respectively, as well as sulfur.

Plant a cover crop in the fall if you have a raised bed or garden allotment to keep the soil active and diverse.

Preparing Soil

Soil should always be pre-wetted before being compacted into pots for planting. A garden fork can be used roughly two weeks before the last frost to loosen (not till) the soil. Before planting, the microorganisms in the soil have time to recover and aerate the soil.

In order to maximize the size and yield of your pepper plants in a container, it is crucial that you use the correct pot.

What Is The Best Pot For Pepper Plants?

As a pepper grower, you may be wondering which pot size is optimal for your peppers. The answer is simple: pots that are at least 12 inches in diameter.

Insufficient soil can cause stunted development in pepper plants, preventing them from ever reaching their full potential size. Without at least 3-5 litres of soil, pepper plant production will drop.

The Bloem Saturn Planters on Amazon have won our hearts. They come in a wide range of colors and sizes!

As a grower, you’ll need to pick the correct pot size for your location. Large planter pots can be found in a wide variety on Amazon. When it comes to growing peppers, the larger the planter, the more peppers you can harvest.

Make sure to pre-moisturize and mix the potting soil in which your pepper plants are going to be transplanted so that it will be able to absorb water more easily throughout the growth season.

It’s time to start a fertilization regimen after you’ve relocated your plants outside.

Using The Best Fertilizer For Pepper Plants

In order to develop successfully, peppers require a proper balance of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium. Three large numbers are commonly found on fertilizer containers. These three ingredients and their proportions are found in the fertilizer in question.

How Often to Fertilize Pepper Plants

At a decreased dosage, we begin fertilizing the peppers as soon as they germinate. After transplanting, wait at least two weeks before fertilizing. Allow at least a week for the root system to adjust to the new soil. Your fertilization routine may then be resumed at that point.

Fertilizing once every two to three weeks is a good rule of thumb. A stronger nitrogen fertilizer should be used while the pepper plants are growing quickly in order to optimize yields.

Fertilizing peppers has never been easier thanks to Fox Farm’s fantastic trio of fertilizers. During the early stages of growth, use ‘Grow Big,’ and then when the plants are transplanted outside and starting to bloom, use ‘Bloom,’ or ‘Tiger Bloom.’

A strong, healthy plant requires a lot of foliage growth, which is aided by higher nitrogen levels.

You should switch to a lower-nitrogen fertilizer once your plants have grown to full size and begin to flower. But this isn’t a necessity at all. Alternately, you might just lessen the potency of the fertilizer.

Fruit output is increased by reducing the amount of nitrogen in the soil, rather than increasing the amount of leafy growth. Each type of fertilizer is typically labeled ‘Grow’ or ‘Bloom’ by the fertilizer manufacturer to indicate what stage of growth the fertilizer is designed to aid in.

One of the symptoms of over-fertilization is the loss of pepper plant blooms. A word of caution when using concentrated fertilizers: don’t overdo it!

Growing Bell Peppers in Pots and Containers | Bell Pepper Care Guide

Pruning Pepper Plants

Pruning is a cinch. You’ll need a good set of scissors for this, as well as your pepper plants. You’ll need to know where and why to trim pepper plants before you get started snipping, though.

As a gardener, pruning is an opportunity to direct the plant’s energy to where you want it to go. Your pepper plant, for example, should put its energy into creating peppers rather than additional leaves or branches.

Pruning refers to the process of removing non-essential sections of a pepper plant in order to direct new growth in the desired direction.

Should You Prune Pepper Plants?

Pruning should only be done if it is absolutely essential. Pruning can be advantageous in the following instances.

Early growth. Depending on how early you started your pepper plants in the winter, you may want to do a last pruning before moving them to the garden. The plants can be kept smaller and bushier for the duration of their stay indoors this way.

Plants that reach great heights. It is possible to reshape your pepper plants if they are growing too long and leggy. Your tall peppers will produce more low-end shoots if you cut off the top of them.

Withering limbs at ground level. Pepper plants are susceptible to illness if leaves come into contact with the soil. Remove any branches that are within 6-8 inches of the ground as the plants mature. Peppers and tomatoes benefit greatly from bottom pruning, which is a common practice.

Overwintering. You can overwinter a pepper plant if you don’t want to let it go at the end of the season. Heavy pruning is required, with only a few remaining leaves to allow for photosynthesis to continue.

Using The Right Tool To Prune Peppers

Always use sharp scissors when pruning your plants. Breaking the stems with your fingers might cause the stem to be crushed and damaged. It’s also possible to use a knife, but make sure the blade is razor-sharp to prevent the stems from being crushed during the cutting process.

These pruning shears on Amazon are a favorite of ours.

Pruning Young Pepper Plants

Prune your pepper plants after the second or third node while they are young starters, about 3 to 5 inches tall (this is where new sets of leaves begin). By snipping off the plant’s top, you are preventing it from growing any further. This will boost the growth of your young pepper plant and help it create a strong foundation.

You should leave at least three or four sets of leaves on your plant when you remove it. The plant can’t photosynthesize if it doesn’t have leaves!

Pruning Mid-Sized Pepper Plants

Pruning away low branches while peppers are in their adolescent stage will help maintain them disease-free. Soil splashing from rain or irrigation can transmit disease to low branches.

In addition, you can remove any blooms that have come up early. As a result, the plant will have time to build a robust canopy before focusing its resources towards producing peppers. Once your plants are established in the garden, don’t prune them anymore.

Is it okay to remove the pepper flower?

Note: Do not cut plants that are still growing too late in the year. Before the first frost, you can minimize your yield by pruning when there are only 40 or 50 days left in the season.

Pruning Late Pepper Plants

Once you start harvesting and the season has progressed, you shouldn’t have to prune your plant. If you have time before the final frost, you can prune the pepper plant one more time to assist it produce its final peppers.

When the first frost of winter is about two to three weeks away, remove any bare branches. Leave a sufficient number of leaves for photosynthesis. Before the plants succumb to frost, this will help you get the most out of your final crop.

For the finest advice on how to prune pepper plants, check out our dedicated post on the subject.

Pruning is an option, not a necessity, but it can help your plant grow in the areas that matter most to you.

Sunlight and Heat Stress for Pepper Plants

Full sunshine is ideal for pepper plants. During the mid-summer months, this equates to 10-12 hours of direct sunlight.

As long as the weather is good, most gardeners can get by with fewer than 8 hours per day of sunlight. Your pepper plant’s yield will be strongly influenced by the amount of sunlight it receives.

Try to locate your outdoor area in a spot that receives the maximum sunlight throughout the day, particularly in the morning and afternoon. Moving a plant 10 feet away from a tree can have a significant impact on how much sunshine it receives.

Avoiding Heat Stress in Plants

Pepper plants thrive in temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. If the daily temperature is less than 65°F or greater than 90°F, pepper plants are less likely to bear fruit. Protect your pepper plants if the weather is expected to be extremely hot or cold.

One of the worst things about being a gardener is dealing with heat stress. Sunburn and floral droplets are just a few of the side effects. However, there are a few things you can do to assist your plants survive a heatwave (90°F or greater) in both indoor and outdoor environments.

  • A lot of water! During a heatwave, plants will use a lot more water. Don’t overwater plants; just enough to keep them from drying up.
  • Obtain a short-term shady location. During the afternoon, use a beach umbrella or another object to shade your pepper plants. The hottest time of day is between 12:00 and 4:00 p.m., when the sun is at its peak.
  • During a heat wave, avoid fertilization and pruning. During a heatwave, these activities should be put on hold.
  • Before bringing young plants outside, expose them to cold weather. Known as “cold therapy,” this can help plants adjust to a wider range of temperatures.
  • Monitor the temperature of your plants with a thermometer. Varying parts of a yard can experience vastly different temperatures at any given time. If your plants are in a high-heat area, you may want to consider relocating them.

Peppers, like any other plant, have their limits when it comes to coping with extreme temperatures. Stunted growth and wilted leaves are all frequent indicators of heat stress in plants, so keep an eye out for them.

Conclusion

Growing plants like bell peppers is a lot of fun, especially when you start getting some of your own produce. The question of how to increase the size of bell peppers is a prevalent one among farmers. It is possible to increase fruit quality and size by ensuring that the environment, water requirements, and transplanting are optimal.

Bell peppers can be grown in a greenhouse because temperature and climate are important factors in their growth and development. Bell peppers should be grown indoors before being transplanted to ensure that they have the ideal circumstances for growth. Coffee grounds can also be used as a mulch or compost to improve the soil’s structure and quality.