Growing Sweet Peppers in Zone 6B

Sweet peppers are a delicious garden crop, and also high in micronutrients. They can also add a cheerful splash of color to any garden. Sweet peppers make a great addition to salads, in cooking, or just sliced and eaten as a snack.

Peppers can be a challenge for beginning gardeners to grow, especially when starting from seed. But, with the right planning, anyone can enjoy fresh sweet peppers from their garden. 

Varieties  

Sweet peppers can be eaten raw or cooked in dishes, but different varieties are better suited to different uses. Here are a few of my favorite types for both fresh eating and cooking. 

Fresh Eating

Lunchbox Yellow

Lunchbox Yellow is my go-to for snacking peppers. They are a small yellow sweet pepper about 3” long and excellent for fresh eating by themselves or in salads. I used to put them in my son’s lunchboxes!

This variety takes 83 days to reach maturity, loves the hot weather of August, and thrives in USDA Zone 6b. Lunchbox yellow peppers are an open-pollinated hybrid and can be used for seed saving. 

Purple Beauty Pepper

Purple Beauty Pepper is a beautiful, deep purple variety that takes about 75 days to reach maturity. This variety can be eaten both fresh and cooked, but I like them better fresh because they lose their color when cooked. 

Purple Beauty is an heirloom variety and can be used for seed saving. They are great for making the classic stuffed peppers.

I love to broil Carmen peppers and Rutgers tomatoes with some mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and oregano for a nice fall lunch. Photo by Ame Vanorio

Cooking 

Cubanelle Sweet Pepper

Cubanelle Sweet Pepper is a long, pale green pepper that reaches maturity in only 65 days. I love this pepper when it is roasted, but it can also be used in a variety of dishes like as a pizza topping, or to make molé.

Although a sweet pepper, it can sometimes have a mild heat as well. Cubanelles are an heirloom variety and can be used for seed saving. 

Carmen

Carmen peppers are my favorite variety for frying, and they take 80 days to reach maturity. They are small, pod-shaped red peppers that may look spicy, but actually has a mild, sweet flavor. 

Carmen peppers are a F1 hybrid, which means any seeds saved from this variety will not produce the same kind of pepper as the parent plant. 

Rounds of Hungary

Round of Hungary produces cute red peppers 2-3 inches long that reach maturity in about 75 days. They resemble miniature red bell peppers and their small size makes them a great choice for stuffed peppers.

Round of Hungary is an open-pollinated hybrid and can be used for seed saving. 

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Planting 

Peppers are a long-season crop that loves hot weather. They originated in Central America so handle our Zone 6 summer humidity just fine.

Starting Indoors

Starting pepper seeds indoors and then transplanting them can help get a jump on the season and let you harvest peppers earlier than if you direct plant outside. Sweet peppers need warm temperatures to germinate.

Many extension agents recommend a high temperature of 80 degrees however that can be hard to attain in winter (and a bit expensive!). I always shoot for 70.

One way that many gardeners achieve this is by placing the seedling trays on heated mats to keep them warm. My favorite is the Vivosun 10"x 20.75" Seedling Heat Mat. Vivosun is a great brand and I’ve had good luck with their products.

Starting Schedule

Start your seeds six to eight weeks before you want to transplant them into your garden.  I often start mine with tomatoes.

Many people like to get a jump start on peppers and tomatoes and seed as early as February. However, I found good results by planting peppers and tomatoes between March 1 and March 15 in my heated seed starting room.

Sweet peppers are very frost tender, so only plant outside after all danger of frost has passed.  If you choose to plant directly into your garden, put down your seeds about two weeks before your last frost date. 

I typically plant my peppers outside with protection like a row cover or cold frame after April 15. This protects them from cold and emerging flea beetles. Remove the covers on sunny days and then replace at night. Read my article on cold frames here. 

Peppers benefit from staking. A tomato cage works well for this banana pepper plant. This plant is doing well in my community garden plot - making the most of a small apace! Photo by Ame Vanorio

Spacing

When planting, University of Missouri Extension Office recommends that you space your peppers about 18-20 inches apart in a spot where they will get at least eight hours of sun each day.

The specific space requirements vary depending on the type of pepper you grow - Cubanelle, for example, only needs 14-18 inches of space - double-check the growing instructions for the varieties you plant. 

Keep in mind that you need good airflow around your peppers. If you are planting a large number of plants use a 3-2-3-2 pattern in a four-foot-wide French Intensive system.

Container Growing

All peppers do well in containers. Use a light soil mix with vermiculite and a handful of bonemeal added. Fertilize with fish emulsion every two weeks throughout the growing season.

I currently am using a 7-gallon grow bag for two banana peppers and a ten-gallon grow bag to grow two bell peppers. I am using grow bags from Vivosun.

I have a video on my grow bags on my YouTube Channel.

You can see in this photo I’m using landscaping fabric to reduce weeds and conserve water. The 3-2-3-2 spacing allows good airflow around the plants. Photo by Ame Vanorio

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Water

Peppers like to be watered deeply once or twice per week and use mulch. Bark mulch or grass clippings to discourage weeds and reduce evaporation from the soil.

Peppers do well in landscaping fabric which also cuts down on weeding.

Irregular watering can lead to issues like cracked peppers, so it is important to regularly space your watering.  Drip irrigation also works well.

Fertile Soil

Sweet peppers grow well in fertile soil, and one study looking at organic sweet bell pepper production in 2015 found that a combination of compost and chicken manure yielded the best results.

Be careful of over-fertilizing, though as it can cause the sweet peppers to put more energy into their leaves, leading to lush plants but not many peppers. My favorite choice is fish emulsion.

For urban or apartment gardeners, these two peppers mid-season (center right) have produced an amazing amount of sweet bell peppers this season. The petunias were planted to look pretty and repel pests and they did a great job! Photo by Ame Vanorio

Problems 

Sweet peppers are vulnerable to several pests and diseases, including blossom end rot, bacterial leaf spot, flea beetles, stink bugs, corn borers, and sun scalding. 

Blossom End Rot

The bane of pepper (and tomato) growers is blossom end rot. You will notice this because the pepper begins to rot at the bottom. Unfortunately, this can be too late for a quick fix.

Blossom end rot is a lack of calcium available to the plant. This can be caused by unbalanced minerals in the soil (specifically poor magnesium to calcium), uneven watering that makes absorption more difficult, and compacted soil causing a stifled root system.

Too much nitrogen and high salt levels can also cause blossom end rot. Just a heads up. Feeding them milk and spraying with Epsom salt are two strategies that do not work well.

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It’s very important to do a soil test before you decide to add more calcium or magnesium to your soil. Honestly, the best time to prevent blossom end rot is in the fall.

Take time in the fall to do a soil test, add lots of compost, and bone meal if needed to make sure you have an adequate level of calcium and other minerals.

Pests

My nemesis the flea beatle as well as stink bugs go after sweet peppers and are a problem in many parts of Zone 6b.

Both like to hide under weeds, leaves and other garden debris so keep a clean garden.

My go-to is Neem Oil but you have to be persistent with regular spraying. These guys don’t give up easily. If you are feeling desperate you can bump up to Pyrethrin, a stronger but still organic pesticide.

Encouraging beneficial insects and wildlife is also a good long-term goal. Lady beetles, praying mantis, toads, and birds are all good choices.

Row covers work great for young peppers to protect them from weather and insects. Remove row covers when temperatures get above 85°F to prevent heat damage. 

Companion Planting

Common pepper companions are basil, parsley, and dill.

A study published in Insects in 2017 suggests that planting chives or lavender near sweet peppers could reduce plant damage from aphids by masking the scent of pepper plants.

Another study from 2020 shows that planting rosemary near sweet peppers can reduce pest bug populations without reducing the number of beneficial bugs in the garden. 

Harvesting and Storing

Harvest

Sweet peppers come in all shapes, colors, and sizes so there is no one way to see if a pepper is ready to harvest. You should double-check what size and color the mature fruits are for your variety and use that to figure out when to pick them.

Peppers become sweeter and gain in Vitamin C the longer they are on the plant. Keep an eye out for any soft spots or signs it’s getting old. I often pick some green and allow others to color (if they are a variety that changes in color)

Cutting the stem with sharp scissors will reduce the risk of damaging your plant for peppers that do not come off easily. 

Storing

Sweet peppers can be stored in the refrigerator for five to seven days. If you grow a lot of them, you can also try pickling them to preserve them. 

In addition, it’s easy to dry peppers. You can use the recommendations on your commercial dehydrator. In lieu of that, they will dry nicely on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees F.

Cut them into 1/2 inch slices. Steam for 5 minutes and then lay out on the baking sheet. It takes 4-5 hours for them to dry completely. Keep an eye on them and turn to make sure they dry evenly.

Seed Saving

Seeds from heirloom or open-pollinated hybrid varieties of sweet peppers can be saved to grow next year. Pepper seeds can be saved from ripe sweet peppers without needing to wait for them to over-ripen, so you don’t need to waste any peppers to save the seeds. 

Sweet pepper plants are self-pollinating but might cross-pollinate with any other pepper varieties, including hot peppers, grown nearby. This can lead to seeds that produce peppers not like the parent plant, which may be low quality. Typically, this cross-pollination comes from insect pollination and not wind pollination. 

The Organic Seed Alliance recommends physical barriers like mesh cages or row covers to prevent pollinators from accessing their blossoms. This will allow the plants to self-pollinate and develop seeds that will produce the same variety of pepper as the parent plant.

Author, Ame Vanorio, has spent her life with dirty fingernails, in the garden and lovin’ every minute. Check out her Author Page on Amazon.