Soften the Seed Shell
One of the best things you can do for your seeds is to soak them before planting. This weakens the shell barrier so the seedlings don’t have to work so hard to come up. If you use a weak chamomile tea solution for the soaking, you also kill off any bacteria that may be present.
Make the Weak Tea Solution:
Brew a cup of chamomile and drink it. Use the same tea bag to make another cup of tea, and then use that batch to soak your seeds. Let your seeds soak for 24 to 48 hours before planting.
Use the Bag Method
You can create an effective germination environment for your chili seeds simply by using a paper towel, ziplock bag or coffee filter and water. This bag method is ideal for difficult varieties that have problems sprouting using the traditional seed-starting mix. Some peppers also germinate faster in the bag. Here’s how you do it:
- Fold a paper towel or coffee filter in quarters and then spray it with water until is damp.
- Place your pepper seeds in between the fold.
- Position your towel and chili seeds in the ziplock bag. Seal it up.
- Spray your towel and seeds each day with water to keep it damp.
- Check for sprouting seeds. When they germinate, bury them under a light layer of sterile potting soil.
If you use a paper towel, cut the portion of the towel that has the germinated seedling because if you pull the seedling, you can tear the root. You shouldn’t have to do this with the coffee filter.
Use the Cup Method
A lidded, 2.5 ounce gelatin cup creates another ideal setting for pepper germination. You can get these cups at a party supply or grocery store. Dampen a small piece of paper towel and stick it at the bottom of the cup. Place your seeds on top of the towel and put the lid on. Leave the cup on a warm spot and dampen the towel each day to keep the environment moist.
Try the Freezer Method
One of our fans on the Grow Hot Peppers Facebook page was kind of enough to share a technique that he uses with great success. We haven’t tried this ourselves, but we encourage you to test it out and let us know if works for you. Here goes:
- Place your pepper seeds in the freezer for two days. Yep, we said freezer.
- Remove the seeds and position them in a folded-up paper towel. Dampen the towel with water.
- Place the towel on a plate and cover it with a dark bowl. Situate it on top of a warm spot. Ideally, you want the temperature to be between 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Check your seeds each day and dampen the towel when needed.
We hope these pepper germination techniques help you raise all the chile varieties you want.
Why We Fertilize Peppers
Your pepper seeds have just enough energy to support the cotyledons, which are the embryonic leaves that first appear. After that, pepper plants need help to build a strong structure and eventually grow fruit. When fed well, peppers display green leaves (unless they are a variety like Black Pearl), thick stems, lots of flowers and vibrant pods.
How to Start Fertilizing
After the first set of true leaves appear, you can start using a diluted amount of fish emulsion or fish and seaweed fertilizer to help along seedling growth. Read the instructions on the container and then use 1/4 strength when you water your plants. For example, if a full serving is 1 tablespoon per gallon of water, add 1/4 teaspoon to a quart of water. Repeat this feeding schedule every other week.
JH Biotech 9907 Aqua Power Fish Emulsion
Foliar Feeding
After your plants have three or four sets of true leaves, you can apply magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) directly to the leaves and stem. Epsom salt keeps the plant foliage strong, and prevents light green to yellow leaves from developing. Make sure that the epsom salt you use does not have any additions such as scents or bath crystals.
Add a 1 teaspoon epsom salt to a gallon of water and shake it up well. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle and then spritz the leaves and stems with the solution until thoroughly covered. Spray your plants every other week so that one week you water with fish emulsion, and the other week you give your plants the foliar feeding.
Feeding Outdoor Peppers
Continue with the fish emulsion / fish and seaweed fertilizer schedule, but this time increase the dosage to about half the amount described on the label. If your peppers are in the ground, you can use the full amount. Keep the foliar feeding with epsom salts the same.
Your outside chillies will also benefit from some additional nutrients to help them flower, fruit and maintain their health.
Add Compost to Pepper Plants
Not only does compost condition the soil, but it fertilizes your chillies and acts as a natural pesticide to insects. After your peppers are planted in containers, use a good-quality, organic compost and layer it on the top of the soil. You also have the option to mix the compost in with your potting mixture. If you’re planting chillies in the ground, drop a handful of compost in each planting hole before you place the pepper plant in it.
Intervale Organic Compost, 20 Qts.
Calcium and Phosphorous Requirements
As an added bonus, many growers use a calcium and phosphorous source such as Cal-Mag or bonemeal. These nutrients help build a stronger plant structure, keeps your chillies flowering and fruiting and prevent blossom-end rot (BER). If your chile plant ever displays crinkled or bubbly leaves (particularly Capsicum chinense varieties), or if the ends of pepper pods have dark, sunken lesions, you know your plant needs calcium and phosphorous.
Apply the Cal-Mag or bonemeal package by following the instructions on the label. Typically, you mix a designated amount of powder into the top layer of soil and then water your plant. A monthly feeding of calcium and phosphorous is usually sufficient for peppers.
Water Your Peppers with Compost Tea
You can give your chili plants a huge advantage by watering them with compost tea. This tea is a concentrated liquid of compost that has beneficial microbes that benefit both the plant and soil.
Follow the instructions on your compost tea container to “brew” up a batch of liquid. Pour the tea in a sprayer and drench the stems as well as both the tops and undersides of leaves so that the excess drips onto the soil. Do this once or twice a month to fight off foliar disease and promote growth. Make sure to use the tea within four hours (or whatever time frame is specified on the label) so that it’s most effective.
FloraBlend Vegan Compost Tea Gallon: J
What to Watch For
It’s very easy to give your chillies too much fertilizer. This is very harmful to your plant and it can even cause its death. Never give them more than what is instructed on the label.
After a feeding, especially if you are doing it for the first time, inspect the leaves for browning edges. This occurrence is known as “fertilizer burn,” and it lets you know you should cut down on the feeding. If your pots are outdoors in containers and you detect fertilizer burn, run water over the soil to help flush the excess nutrients out.
What to Look for in Pepper Soil
To start off, pick the right product for your purposes. If you’re just starting your pepper seeds, select a “seed-starting soil mix” that will give your chile seedlings the nutrients they need to turn into little plants. Otherwise, if they have surpassed this stage, choose a “potting soil” that meets the criteria below.
Growing your own hot peppers means that you need to provide a soil or soil-free mixture that has the ingredients that are light and allow for air flow. Ingredients that encourage this flow include vermiculite, perlite, sphagnum peat moss (peat) and sand (builder’s sand). A warning about peat moss: make sure that your soil or soil-free mixture is not composed primarily of peat because this organic material is very acidic and is known to effect the growth rate of peppers.
Your mixture must also meet the nutritional needs of your chile pepper plants. Look for organic ingredients, which include composted pine bark, chicken manure, alfalfa, coir and kenaf. Alternately, non-organic mixtures should contain a commercial fertilizer to feed your chillies.
With a combination of the above ingredients in the mixture that you choose, growing your chile peppers will become much more successful. As a side note: many seed-starting mixes that are labeled for orchids contain many of these essential ingredients and are sufficient for germinating and raising your chillies.
Natural Beginnings Seed-Starting Mix
Pepper Soil No-No’s
Watch for mixtures that have large chunks of materials because these substances will prevent the airflow that is so crucial to pepper plants. Hold the soil in your hand and make sure that it feels light.
Also, if you open your soil bag and find insects do not put your pepper seeds or hot chillie seedlings in this soil. The adult bugs will eat the nutrients and your growing plants before they have time to grow and chances are that these mature bugs had time to lay eggs in the soil, which will become a nightmare to your seedlings once they hatch.
Lastly, don’t use an older mixture (older than a year) because the fertilizer or other nutritional elements may not be as effective in feeding your growing pepper plants. Buy a fresh bag to give your chillies a healthy start.
Growing Hot Peppers with Organic Mixes
Organic seed-starting soil mixes that are organic do not include pesticides, wetting agents or other chemicals that are synthetic. The absence of this non-natural ingredients gives you the ability to grow certified organic peppers and ensure that your hot chillies are as healthy as possible.
Look at the seed-starting or potting mixture bag to ensure that it says “organic” on it because it if doesn’t, then you can safely assume that it is not. If you purchase your soil from a distributor, check if they will prepare an organic mixture for you.
This tomato jalapeno sauce is used to top the jalapeno pepper rellenos from the last post. This and a bit of shredded cheese will make it look and taste as delicious as the picture looks.
Stuff You’ll Need
You will need 4 tomatoes, 1/4 of an onion, 1 garlic clove, 2 jalapenos, the seeds and veins from the jalapeno rellenos(the ones I said not to throw away), some olive oil and one 8oz. can of tomato sauce.
Step One
Cut the tomatoes, onion and jalapenos into small chunks. You don’t have to chop them finely since you will be blending everything in the end. Everything just needs to fit nicely in the pan.
Step Two
In a pan, drizzle a bit of olive oil thinly coating the bottom of the pan and start heating on medium. Add the tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, garlic clove and seeds/veins from the jalapeno pepper rellenos. Let everything heat and when the onion is caramelized and the tomatoes and jalapenos are soft, add the tomato sauce. The whole can. Continue heating until it comes to a boil and all the vegetables are soft. Reduce heat and add salt to taste.
Step Three
Pour everything in a blender and blend. The tomato jalapeno sauce is done.
Step Four
If you’ve cooked the rellenos. Just spoon a bit of the tomato jalapeno sauce over the rellenos, add a bit of shredded cheese on top and enjoy. Don’t forget to remove the toothpicks!
Jalapeno Sauce In Action
If you have not made the jalepeno pepper rellenos, then you can read how to make them here. You can also use the tomato jalapeno sauce on top of scrambled eggs or huevos rancheros. In my opinion it tastes better warm, but you decide.
Jalapeño pepper rellenos are almost like jalapeño pepper poppers(say that real fast ten times), but with my Mexicanness melded in. You will need some jalapeño peppers, a few eggs, some grated cheese (I like Monterrey), flour, olive oil and wooden toothpicks.
Step One: Char the Jalapenos
You can use a broiler and periodically turn the jalapenos until they are completely black. The method I used was on a gas stove with the flame. I’m a glassblower and I like the fire. Put a jalapeño on a skewer and let it sit right on top of the flame. You will also need to turn it periodically. I used two burners so I could char two peppers at a time. Be careful this is an open flame after all. Make sure the jalapeños are completely black and as soon as you char them put them in an air tight container. This will steam the peppers making them soft and easier to handle. Let them steam for at least 10 minutes. In the meantime you can go to step two.
Step Two: Prepare the Batter
The amount of eggs needed is in direct proportion to the amount of peppers you charred. The more jalapenos you have the more batter you will need. As a heads up, in my experiment I charred 6 jalapenos and went with 6 eggs which was way too much. It would have worked with 3 or 4 eggs. Separate the whites and yolks into different containers. Beat the whites until they are frothy and you get the peaks. Add some flour and continue beating until it is completely mixed in. For 6 eggs I used 1/4 cup so less if you used less eggs. Add the yolks and again, beat until everything is mixed. You can put the batter into a container with lid and refrigerate until needed.
Step Three: Peel the Jalapenos
The jalapeno peppers should have been steaming for at least ten minutes. Open the container carefully and peel the charred skin off the jalapenos. The steaming process should make this a lot easier.
Step Four: Add the Relleno
Relleno is stuffing and traditionally, chiles rellenos are stuffed with cheese. After peeling the peppers, make a small cut down the length of the pepper, just enough to open it and get the seeds and veins out. Don’t throw them out, you will be using them in part two when making the tomato jalapeño sauce that goes on top of the jalapeño pepper rellenos.
After removing the seeds and veins, stuff them with a bit of grated cheese. I used some freshly grated Monterrey, squeezed the cheese into small ovals, and placed the cheese oval into the pepper. I then used the wooden toothpicks to close the pepper up.
Step Five: Everything Comes Together
Pour some flour onto a small plate and roll the stuffed peppers in the flour making sure they are covered completely.
Pour some oil into a small saucepan filling it up about 2 to 3 inches deep. Heat the oil on the stove until it’s ready for frying. You’ll know it’s ready when you drop a pinch of flour in the oil and it sizzles.
Dip the jalapeño peppers in the egg batter that was prepared in step two and make sure they are completely covered.
Then place them in the hot oil until brown. Use some tongs to get them out and place them on a plate with paper towels to soak the oil. In part two I’ll show you how to make the tomato jalapeno sause that is poured on top of the jalapeno rellenos.
Planting Jalapenos Indoors
Begin growing these hot pepper plants indoors so that the seedlings get the nutrients they need without threat from the outdoor elements or pests. Sow these peppers between January to March, depending on how long of a growing season you have and the type of jalapenos you are planting. For example, the Early Jalapeno typically produces peppers a week or two earlier than other jalapeno varieties so adjust your planting schedule accordingly. Place your growing medium, such as sterile soil and perlite, inside containers that have holes at the bottom and place a tray underneath to catch the water. Water the soil thoroughly until moist and then place two to three organic vegetable seeds on top. Cover these seeds with a very shallow layer of dirt that is no more than ¼ inch deep and lightly water the top of the soil again.
Warm Your Jalapeno Seedlings
As part of the ideal growth cycle, jalapenos thrive if given the right temperature to germinate in. Keep your soil temperature around 80 degrees F and use a heating mat and cover for your container to make things easier. If you do not have these items, place your seedling tray in a warm area, such as above your refrigerator, and use plastic wrap to seal the top.
Transferring Seedlings
Growing jalapenos requires that you transplant the seedlings to a larger 6 to 8 inch pot when the pepper plants grow two sets of leaves. When the plants are 4-6 inches tall, move them outside. Plant outdoor jalapenos in the ground at least 1½ or 2 feet apart, with each row around 14 -18 inches apart. If using containers, a 1 to 2 gallon container works well. Continue to water the jalapeno plants so that the soil is moist to the touch, but not drenched. Use a fertilizer that has a balanced NPK rating of 15-15-15 once the first peppers appear to give them help during the jalapeno growth cycle.
Did you enjoy this article? If so, check out the "Grow Your Own Jalapenos and Super Hot Peppers in Containers" e-book for detailed, step-by-step instructions that explain how to grow all of your favorite chillies from beginning to end.
