Jalapeno Pepper Basics: Growing Jalapenos 101
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Planting Jalapeño Pepper Seeds
Plant jalapeno seeds indoors in pots or in a propagator about six weeks before the last expected frost. For many locations, this will be anywhere between January and March. Use a sterile seed-starting mix to fill the containers about 3/4 full. Drop one to three seeds in and cover them with a light layer of soil. Allow plenty of air ventilation to prevent fungal rot. It generally takes between 3 to 5 weeks to germinate chili pepper seeds.
Jalapeño Pepper Light Requirements
The seedlings should be exposed to light for up to 16 hours a day, which means you should place them in an area that receives indirect sunlight from a window. If you don’t have a sunny spot, hang grow lights positioned 2 to 4 inches above the plants. If your seedlings begin to lean, try moving the light closer to the tops of the plants to see if they straighten up. On the other hand, if they begin to wilt, your light might be too close. Keep a close eye so you can make adjustments as needed.
Potting Up Jalapeno Seedlings
Click here to view Purple Jalapeno seedlings available at eGardenSeed.com.
Hardening Off Jalapeno Plants
Prepare your Jalapenos for the rigors of the outdoors before they actually go outside. You can harden them off — or toughen them up — safely by letting a small fan blow on them for a few hours a day. You can also very gently grasp the stems and move them back and forth and side to side to encourage these parts to thicken up.
Moving Jalapenos Outdoors
After two more weeks and after the last potential frost, you can move the jalapeno plants outside. Place pepper plants in 2 to 5 gallon containers, or plant them directly in the ground about 16 to 18 inches apart.
Outdoor Jalapeno Plants
Outdoor plants should get at least 6 full hours of sunlight each day. Jalapeno peppers grown in temperatures between 80F to 90F degrees yield maximum fruit. A standard 10-10-10 NPK fertilizer can be used to feed plants, but make sure you follow the directions on the fertilizer container so you don’t use too much and burn the plant. Further, organic matter, such as manure, is ideal for giving peppers the boost they need to thrive and for preventing weeds. Lastly, jalapeno plants do well with an inch of water each week, but don’t let the soil become too waterlogged because this is detrimental to the health of the plant. Watering peppers is tricky due to peppers being subject to damping off, but you can use a moisture meter or try the bottom-watering technique to make this task easier. Depending on the variety, the size of the peppers varies from 2 to 3.5 inches and the color of the fruit is typically red or green during ripening.
Handling Jalapeno Peppers
These peppers may irritate the skin because of their capsaicin content. While cooking, consider wearing latex gloves, or else keep the dish soap nearby. If you do feel the spicy bite of capsaicin, wash your hands with dish soap, or hold a towel dipped in milk over the affected area.
This year I’m going to grow like crazy! Jalapeno peppers everywhere.
When do you know to pick the peppers. red or green and then how to preserve them ( refrigerate them, leave them on the counter to dry out.?)
Either green or red is fine to begin picking jalapenos, but you want to make sure that they are shiny, firm to the touch and come off easily from the branch. When you pick them depends more on your preference. If you want to use the chillies for salsas, for example, pick them when they are green, but, if you plan to dry them, harvest the jalapenos when they begin to turn red.
As for preserving, there are numerous ways to this. One quick and easy solution is to freeze your jalapenos. After washing and drying them first, lay the peppers on a flat surface and stick them in your freezer until they are frozen. Double bag your frozen chillies in freezer bags and they will stay good for approximately 9 to 12 months.
A great resource that covers both of these topics is The Complete Chile Pepper Book: A Gardener’s Guide to Choosing, Growing, Preserving, and Cooking.
Thanks for your questions!
If jalapeno plants freeze over the winter will they sprout again in spring?
Your jalapenos should sprout again, but it depends on how often they were subject to frost and the low temperatures that they were exposed to. Ideally, you should winter your pepper plants by digging up in-ground chillies and placing them in 10-inch pots. Leave your plants outside for a couple of days and water them to allow them to get used to the new environment. Cut back any dead vegetation and inspect the branches and leaves for insects before bring your peppers inside. If you don’t have room in your house, leave the chile plants in the garage. You can put your pepper plants back out when spring comes.
I grew several types of hot peppers but none of them were hot. Grew them in containers with mostly compost and potting soil. The soil here is pH 8-9 and heavy clay and hardly will grow weeds. WHAT do I need to do for my peppers???
Hi Peggy, peppers need to be stressed out once they’ve gone past the seedling stage to produce a hotter flavor. This means water your chillies less. Also, what types of peppers are you growing? Some varieties of jalapenos, such as the NuMex Primavera, are pretty mild compared to the more traditional jalapeno. Further, peppers in the chinense family, like scotch bonnet and trinidad scorpion, are extremely hot so you may have better luck with them. Hope this helps!
do you replant pepper plants every year like you do with tomatoes?
Hi, peppers don’t need to be replanted every year. Chile plants typically last between 10 to even 15 years. Thanks for your question.
What is the lowest temp for growing Jalapeno?
I believe the lowest temperature would be about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but that’s really pushing it. For the best germination rates and plants that yield maximum fruit, try to give your chillies at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Hope that helps!
We just bought some jalapeno plants that are very tall and leggy. Can, or should I pinch the tops back to promote more branching?
Hi Fran, thanks for your question. If your jalapeno plants are leggy, you definitely can pinch off the lateral branch tips with its top two leaves. This practice promotes a bushier plant so the jalapeno isn’t so top heavy.
If you grow your peppers from seed and provide a grow light when they germinate, this bypasses the need for pinching because they won’t become so leggy. Some growers prefer to pinch anyway, but it’s dependent on your preference. Hope this helps.
This is my first year to grow jalapenos and they are all pretty short (~2 inch). I’ve let them sit on the branch hoping they might grow longer but no luck. Could it be because I grew them in a pot? Thanks!
Hi Jen, congrats on your first jalapeno-growing journey! The size of your jalapenos is dependent on the variety you are growing; some are much smaller than others. The ones in the grocery stores are often hybrids, which is why they are sometimes larger than what we grow on our plants. And no, growing your chillies in a pot shouldn’t affect how large the fruit gets. Hope this helps!
This is my first season planting a garden and everything is rockin and rollin, but on of my jalapeños on the bottom tip is discolored and for lack of a better term “soggy”. The whole pepper is a beautiful green color then the last inch is brown and soft. I cut it off the plant to inspect and I didn’t want this pepper stealing nutrients from the other healthy fruits. What causes this and is there any way to avoid this happening??
Hi Mike, sounds like your jalapenos might be suffering from blossom end rot (BER). The best way to avoid this is to give your plants a calcium supplement such as Cal-Mag. Cal-Mag is great because its designed to feed the roots of your plant and it also gives your peppers an essential magnesium boost as well. Try this and see how your chillies respond. Good luck!
Plants growing & flowering like crazy but only one pepper has survived past flowering.
This is my first year growing jalapenos in my garden. Plants are doing great and each one is producing a good yeild. I’m a little confused on the harvesting though. It seems that, once they reach a good length, they are the bright green color that is recommended for havesting. Then they turn a dark green. Do I need to harvest before they turn dark green?
Many Thanks
Hi Jim,
Honestly, it totally depends on your preference. I would pick the jalapeno at different stages to taste them and make a decision from there. Some people pick them at the bright green stage, others wait until the pepper displays “corking,” which appears as small, brownish marks along the body of the chile and others even wait for the pepper to turn red.
I hope this helps and congratulations on healthy plants! My first jalapeno plant died so I’m happy to hear of your success. =)
this is my first time growing my own peppers (for POPPERS). They have done very well since we first planted them but…my question is: once you pick the peppers do they “grow back” in the same place they were previously picked? Also – I live in missouri is it “safe” to leave the plants outside for the winter and Hope they come back next year? Thanks!!
Hi Angie, great questions. It’s hard to answer the first one because I’ve had chile plants behave different; some peppers grew back in the same spot, while other varieties didn’t. The best way to know is to just pick your chillies and watch closely to see what happens. As for the winter, I wouldn’t leave the pepper plants out if you want them to survive and continue producing next year. I’m working on a new article about overwintering, but basically, you want to move your plants indoors before it starts regularly getting below 50 F. What I do is prune the plant, put it in a container (if it’s in the ground), and fill the container with new soil. I then move the containers to an indoor area like a garage and wait to move them back out only when the last threat of frost has passed. I hope this helps and good luck!
First year growing them hard to find a constent supply so I have way enough plants of diffent varieties to start with ,Seems like its taking forever to get any start of fruit though is this normal?
Hi Del, did you sow your Jalapeno seeds, or did you purchase the plants? This variety can take between 75 to 90 days or more to produce fruit, depending on the type you are growing. I hope this helps!
hallo all its my first time growing chilli of any kind. I am growing jalapenos now they say it takes roughly 70 days to bear fruit. Mine is now a month old and has just started to grow true leaves. My question is are mine on the rite track? im growing Telica Jalapenos.
Hi,
Congratulations on growing your first hot peppers! It sounds like your Jalapenos are right on target. I know it can be hard to way for the chillies; they sure take a long time compared to other plants.
Have fun and keep those questions coming.
Hi, I am also a first time planter, I planted the Jalapeno seeds mid June and now it is August the plants all look pretty healthy, but none of them have produced fruit or even shown signs of producing fruit. When should i expect the Jalapenos to begin to appear?
Hi,
Depending on the variety, Jalapenos take 75 days or more to start growing chillies. So, if you sowed seeds in mid June, I’d guess you might start seeing flowers in mid to late September. It’s a good thing that you don’t see any fruit appearing yet because the plants are taking their time to build a strong structure to support lots of fruit.
Good luck!
I have a plant bought from a nursery aprox. 2-3 months ago. It has flowered numerous times, but no peppers. Also, the lower leaves have a white pattern on them, kind of wavy. No bugs that I can see. I am growing it in a pot on the patio. Will I ever get peppers?
Hi Julie, oftentimes, chile plants will flower many times over before they begin producing peppers. Your plants will produce eventually. Also, the wavy lines could be the result of leaf miner insects. I would prune away any infected leaves and then apply Neem oil – an organic oil – or install yellow sticky traps to catch them.
Good luck!
I’ve been growing cayenne peppers for a long time, but this is my first time growing jalapenos in pots. From my prior experience with hot peppers, I do know that the roots of cayenne and jalapeno pepper plants tend to grow deep. Exactly how much depth should i allow for the roots to grow to their full potential in a pot?
Hi Stephen, 10 to 12 inches is usually sufficient, which is typically a five to seven gallon pot. If you’re growing a smaller chile variety, such as the white habanero, you can go with a 2 gallon container. Hope this helps!
Hey,
I have about 5 Jalapeno plants and I have had success before with nice smooth shiny chillies…but this time around they seem to be ‘corking’ is this normal? how do i stop it from happening?
Hi, yes, corking is normal and is just a sign that your Jalapenos are mature and ready to be picked. You can’t stop them from corking, but you can pick them before they reach this stage. Also, you can grow Jalapeno varieties, such as the El Jefe, that are less prone to displaying these crack marks. Thanks for your question.
Hello, love the site. I was transferred for work from Louisiana to Gabon, Africa (on equator). I am addicted to hot peppers and much to my surprise Gabon does not have Jalapeños. I was able to mail some seeds (don’t tell anyone) and started my own pepper garden but need some advice…
1. How do peppers do in equatorial climates?
2. Will they grow all year round?
3. How big of pots are required (growing on porch)? I have read anywhere from 2 to 5 gallons. 5 will be hard to find, how small can I go?
Thanks
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for your comment! Your peppers should do fine in your climate assuming you provide good drainage, nutrients and water. You might want to mix in a mulch like hardwood chips with the soil to keep plants cool during those hot days, also filter the hot mid-day sun by placing containers in the shade during that time.
As for year-round growing, I can’t say for sure, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t keep growing. It’s the cold temperatures (below 50 degrees Fahrenheit) and low light levels that make plants go into hibernation.
You should be able to use 2-gallon containers. I wouldn’t go much smaller than that.
Hope that helps!
(From South Florida) I currently have my first 2 attempts at jalapeno plants: one that I purchased at the store which was already a foot or more high when I brought it home, and 2 or 3 others that were started from seeds. They are both “tam” jalapenos. I don’t know anything about this variety, other than they say they are ‘milder’ than regular jalapenos (I sure hope they’re not too mild!).
I’ve gotten my first jalapeno and now this week 3 more on the way, on the first already-planted one, and the plant itself is about 2 to 2 and a half feet high. The first jalapeno started to weigh down the top of the plant. Should I stake the plant to support this if it keeps getting top-heavy and looking like it’s going to droop over?
Also, the newest leaves on top have constantly been looking very dried out and looking like they were in a very bad shape, but I’ve realized over the last month or two that they seem to be uncurling and opening up into full leaves as they grow bigger. Is this normal? This particular plant is very dark, and the leaves droop real quick, too, if it gets dried out, so I keep it watered, and have used a little multipurpose MiracleGro (tomato-style) and its doing alright now. Additionally, its wooding up the stalk just a tiny bit about an inch or two at the soil level. Is this ok?
The other plants from seeds are small, lighter green, softer, and ones starting to flower. They’re both just at a foot high or less. I trust they’re well.
Hi Marcus, you should definitely stake your plants because they can topple over in high winds and with a lot of heavy pods. Sounds like you are watering and fertilizing correctly if the leaves are opening up. It’s not uncommon for leaves to curl up during the hottest part of the day and then open up again. And yes, the woody area above the soil line is okay.
Hope this helps!
This is my first season growing stuff. I eat loads of jalepeneos and have been throwing the seeds in the gardent. It is winter in Houston (zone 9) so I don’t expect anything to happen until after January. However, I was reading online concerning growing peppers and the seed germination process requires several steps. My question follows: Will the “throw the seeds in the garden” technique work or should I go through the multi-step germination process?
On a related topic, I planted a banana pepper plant several months ago and it has been blooming and producing peppers through the witner. My second question follows: Is the banana pepper similar to the jalepeneo pepper in terms of the results I have experience in zone 9?
Thanks for your help.
My jalapeno plant has been growing indoors and is a sturdy plant that has grown to a height of nearly 3ft. I has a couple of branches. I am worried it is getting too big and I wanted some advice on whether I can cut off some of the branches and replant them. Is this possible or am I going to kill the plant.
Hi Amjad, yes, you can replant a pepper branch. Just make sure your cutting device is sterilized first to avoid transferring pathogens to the plant. Hope this helps!
PEPPER TIME!
This will be my 3rd year with peppers. Last year I grew 16 of each spicy banana and jalopenos. We gave away tons eat a ton fresh and canned several jars and and looks like were going to be rite on target to run out in April May. This year I am intending on planting 36 plants of each. Wich would you recomend? Trying to grow from seed to be cost effective or transplanting for a higher survival rate? Our last frost is mid march. Weather here on the gulf coast is HOT AND HUMID!!!!
I live in Saigon, Vietnam, and I want to grow jalepenos here bcause they are so expensive, and I need them for my business, plus I can sell them for $5.00 a pound. Any tips for grow here, the average temp here is around mid 80′s year yound, with a 6 month rainy season. Alot of people have tried to grow them here but always fail. So any help would be greatly appreciated.
robert-
i am in a similar situation in thailand as you. perhaps we can link up outside this venue to figure this stuff out together.
mr. moderator- can you send robert my email? or should i just post it?
Will jalapenos ripen to red off the bush?
Yep! Mine usually start turning red after a couple of days.
Hi I am growing Jalapeños and Cayenne peppers and they both flowered and had a lot of fruit and I picked them and the cayenne is once again full of fruit but the jalapeño has hard bits where the flowers were sprouting. Do jalapeños flower more than once in summer? Should I feed them with osmocote and thrive? Or just wait and see if they will reflower?
Hi, I currently have several jalapeno’s and bell’s that have survived the winter here in central Louisiana due to an extremely mild winter. My plants have continued to grow and produce non-stop but the growth rate has slowed. The peppers produced are much smaller or deformed (small “jug like” peppers). The plants (the jalapeno’s especially) have grown to about five feet, produced a bushel of peppers that were mild to extremely hot.
Now that we’re starting a new growing season my question is …Do I need to prune my plants back? They seem very healthy (even though a little stringy and thin,leaf wise) and I don’t want the new fruit to over-weight the stems.
Suggestions?
Thanks, wade
last year I grew long,green jalapenos, and this year they are short and red? Does anyone know what happened?
Hi i was wondering…i started my seeds this year in a grow tray i have red habanero’s, jalapenos, cayenne, and bell pepper…i got started a little late this year as today is april 24…people always talk about the hardening of stage but if you start your seedlings in the grow tray and at first sprout just put them directly in sunlight and pull the whole tray in if it gets to cold at night do you need to go through the hardening off stage?
Hi, may I have some advice on growing them in NW Montana? I plant in 4′ x 12′ raised beds. Two years ago, I planted jalapeno starts late (mid-June), they stayed only a foot tall and produced some peppers. Last year, I planted earlier and we had a wet spring and June. Again I ended up with plants 18″ tall and peppers – not nearly enough. This year I planted starts May 8 and left them covered with “garden fleece” day and night for 2 weeks. Then we put up a pvc and 6 mil anti-condensate plastic 7′ tunnel greenhouse over every bed. So they have had this covering for about 3 weeks. With them in the bed are tomatoes and tomatillos. Everything is growing except the jalapenos. The leaves have retained their color and stayed on, but they have not grown an inch. They are the same 8″ they started out. I took the flower buds off when I planted them. What am I doing wrong? Thank you for your help!
Hello, i read a couple of posts where you mention to keep the jalapenio plants in a garage over the winter. I don’t have s garage, will they do ok in my crawl space? The low temp in the crawl space is around 35-40? Do they need light during the winter or will they do ok in the dark? Thanks for any info you can give
Hi Jason,
Any indoor area or even covered patio should work for the winter. Your crawl space sounds too cold because peppers do not do well if they are consistently exposed to temps under 50 degrees Fahrenheit. And yes, peppers do need light (approximately 8 – 10 hours) during the winter.
If you keep peppers outdoors, you can place a frame, such as a tomato cage, over the plant and hang a shower curtain, bubble wrap, frost blanket, floating row cover or other lightweight material over it to keep the plant warm at night. Just remove the covering first thing in the morning.
Hope this helps!
First time growing jalepenos. My plant is nursery bought and is now about 3 feet tall and super healthy. Though it has produced probably 200 flowers in the past 2 months, I don’t have the first pepper. Is this normal? I’m starting to think I need to bribe some bees to germinate the plant.
Hi Josh,
Yes, this sounds pretty normal. Sometimes it takes awhile for the pods to come, especially if this is the plant’s first year. Try rubbing your finger in the middle of the flowers to get them going. Also, it’s been my experience that temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit or below 65 degrees can keep peppers from growing.
Sounds like your plant is healthy. You’ll be enjoying jalapeños soon. =)
I reluctantly tried your tip. I thought you may have been having fun with me. Today, two days after that, I have a dozen small peppers. Many thanks.
Hi Josh,
Thanks for keeping me updated. Your post made me laugh. Nope, I would never joke about how to raise peppers because I know how much work it takes to get those chillies!
Hope you’re enjoying your summer and that you have an abundant harvest. =)
Can i use an Aqua Globe for my jalapeno peppers to water it?
Hi George, I’ve never tried an Aqua Globe so I can’t say for sure. If you do try it, make sure to watch your plants closely to see if they exhibit any negative signs, such as leaf drop or discoloration, so you can stop using it if necessary. Hope this helps.
My green jalapeno plant is growing one red pepper (it was red to begin with). Why is this?
Hi Carrie, that’s interesting! Typically, jalapeños start off green and then turn red when fully mature. That one red pepper must have matured very quickly. Hope you enjoyed it. =)
Hello,
I’m growing Jalapenos for the first time. I have 3 plants in one large pot. They are all producing peppers but they are only growing to about 1-1/2″ long before darkening, corking and then turning red. I have one that turned red immediately and is about the size of a grape. The plants are getting sunlight about half the day, inside a screened porch and staying wet. I used one of the peppers on a salad and it was very hot but I was hoping for larger ones to stuff and grill. Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks from a newbie
Hi Brian, sounds like you’re having a lot of success growing jalapeños — especially since this is your first time! The size of the jalapeños really depends on what variety you are growing. For instance, some varieties like the Early Jalapeno are a bit smaller than other types like Mucho Nacho. What kind are you growing? Also, the size of your pot could be part of the size issue. I would try picking peppers before they get to the red ripe stage so that the energy goes to the other chillies and potentially makes them larger. Lastly, how long has the plant been producing peppers? I ask because sometimes the very first peppers that grow are the smallest. I’ve had lots of pepper plants produce tiny pods at first and then start producing bigger chillies later in the growing season.
Hope this helps!
I have 6 jalapeno plants that are doing ok.. however I have a small problem with black ants living around/next to my plants. Theres alway a few ants on each plant. I don’t see them eating anything, but I really don’t know if they are harming them or not?? And if so, how can I get rid of them, with out using ant killer? Thanks
Hi Stephen,
You might check your plants for aphids or whiteflies because these insects are known to secrete honey dew, which attracts the ants. What you can do is spray the leaves, stems and other plant parts with a sharp stream of water to get them off. Do this everyday. Otherwise, introduce beneficial insects like ladybugs, or use an organic spray, such as Neem oil, to control the problem.
Hope this helps!
I put the jalapeno I grew in a pot last November in my garden this past summer. Here in hot south Florida, we cannot garden much in the summer because the sun is too intense. This plant grew like crazy, but produced no fruit during the summer. It is now September 10th, and the plant is 5″ 7″ tall, and full of peppers. It is a mammoth variety jalapeno, and the fruit is pleasingly hot. I wonder if there is a record for the world’s tallest jalapeno bush.
Wow! Thats so crazy. Because, before I wrote to you I got really close to one of my plants and watched what the ants were doing… and, I did notice a small (and when I say small, I mean really, really small) pile of what I thought at the time was piles of the flower or something. And thinking about it now, they were little aphids!! I had no idea. I did a little research, and come to find out, the ants will actually protect these little guys! haha Crazy Stuff! My plants are doing really good. The ants and aphids don’t seam to be slowing down production, so I’ve just let them be. Thank you so much for the feedback, because at least now I have peace of mind.
Thanks again,
Stephen
I’m so glad I could help. =) Thanks for writing.
Hi I have a greenhouse so can I get chills of the same plant 2 years running
Hi Nigel, yes, a greenhouse is ideal and you can overwinter your chillies so they grow for more than one year. Just make sure your plants are not exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit and outside elements like frost and snow. You can get the same plant to grow peppers for many years.
Hi, I am caring for a friend’s jalapeno plants while she is away on vacation. They are producing small mild flavored peppers, but interestingly, there are also small round berries on the plant, distinctly different from the peppers. The immature berries start out green and turn near black, they resemble a small blueberry in size and shape. What are these berries and is there a use for them? Also, i see that my friend has been putting eggshells on the surface of the soil. is that helpful to the plant? Thanks in advance.
Hi Sonja, so both the Jalapeños and black berries are growing on the same plant? Wow, I’d love to see a picture! It’s possible to graft two different types of pepper varieties to each other so that different chiles grow on the same plant. As far as the berry-like pods, that sounds like it could be the black pearl pepper, but it’s hard to say without seeing the pods. The black pearl is edible and hot. Some people like the taste and others don’t.
As far as the eggshells, that is an excellent calcium source for peppers, which helps prevent diseases such as blossom end rot (BER).
Thanks for writing!