Caring for Your Growing Chili Peppers Weeds Keep your garden beds weeded to prevent competition from weeds.
Further, use an organic mulches, such as manure, to help feed the peppers and prevent weeds.
Diseases Chili peppers are prone to diseases like blossom end rot, rot, tobacco mosaic virus, anthracnose, mildew and bacterial spot.
Thus, it is best to plant varieties that are disease-resistant.
If a plant is infected, remove it before diseases can spread to other plants.
If you smoke, wash your hands before working in the garden.
This prevents the spread of tobacco mosaic virus.
Pests Insects like aphids, cutworms, hornworms and flea beetles can attack your peppers.
Cutworms can be discouraged by placing collars around each pepper at the beginning of a transplant outdoors.
Hornworms can be handpicked off the plants.
Aphids and flea beetles can be controlled by hosing off and pinching out the affected foliage.
Further, you can use an organic soap, such as Safers, to gently mist the foliage and get rid of the bugs.
Harvesting Your Chili Peppers Harvest Hot chili peppers can be harvested between 60 to 95 days following sowing.
Peppers should be picked when they have attained full size and proper color.
Pulling a pepper from a plant may result in the plant coming out of the soil so use garden shears to cut peppers off the vine instead.
Preserving and Storing Hot chili peppers can be preserved for a week in the refrigerator or for up to 2 weeks in a dry, cool spot.
Roasted and peeled peppers can be preserved in the freezer for approximately 6 months.
Whole, pickled, canned or cooked peppers will stay good for up to 2 years.