General Management Methods for Potted Chili Peppers
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This article mainly discusses the general management methods for various chili peppers, taking朝天椒 as an example. These methods can be referred to for other varieties of chili peppers!
Basic habits of chili peppers: Except in South China, where they can be planted as perennials; in most other areas, they are usually cultivated as annual vegetables.
They prefer hot environments, are heat-tolerant but not cold-tolerant! The most vigorous growth period occurs in summer and early autumn.
Common varieties of chili peppers: Ornamental ones include五彩椒 (colorful peppers) and 樱桃椒 (cherry peppers).
Small fruit types are usually朝天椒 (朝天 chilli peppers).
Large fruit types include sweet peppers, bell peppers, and 哈瓦那 (Habanero) peppers.
Small fruit chili peppers usually have stems facing upwards, with fruits growing towards the sky; while large fruit chili peppers have stems facing downwards, with fruits hanging down and oriented towards the ground.
Different varieties of chili peppers have different levels of spiciness, with sweet peppers being the mildest;朝天椒 is spicier, but still less spicy than 哈瓦那 and 五彩椒.
Based on the basic growth patterns of chili peppers, the following care is required for each stage: For annual plantings, the stages include: sowing, early growth, vigorous growth, flowering, and fruiting.
For perennial plantings, in addition to the above stages, there are also dormancy and germination periods; if chili peppers are planted perennially, during the winter, due to low temperatures and other conditions, growth will pause, usually showing evergreen dormancy.
1. Sowing: Due to their heat-loving nature, spring and early summer sowing are most suitable; the best sowing period is from March to July. Sowing a bit earlier will allow for more robust growth and more harvests.
When sowing, there is no need to germinate the seeds in advance. Just plant them directly, completely cover the seeds with soil, water thoroughly, usually use a light flood irrigation to keep the soil moist, and wait for germination; if germinated, that is, planting after white roots appear, it will improve the uniformity of seedlings. Under normal conditions, the seedlings will sprout within 7 to 14 days.
2. Early Growth (seedling stage to 4 or 5 true leaves): After the chili pepper cotyledons are fully expanded, you can water according to the condition of the topsoil, just water thoroughly during this stage; usually, this stage lasts nearly a month, indicating that after germination, chili pepper growth is slow and requires more patience. Due to slow growth, basically no topdressing is needed (the seedlings are too small, and topdressing may cause fertilizer damage, affecting growth).
3. Vigorous Growth (4 or 5 true leaves to before flowering): This stage is the most rapid period of nutritional growth for chili peppers. In addition to watering as in the early growth stage, you can also apply topdressing appropriately to promote growth.
Since chili peppers have a strong natural branching ability, topping is usually not required.
As for transplanting, since the seedlings are relatively large, from the cotyledon stage to before flowering, they can be transplanted at any time.
As for the number of plants per pot, usually 1 plant is enough for pots under 10 centimeters; for pots over 15 centimeters, usually 2 plants are sufficient.
Potted chili peppers have stronger ornamental value compared to ground-grown ones, especially small fruit varieties like朝天椒 and五彩椒.
4. Flowering Stage: After chili peppers enter the flowering stage, in addition to managing as in the vigorous growth stage, pollination should also be noted:
Chili pepper pollination is actually very simple; gently shaking the plant can achieve it. If it's still not reliable, you can directly apply pollen to the flower heart with your hand or a cotton swab.
Chili peppers in sunny and well-ventilated areas will be very beneficial for flowering and fruiting.
5. Fruit Setting Stage: After chili peppers enter the fruit setting stage, in addition to referring to the management of the vigorous growth stage, the condition of the fruits should also be observed, and deformed and diseased fruits (especially large fruit varieties) should be removed.
If chili peppers have sufficient growth time, they will fruit in batches, with distinct harvests.
For example, from the first flowering and fruiting of the plant to the maturity of the fruit is the first harvest; after the first harvest, flowering and fruiting again is the second harvest.
In general, it will enter a cycle of flowering to fruit setting.
During the flowering and fruiting stages, under suitable temperatures, topdressing with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers is mainly used to promote flower and fruit growth.
Appendix: Harvesting. When to harvest chili peppers is related to the variety; for sweet peppers, they should be harvested when the fruit is good but not fully mature for fresh eating.
For朝天椒, you can completely wait for the fruit to dry and turn red, that is, fully mature, then harvest and dry it for use as a spice (if making pickled vegetables, you don't need to wait for it to fully mature). When to harvest depends on personal preference.
No matter the variety, if chili peppers are to be saved for seeds, they must be harvested after they are fully mature (the standard for full maturity is that they turn red and dry, which is the case for almost all varieties).
For annual chili pepper plantings, after the weather gets cold in autumn and chili pepper growth stops, you can pull out the seedlings, ending the planting for the year.
If you want to plant chili peppers perennially, you also have to face the issue of overwintering dormancy. During the overwintering period, if the temperature is relatively low, with weak and short sunlight, a phenomenon of evergreen dormancy will occur, showing growth cessation; during this period, watering is normal, but no topdressing is needed. Unless, it is given an environment similar to midsummer, it will still bloom and fruit in reverse season in winter.
Therefore, for chili peppers, spring and summer sowing are in season; autumn sowing is out of season, and making chili peppers bloom and fruit out of season requires technical conditions (such as using greenhouses to increase temperature, strengthen sunlight, and extend daylight hours).
The above-sharing experience and knowledge of the general management methods for potted chili peppers are hoped to bring you some help after reading this article!