Gardening makes you happy and is becoming more and more popular. It's no wonder, given that home-grown fruit tastes better on principle than what you can find in the supermarket. When you grow your own peppers, you can be sure that there are no chemicals involved. With these instructions, you will soon be proud and successful in harvesting your first pepperoni.
Growing hot peppers from seeds is easy
cuttings or seeds
First you have to decide whether you want to buy a pre-grown plant from a specialist shop (these are available from February) or wait patiently until the seeds you have sown yourself begin to germinate. You can buy the latter either on the Internet or in specialist shops. The advantage of growing with seeds is the much more extensive selection. Lesser-known varieties are also available. Alternatively, you can also get the seeds from dry fruits. Make sure that the peppers are already fully ripe, because seeds from green fruits often do not germinate. How to go about collecting seeds:
- Slice the pod lengthways
- remove seeds
- dry on kitchen paper in a warm place (not in the blazing sun)
- Wrap seeds in paper to absorb residual moisture
- fill in a container
- store away from light
The Sowing
First sow a pepper in spring pots. Fill them with conventional garden soil and press two to three seeds into the substrate. January is perfect for sowing. However, if you keep the soil constantly moist, for example by placing the spring pots in a bowl of water and placing them in a warm place, germination will succeed all year round.
The pricking
Make sure that the pepperoni shoots neither dry out nor die due to waterlogging, the plant will grow quickly. If there is no ground frost after the ice saints in mid-May, the conditions outside are ideal for repotting the peppers. By the way, a sure sign is the formation of the second pair of leaves after the cotyledons. Very carefully dig up the young plant and remove it using wooden tweezers. In the new pot, a layer of algae substrate supports root formation.
In the pot or in the vegetable patch?
Finally, there is only the question of whether you want to continue cultivating your peppers as a container plant or in the ground. Keep in mind that a hot pepper in a pot can be overwintered better due to its mobility and that the choice of location is also easier. The latter can also be regulated with a greenhouse that you use for floor husbandry.