Growing Peppers from Seed to Harvest: The Ultimate 11 Step Guide

There are so many questions about growing peppers from seed, especially when you’re a beginner. If you follow my ultimate guide, gathered from years of growing, you’ll be able to start seeds and harvest the peppers that come in a few months after planting. Let’s get into the 11 steps (and more) so you know what to do during every growth stage.

I remember feeling defeated when I started growing peppers over a decade ago because either: 1) I couldn’t get my seeds to sprout or 2) my plants eventually died. Let’s skip all that!

For clarity, you can grow peppers from seed in many ways. Here, I’ll walk you through how to start pepper seeds indoors and continue growing your plants outside in pots.

I go everything in detail — you can check the TOC (above) to jump to a specific growing stage if you need to. 🌶

1. Choose Pepper Varieties To Grow

You can grow any type of chile when you start seeds at home. By now, you might be wondering, What kind of peppers should I grow?

There’s so many pepper seeds you can buy. The following chart has examples of popular chile varieties in different categories.

Fastest Growing Peppers	Bell pepper, Early Jalapeno, Anaheim pepper
Easiest Peppers To Grow	Cayenne pepper, Jalapeno pepper, Serrano pepper
Sweet Peppers	Corno di Toro pepper, Mini Sweet pepper plants, Sweet Banana pepper
Mild Peppers	Aleppo pepper, Espelette pepper, Poblano pepper
Hot Peppers	Carolina Reaper pepper, Ghost pepper, Habanero pepper

» Related: 113 Types of Pepper Plants That Will Make You Want to Grow Today

Another thing to consider is heat. The Jalapeno Scoville rating, for instance, puts this chile in the medium spicy category, but you can grow pepper hybrids that are milder or hotter than the norm. (Using the Jalapeno example, a TAM Jalapeno has less heat, and a NuMex Orange Jalapeno is spicier.)

And, Can you use seeds from a fresh pepper to plant? You can harvest store bought peppers, but the seed type (e.g., heirloom or hybrid) and origin determine what to expect when growing them out. For the best chance at viability — meaning the seeds are alive and can grow — get your seed harvest from ripe peppers.

2. Get Your Growing Supplies

Here’s what you’ll need to start peppers indoors and continue growing pepper plants outside in pots.

• Seed Starter Kit + Plant Hat Mat (see notes)
• Seed-starting mix
• Plant labels  
• T5 fluorescent or LED grow light (see notes)
• Worm castings or Fish emulsion fertilizer
• 3 to 4-inch containers for transplanting
• Potting mix
• 5-gallon container (or larger pot) for outside
• Neem oil (optional)

» Read More: Recommended Pepper Growing Supplies

Complete Seed Starter Kit (optional): The Jump Start seed starter kit comes with everything you need to start growing pepper seeds indoors: grow tray, seedling insert, lid and (essential) plant heat mat. If you already have some of these items, you won’t need this all-in-one product.

At a minimum, you’ll need a seed-starting propagator and plant heat mat (listed below).

Grow Light: LED and T5 fluorescent grow lights both work well for indoor gardening. You might choose an LED because it’s more energy efficient, while a T5 can be cheaper.

3. Know When To Start Pepper Seeds

Pepper plants need a long, warm growing season to grow fruit and not die in frost or freezing temperatures.

To get the best date for planting peppers, find your area’s last expected frost date and then count back 8 to 10 weeks to know when to start pepper seeds. The tool below gives you this information automatically.

Pepper Seed Starting Calculator

Enter your zip code or city and state to get your average last frost and the best dates for starting pepper seeds.

» Read More – When to Plant Peppers: 11 Best Garden Zones for Chiles

4. Plant Your Seeds

In this section, we’re starting peppers indoors. Your pepper seedlings are going to be inside for the next 8 to 12 weeks.

• Soaking Your Seeds
• Preventing Gnats
• Planting in a Seed-Starting Mix 
• How Often To Water Pepper Seeds
• How Long Does It Take Pepper Seeds to Germinate?

Soaking Your Seeds

Soaking pepper seeds before planting softens the seed shell and makes it easier for the roots to push through. You don’t have to do this, but seeds grow better this way (in my experience).

1. Brew a weak cup of chamomile tea and wait for the liquid to cool down to room temperature. (Chamomile is beneficial because it has anti-fungal properties.) Alternatively, you can just pour warm water in a glass. 
2. Drop seeds you intend to plant in the cup of tea or water. (A seed packet generally has 10 or more seeds.)
3. Leave the seeds to soak for 24 to 48 hours.

Preventing Gnats

Fungus gnat eggs are usually present in the material (grow media) where you start your plants. If you don’t want tiny black flies all over your home, these steps will help get rid of them.

1. Make an organic pesticide solution. 
2. Spray the inside of your trays and containers. 
3. Repeat this spray process every 3 to 4 days over a 10-day period. 

Planting In A Seed-Starting Mix                 

You have lots of choices when it comes to the growing media you use to plant your seeds. Using a seed-starting mix — specifically formulated to grow seeds — is one of the most common seed starting methods.

Supplies Needed:

• Seed starter kit with plant heat mat
• Seed starting mix
• Plant labels                 

1. Moisten the seed-starting mix so that it’s wet but not soggy. (If you squeeze the wet mix in your hand, it shouldn’t be dripping.)
2. Add the mix to the cells of the seed tray. The cells should be 75% full. 
3. Add your plant labels with the pepper names and dates.
4. Make a little indentation in the center of the mix and drop in three seeds. (The seeds shouldn’t be farther than ¼” away from the top.) Cover the seeds with a light layer of mix.
5. Optional: Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of the mix to help prevent surface mold. (This mold looks like a thin, gray film.)
6. Put the lid on your tray and slide open the vents a little bit to allow for airflow.  Place the tray on top of the plant heat mat. 

How Often To Water Pepper Seeds

The schedule for watering peppers depends on your environment and the type of mix you’re using. Add water to the seed pots when the mix starts getting dry.

The watering frequency is usually every day or every other day. Watch for the top of the mix to turn a lighter color, which lets you know it’s getting dry.

For reference, I usually water pepper seed pots every 3 days. It usually takes about 15 minutes for the water to reach the top of the mix.

How Long Does It Take Pepper Seeds To Germinate?

It takes about 7 to 21 days for pepper seeds to sprout, while Capsicum chinense varieties can take 6 weeks or more. When growing peppers from seed, use a plant heat mat to provide a soil temperature range (80°F to 90°F or 27°C to 32°C) that encourages pepper seed germination.

» Related – Germinating Pepper Seeds: 3 Tricks to Get Them to Sprout

5. What To Do After Germinating Seeds

When you see those green, upside-down “U” shapes, your pepper seeds have germinated — congratulations! This section covers what you need to do to take care of growing seedlings.

• How to Use a Grow Light
• When to Fertilize Pepper Seedlings

How To Use A Grow Light

After your pepper seedlings are standing upright, they need an indoor light source to keep growing indoors. Here’s how to use your light.

Supplies Needed: T5 fluorescent or LED

1. Take your seedlings off of the heat mat and out from under the lid.
2. Position your plants under your grow light. Check the manufacturer’s instructions to know how far away the light needs to be from your plants. (A T5, for instance, is usually 6 inches high.)
3. Follow a daily schedule of 16 hours on during the day and 8 hours off at night.

When To Fertilize Pepper Seedlings

Pepper seeds have enough energy to support the cotyledons (embryonic leaves). When seedlings grow the next set of leaves (true leaves), it’s time to start fertilizing peppers.

You can start feeding your chili pepper seedlings by giving them 1/4 strength fertilizer. Fish emulsion or worm castings are ideal choices because they won’t burn your seedlings.

» Read More: How to Care for Pepper Seedlings after Seeds Sprout

6. Transplant Pepper Seedlings 

Transplanting (potting up) is when you transfer your seedling to a bigger pot so the root system has enough room to keep growing. Pepper seedlings are ready for transplanting when they are at least 2 inches tall and have about four leaves.

You can transplant pepper seedlings in 3 to 4-inch containers filled with soil potting mix while they’re growing indoors.

7. Pinch Off Pepper Flowers

Pinching pepper plants — specifically the flower buds and flowers — prunes them to grow stronger roots and produce more chilies. To pinch, hold the pepper flower between two fingers and nip it off.

Pinch pepper blossoms while they’re indoors and stop after they’ve been in their outdoor containers for at least three weeks.

8. Harden Off Plants

When you harden off pepper seedlings, you give them a safe way to get used to outside elements like the sun and wind. If you don’t toughen them up, peppers grow weak and can suffer scorched leaves, snapped limbs, and stunted growth.

When To Harden Off Peppers:

• Seedlings are at least 8 weeks old
• Around 4 inches high
• Have a few sets of true leaves

Hardening off pepper plants takes about two weeks (inside and outdoors).

The first week, run a small fan on your indoor seedlings for a set period of time (like 15 minutes). Increase the time each day.

» Read More – Hardening Pepper Plants: How to (Safely) Prepare Seedlings for the Move Outdoors

Start leaving your plants outdoors during the second week to slowly acclimate them to the outside. Like the indoor process, start with a set period of time and then leave plants out longer on the remaining days of the week.

9. Transplant Pepper Plants Outside

Pepper plants can move outside when the following is true:

• Plants are hardened off
• The last threat of frost has passed (ideally, it’s two weeks past this date)
• Nighttime temperatures are regularly above 55°F (13°C)

» Use the Pepper Planting Calculator to get the last expected frost and transplanting dates for your location.

After that, you can transfer pepper plants into pots that are at least a 5-gallon size with drainage holes. Place your containers in an area that gets full sun.

Related Posts:

• How to Grow Habanero Pepper Plants In Pots: 3 Best Options Explained
• Growing Jalapenos 101: How to Grow Jalapenos from Seeds to Potted Plants

10. Harvest Your Peppers

You can harvest Banana peppers, Jalapenos and other chilies in the immature green peppers stage, when red, or once they’re the mature fruit color for that variety. You’ll also want to look at the pepper’s size.

Here are some more tips for understanding how and when to pick peppers during fruit production.

11. Pepper Plant Care

The last step in growing peppers from seed is ongoing pepper plant care. Here’s what you need to know to continue taking care of your pepper plants in pots.

Soil

The best potting soil for pepper plants has good airflow, drainage, is fertile and it has a neutral soil pH level between 6.0 to 6.8.

For mature peppers, choose a product like Ocean Forest Potting Soil. A potting mix — different from garden soil — is specifically designed for containers to prevent a compressed, soggy environment in the pot.

Water

How often to water pepper plants depends on your growing materials and local weather. For pepper seedlings, you’ll likely bottom-water them every 1 to 3 days, while mature pepper plants may be watered once a week. 

When watering pepper seedlings, check the soil moisture after 10 minutes or so — the soil line is darker when sufficiently watered. It’s easy to overwater pepper plants, and you don’t want them to get too wet.

As for how to water pepper plants in pots, you can run a hose over the root zone. Stop when you see water coming out of the bottom of the container. 

Fertilizer

Start fertilizing your pepper plants after the seedlings grow their first set of true leaves. Younger seedlings should get a weekly feeding of ¼ strength fertilizer, while potted pepper plants get ½ strength. 

For more on how and when to feed peppers in pots, along with foliar feeding and bonus amendments like epsom salt, check out this post on the best fertilizer for pepper plants.

Pests & Disease

Monitor your chile plants for disease like blossom end rot (BER) and insects like spider mites. You can use pepper companion plants like marjoram and thyme to act as a natural deterrent.

Prevent problems by using garden control methods: for example, good airflow, regular fertilization, blasting the undersides of leaves in the evening, and adding organic mulch (plastic mulch and natural materials like straw work well). 

Staking

Some pepper plants grow tall or produce heavy fruits like sweet Bell peppers. This causes leaning, which can lead to breakage. Use plant stakes to give your pepper plants support so that they stay upright in their containers.

Common Problems Growing Peppers Indoors

Pepper seedlings can experience problems when growing. The following chart lists some common issues and fixes for seedling care.

Growing Peppers From Seed FAQs

What’s Next?

I hope this guide helps you start growing peppers from seed so you can get as much joy from it as I do. 🌶

Be sure to check out the guides on growing peppers in containers. You’ll learn more about watering, fertilizing and other chile growing essentials. 

P.S. Please share this guide if you like it!

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