A precaution: overly-hardened plants are slow to recover and yields may be reduced. Reduce temperature and water and increase air movement around the plants to condition them for transplanting. Peppers are susceptible to transplant shock. Peppers thrive under warm conditions seeds germinate best at 85-90✯, and seedlings develop well at 75✯ during the day and 65✯ at night. Seeds may be sown thickly in flats and later transferred to 72-cell trays. About 8,000-14,500 plants are required per acre, depending on your choice of spacing in the field. One ounce of seed will produce 3,000-5,000 plants. This may require adjusting watering rates on cloudy days.

Do not permit moisture to remain on seedlings for more than 2-3 hours after watering. Avoid contamination from the greenhouse floor by lining it with plastic, growing plants on benches, and hanging watering devices when not in use. Use seed treated with a suitable fungicide or use a biofungicide soil drench (See Table 24, Microbial Disase Control Products). Peppers are a slow-growing crop and need protection from soil-borne diseases, especially damping-off organisms.

Sow seeds 8 weeks before field transplanting. Growers should produce their own transplants or contract with a reputable local supplier to minimize the potential of importing severe disease and insect problems that are common in other regions. Resistant or tolerant to: BLS: Bacterial Leaf Spot (races indicated) CMV: Cucumber mosaic virus, P: Phytophthora crown rot, PVY: Potato virus Y, TEV: Tobacco etch virus, TMV: Tobacco mosaic virus, ToMV: Tomato mosaic virus. Numex Suave Orange (mild orange habanero) Check variety descriptions carefully to obtain the proper peppers for your markets. Hot peppers generally become more pungent as they mature or if grown under stress. Varieties grown for green peppers take 55-60 days from transplanting to begin producing fruit colored fruit takes approximately another 20 days to develop.

Other types of sweet and chili (hot or pungent) peppers are usually elongated and tapered. Fruits left to mature on the plant turn red, orange or yellow, and sugar content increases markedly. Bell peppers are the most commonly grown and are usually harvested green. chinense Family Solanaceae) is a warm-season crop requiring 3-4 months of frost-free growing days.

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