Growing Hot Peppers in Pots is easy!
Here are some of our top tips:
Some varieties do better than others, so pick wisely, and make sure to plant them in a well-draining larger pot that is at least 2-5 gallons. You want to make sure you have well-draining soil with plenty of drainage holes so that the roots don't stay soggy.
OUR TOP TIPS:
Growing Super Hot Peppers like the
Carolina Reaper in Containers:
Hot peppers like Carolina Reapers can be grown in containers, but make sure to pick a suitable large container with good drainage and well-draining soil – you don't want hot pepper plants to have wet feet.
Use large pots:
Hot Peppers like Carolina Reaper plants can grow to be as big as 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide, so having a large 5 gallon container is best for the largest harvest. You also want to make sure to water consistently, but let the soil dry out a tad between waterings – don't keep them roots soggy!
Hot peppers including Reapers do best in warm weather but have little tolerance for weather above 85 °F – if it gets over 85˚ the plants may lose blossoms and stop producing fruit until it cools back to reasonable temperatures again. You can move container-grown hot peppers to a partial shade area during the hottest days to help keep them blossoming and producing.
Fertilizing:
Peppers are light feeders, but will benefit from a regular feeding of a well-balanced, organic fertilizer or compost tea. Don't over-fertilize, too much nitrogen could result in a bushy plant without any blooms. We like to use Fish emulsion or 5-10-5 fertilizer is fine for fertilizing your pepper plant once they've started blooming. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers.
Container grown Hot Peppers are Portable:
Because super hot peppers like the Carolina Reaper take a long time to ripen for harvest, growing them in a container is great as you can move them to warm locations if there is cold weather expected, or into partial shade on days over 85˚ F.
Also be sure to check out all these other great varieties of hot peppers that grow well in 3-5 gallon containers:
Bulgarian Carrot Pepper
Aji Limo / Lemon Drop Pepper
Early Jalapeño
Jalapeño M (Organic)
Yellow Jalapeño
Traveler Jalapeño
Goat Horn Pepper
Cayenne Peppers - Ring of Fire
Grow Ornamental Hot Peppers in Pots:
These two ornamental peppers below are beautiful in containers, with multi-colored peppers in yellow, purples and reds so they look like holiday lights! Prettier than flowers, and edible too in hot sauces, salsas or dried and crushed to be used for hot pepper flakes. Try them out:
NuMex Twilight Peppers
Bolivian Rainbow Peppers
Pictured below: NuMex Twilight Peppers:
Find lots more tips on how to start pepper seeds indoors, when to start them, how to prevent sickly seedlings and more...
Learn more about How to Grow Peppers »
Happy growing!
