Garden Plant Guides

Tower Garden Grow Guide: How to Grow Peppers

Sweet or spicy? You decide for this easy-to-grow versatile veggie that makes a great addition to your Tower-to-Table recipes.
GROWING INFORMATION
Peppers
DIFFICULTY
2 out of 5 leaves
TIME TO HARVEST
12-18 weeks
INDOOR VS OUTDOOR
Outdoor
BEST TOWER POSITION
Middle or Bottom

Why We Love Peppers

From the tongue-searing serrano to the sweet bell, peppers come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of spiciness. And the culinary applications of peppers are equally varied — raw snacks, pizza toppings, curry pastes, and much more. As if that’s not enough, peppers are good for you, too, offering carotene, vitamin C, antioxidants, and other nutrients.

Download the Peppers Grow Guide PDF.

Varieties 

  • Sweet Peppers – The most common kind of peppers, sweet peppers come in many forms, but all are known for their mild flavour. 
  • Bell peppers — named for the bell shape of their fruit — are the most recognizable.
  • Mildly Hot Peppers – Though these peppers are officially considered hot, they’re often described as having just a little bite to them. Peppers that fall into this category include poblano, Anaheim, paprika, and pepperoncini.
  • Medium Hot Peppers – If mildly hot peppers are too meek for your taste buds, but you’re not sure if you can handle the heat of really hot peppers, then medium hot peppers such as jalapeño, red Fresno, and Hungarian wax peppers might be just right.
  • Hot Peppers – Some like it hot! Hot peppers will bring tears to your eyes and make you break out into a sweat. Thai chilli and habaneros are examples of hot peppers.

Planting Your Seedlings

What You’ll Need
  • Tower Garden Growing System
  • Seedling Starter Kit (if starting with seeds)
  • Pepper seeds/seedlings
  • Net pots
  • Tower Garden Support Cage (optional)
  • Access to power source

View more information on starting your seeds.

  1. Germinate your seeds. This step will take roughly 1-2 weeks. Pepper seeds should be ready for transplant (about 3-4 weeks) when they have a good root system growing from the rockwool cubes.
  2. Place one seedling cube into each net pot on your Tower Garden Growing System. Pepper plants can get relatively large, so we suggest placing the plant(s) in the middle or lower tier(s) of your Tower Garden. 
  3. Gently press the seedling cube until it touches the base of the net pot.

Growing Conditions

Temperature:  16 - 32° C

Light exposure and watering cycle can be controlled by our digital timer, but for manual reference:

Light

For outdoor – minimum 6-8 hours of full sunlight daily 

Watering Cycle

Please set the Tower timer to “O” for outdoor growing.

Maintenance & Pest Prevention

  • Check water and pH levels at least weekly.
  • Keep roots away from pump.
  • If growing outdoors, rotate garden regularly for even growing.
  • Clean pump monthly.
  • Check regularly for pests.
  • Remove dead plant debris.
  • Destroy diseased plant material.

More information on Tower Garden maintenance is here, as well as extra help for pests and troubleshooting. Growing peppers with Tower Garden may also require occasional manual pollination, learn why and how here. 

Harvesting 

  • Most peppers change colour from green to red, yellow, purple, or orange when they’re ripe. As the colour of the fruit changes, so does the flavour.
  • Keep in mind that peppers don’t continue to ripen once you remove them from the plant, so leave them attached until they’re as ripe as you want them.
  • It’s perfectly fine to harvest peppers before they reach full maturity. In fact, the immature fruit of some varieties is actually more flavourful.
  • Make sure to use a knife or shears to remove the peppers from the plant so you don’t cause injury to the rest of the plant.
  • To harvest, make a cut above the cap of the pepper, leaving a portion on the stem still attached.

Ways to Enjoy

  • Raw with Hummus – Looking for a healthy alternative to chips and dip? Slice up some fresh bell peppers and dip them into hummus for a nutritious snack. 
  • Dice and Toss – Elevate your pizzas, pastas, omelettes, or any other of your favourite dishes with some fresh diced pepper. Works great with both sweet and spicy varieties. 
  • Grilled – Make room on the grill for some bell peppers the next time you’re making burgers. Simply drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and throw it on the barbecue. 

 Looking for more recipes and kitchen inspiration? Check out Let’s Cook.