sweet pepper advice please

[daffydill]

as a newbie to growing sweet pepper im totaly lost so can anyone please tell me how tall they grow and how far apart to grow them. Im growing california wonder and they will be in a tunnel. any advice welcome

[Flummery]

It all depends on how you treat them. if they are in biG pots they might well not grow very tall - maybe 15". However, if they get their feet in good soil they'll be a bit bigger. I've never had them go over about 2ft 6" though (but maybe I'm mean to mine!)

[chris]

I had some last year in I think a 9" pot, and they grew to around 1.5-2' I think.. Then the slugs came and stripped them clean. Literally everything apart from the stem - included all the fruit

If I have slug problems in this new house I'm going to rig up some electric fencing to keep them out!!!

[Janek]

Or get a guard dog to watch over your plants 24/7!

[jacob]

I've never had much success with peppers, even in the greenhouse, nevermind outside. Anyway, I'd plant them now and grow them on the windowsill until mid-April for a greenhouse or well into May for outside... Bigger the final pot the better, although I think there's a theory you keep them in a smallish pot until they start to flower, then pot on into a larger one?

I reckon Cork might be a bit cold to have them outside? What's everyone else's experience of outside peppers.

[King Carrot]

I've never had much success with peppers, even in the greenhouse, nevermind outside. Anyway, I'd plant them now and grow them on the windowsill until mid-April for a greenhouse or well into May for outside... Bigger the final pot the better, although I think there's a theory you keep them in a smallish pot until they start to flower, then pot on into a larger one?

I reckon Cork might be a bit cold to have them outside? What's everyone else's experience of outside peppers.

Had great success last year for the first time ever but I’m putting it down to the seed. They were Sunnybrook and Sweet Chocolate from Real Seeds. I’d tried various varieties before but with little or no fruit at the end of the season.

Here in West Kerry we get frequent gales over summer and cool spells which tend to set back Toms, Cus and Peppers if they're outside, so we grow them under glass/plastic. I'd stick them under cover if I was you to give them a chance of a decent crop.

[daffydill]

thanks for the replies. that gives me a fair idea of what to do so lets hope the summer will be fine

[Gwen11ian]

I grew four sweet peppers in an Earthbox inside a south facing glass sliding door. They only got to about two foot tall, one foot wide.. each with two to four peppers. My neighbor grew her's in her greenhouse, three to a grow bag using those plastic double pot feed/water things. She fed them rich and got about five per plant.. they took ages to ripen but they were huge! Plants themselves were about three foot tall by one and a half wide.