Peppers
Jalapeno
Pick green or let them go red.
- Indoors
- 8 wk (mid Mar)
- Outside
- Transplant after frost
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July; a lean run builds the heat
- Harvest
- Jul to Oct, green or red
Care
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July and August, about weekly in spring and fall. A long soak at the base until the top few inches are wet, then let it dry before the next. A slightly lean, even run late concentrates the heat.
- Sow
- 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, cut the weaker at the soil line when true leaves show. Set plants 18 inches apart in the bed.
- Start inside
- Mat at 80 to 90F, sprouts in 7 to 8 days. Under the lights the moment they break ground, 14 to 16 hours; off the mat at the first true leaves. Outside after mid May, once nights hold 50F.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked in at planting carries the bed most of the season. A medium feeder, so side-dress once at fruit set and go easy on the nitrogen; a leaner plant runs hotter.
- Ready
- Pick firm and green at full size from July, or leave them to turn red and a little sweeter. Cut with shears; the branches are brittle.
- Trouble
- Aphids curling the new leaves: knock them off with a hard water spray. Brown spots on leaves and pods: bacterial leaf spot, strip affected leaves and keep water off the foliage. Flowers drop in a heat wave: normal, they set again once it cools.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in July and August; bags dry far faster than a bed. 30 to 40 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag.
Jalapenos are the garden's workhorse heat, picking from July until frost off a single plant. Two plants cover salsa, poppers, and the pickle jar, with enough left over to ripen red.
Growing
Eight weeks under lights from mid March makes stocky transplants ready for the third week of May. In the bed, or one plant to a 5 to 7 gallon bag; jalapenos fruit earlier than the big sweet peppers, so the first green pods show in July. Pick often, and read corking (the tan stretch marks) as a pod at full size, not a flaw.
Varieties
Early Jalapeno is reliable even through a cool June; Jalafuego brings more heat and volume; El Jefe is a solid middle path.
In the kitchen
Green for salsa and quick pickles. The red ones are hotter and a little sweeter; smoked low over the grill until leathery, they are chipotles, which is all a chipotle ever was.