Sweet & Hot Pepper Production Guideline 2014 PDF
Sweet & Hot Pepper Production Guideline 2014 PDF
Sweet & Hot Pepper Production Guideline 2014 PDF
PRODUCTION GUIDELINE
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SWEET & HOT PEPPERS
1. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
Sweet peppers, also called bell peppers and even some chilli peppers all belong to the species
Capsicum annuum. Cultivars of these plants produce fruits in many different colours and shapes.
Usually the colours range from red to yellow and orange, but more exotic colours include purple, white
and lime green. The fruit is also frequently consumed in its unripe form, when the fruit is still green.
Peppers are native to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Pepper seeds were later
carried to Spain in 1493 and from there spread to other European, African and Asian countries.
Today, Mexico remains one of the major pepper producers in the world
The misleading name "pepper" (pimiento in Spanish) was given by Christopher Columbus upon
bringing the plant back to Europe. At that time peppercorns, the fruit of Pipernigrum, an unrelated
plant originating from India, was a highly prized condiment. The name "pepper" was at that time
applied in Europe to all known spices with a hot and pungent taste and so naturally extended to the
newly discovered Capsicum family. The most commonly used alternative name of the plant family,
"chili", is of Central American origin. Even more so, is the variation of the phonetic “chi l” sound derived
from the ancient Aztec language. Today, the word “chili” is used to describe a particular dish of food
containing beans and meat, whereas “chile” is used to describe the plant and fruit, usually pungent.
Bell peppers are botanically fruits, but are generally considered in culinary contexts to be vegetables.
While the bell pepper is a member of the Capsicum family, it is the only Capsicum that does not
produce capsaicin, a lipophilic chemical that can cause a strong burning sensation when it comes in
contact with mucous membranes. The lack of capsaicin in bell peppers is due to a recessive form of a
gene that eliminates the production of capsaicin and, consequently also, the "hot" taste usually
associated with the rest of the Capsicum family. The term "bell pepper" or "pepper" or "capsicum" is
often used for any of the large bell shaped capsicum fruits, regardless of their colour.
2. ADAPTABILITY
2.1 CLIMATIC REQUIREMENTS
Climate is one of the most important factors when determining planting times. Production of a pepper
crop depends on the length of a growing season with optimal temperatures. The plant itself stops
growing at temperatures below 10° - 12°C, and at 6°C, the leaves can die and flower abortion will
start. The same will happen when temperatures increase to over 35°C. A pepper crop requires very
stable temperature ranges with minimums and maximums not being too far apart. Temperature
variation might result in poor fruit quality or reduced yields. Optimum temperatures would be:
Day time: 25 - 28°C
Night time: 16 - 18°C
This would also be the ideal temperatures for growing under protection. Long periods of overcast
weather can also result in poor fruit set and loss of a crop. Hot peppers can withstand higher
temperatures than sweet peppers.
Table 1: Required temperature ranges per development stage for optimum sweet and hot
pepper production.
Temperatures (˚C)
Developmental Stage Minimum Optimum Maximum
Germination 23 26 - 28 30
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Vegetative Growth 21 23 - 25 28
Fruit set – night 15 17 - 18 20
- day 20 23 - 25 28
Colouring 18 20 - 24 30
Cold Damage under 6
Frost Damage under 1
Terminal Damage -2
For the development of the pepper plant, a relative humidity between 65 – 85% is considered optimal.
High relative humidity levels negatively influence pollen release and distribution on the stigma. High
humidity creates a favourable environment for the development of several foliar diseases.
Conversely, low relative humidity may cause infertility, due to pollen drying out before germination of
the pollen on the stigma, which leads to small, deformed or flat fruit. At relatively low humidity and
high temperature, evaporation rate from the leaves is rapid. If the root system is unable to supply the
water volume required, it may lead to partial wilting of the growth tip and increase the incidence of
blossom end rot.
All these factors can have major influences on the resulting yield. The soil must permit adequate root
growth to support the plant and supply water, oxygen and mineral nutrients and must be free of toxic
elements. The rate of root growth is dependent on the degree of compaction or bulk density of the
soil. The degree of soil compaction varies with soil type and location. The rate of aerial and root
growth of plants increases with the oxygen contents of the soil. Root density is highest where there is
a high rate of diffusion. Root development of pepper plants can be extensive if soil water and plant
conditions are optimal. Early root development should be encouraged, because nearly all root growth
occurs before fruit set. The importance of organic matter cannot be over emphasized. Organic matter
in the form of decayed leaves, compost, sawdust or animal manure is a source of plant nutrients and
acts as a soil conditioner. It increases the capacity of the soil to retain water and nutrients. It also
promotes root growth and the infiltration of water and air into the soil. Care should be taken to use,
where applicable good quality organic matter known to be free of plant pathogens.
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used in dishes across the world. The "hotness”(pungency or spicy heat) of peppers can be measured
according to Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The mildest peppers such as sweet bell peppers and cherry
peppers are at the bottom of the Scovillescale. Peppers with average pungency like serrano and red
cayanne peppers have moderate Scoville Heat Units. At the top of the scale is the habanero type as
well as Bhut Jolokia, considered to be the hottest chilli in the world.
3. CULTIVATION PRACTICES
3.1 SOIL PREPARATION
Soil preparation improves the potential for profitable production of peppers. Any primary soil
preparation must be aimed at creating growing conditions for pepper plants to develop the optimal
root system in a specific soil profile. The highest percentage roots will be found in the top 600mm of
the soil. The advantages of soil preparation are:
The choice of preparation systems should be determined by the plant requirements and the soil type.
Thereafter, economic factors should be considered. No standard system can be recommended on all
soil types. The choice of preparation method should be made based on the clay content of the soil.
For example on sandy soils the focus should be to reduce compaction and erosion, where on heavier
soils it will be to reduce crust formation. Soil preparation should be done to depths varying between
300 – 600mm. Ridging is highly recommended, and should be done according to the land contours.
The main advantage of ridging a pepper crop is to keep excess water away from the plant, improved
oxygenation of the root zone, increased soil depth in the growing bed, to promote root development
and keep root diseases at bay.
Due to the effect of certain factors being prevalent at specific locations, within each of these areas the
planting times may be earlier or later than the times given below.
Establishment periods for the main production areas of South Africa will then be:
1. Lowveld (frost free areas) – Feb to May
2. Middleveld (moderate areas) – Sept to Dec
3. Highveld (cold areas) – Oct to Nov
4. Western Cape – Oct to Dec
Under Protection
Growing peppers under protection provides possibly the ultimate level of control currently available to
producers. Protection against the natural elements and pests is obtained by the use of a transparent
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A pepper plant starts to develop with a period of leaf growth. It then sets the first flower in the axis of
the first two branches. Each branch forms one leaf, one flower and two new branches. From here the
plant develops very quickly and flowering habit increases dramatically.
Once the fruit has set, it is retained by the plant for further growth development. Pollination is followed
by fruit set. The pollen must be moved from the male to the female part of the flower. This occurs by
way of the wind or visits by insects such as bees. Pollination in the open land is usually much better
than with greenhouse production due to the natural wind factor.
Temperatures for good fruit set should be between 20 and 30° Celsius. In drought and heat stress,
pepper plants not only lose flowers, but also buds. Loss of buds delays flowering by several weeks
and reduces yields dramatically. Factors influencing flower drop or loss of buds include poor light
intensity, excessive nitrogen and insect damage. A pepper plant develops hormones to control bud
drop. Normally buds produce auxin, which allows it to develop and grow. However, under severe
stress conditions, pepper plants generate ethylene, which causes the plants to drop their buds within
two days.
If a pepper plant in production, bearing fruit and buds and setting flowers, is under severe stress, it
will first drop its flowers and small buds. In an attempt to survive, the plant will retain the large fruit to
finish its life cycle by at least producing some seed for future offspring. Pepper varieties setting fruit
under very cold conditions tend to have flat or misshaped fruit with no seed set. This fruit is not
marketable and needs to be removed in order to conserve energy for the plant.
Farmers can ensure good fruit set on their plants by taking the following actions:
Research in greenhouse production has shown that there is a vital difference between tomato and
pepper fruiting and growth relationships. Tomatoes show a negative correlation between vegetative
growth and fruiting, therefore requiring strict control during the first phases of development. Peppers,
however, require strong initial growth to promote earliness and abundant fruit set, showing a positive
correlation between these stages. Although most pepper field crops are treated as annuals,
technically they can be grown as perennials in a protected growing environment but careful economic
considerations should be given to the feasibility of such a decision.
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material that allows sunlight to enter the structure and then converting the trapped solar energy to
heat, thus providing increased temperatures for continued production. In advanced structures,
humidity and even light can be controlled to ensure maximum crop yields.
Seedlings should be grown in a well-aerated medium, which has good water holding capacity and at a
pH of around 6.5. Generally, peat, bark and vermiculite mixes are used. Media problems typically
include excessive tannins and low air filled porosity, which results in poor drainage and the buildup of
green mould. The medium should be pre-enriched and the seedlings should be fertilized.
Seedling management is a critical factor, and the following points may result in physiological
disorders:
Incorrect sowing time.
Cold temperatures, particularly below 7 °C.
Cold grown seedlings.
Over-fertilization of seedlings.
Oversized seedlings at transplant.
Temperature differences between the seedling nursery and the farm.
A tramline system is also very popular. This is done where the rows are planted closer together or on
a dripper system on each side of the dripper line. The advantage of this system is the achievement of
a dense plant canopy that protects the fruit against sunburn. The negative aspect of this is that
chemical control might be a challenge.
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For ‘tramline’ sy stem:
60 cm between tramlines.
100 cm between rows. } 30 000 plants per/ha
40 cm between plants.
60 cm between tramlines.
100 cm between rows. } 35 000 plants per/ha
30 cm between rows.
The plant population table above can be used as a quick guideline. For example: if the distance
between rows is 2 meters with the distance between plants 30 cm, one will have a plant population of
16700 plants per ha.
It is highly recommended to always establish seedlings in wet soil. Always make sure that the holes
on the ridges where seedlings are about to be transplanted are exactly the same size as the seedling
plugs. This will prevent issues such as J-rooting where seedling plugs are forced into the soil and
roots are bent over resulting in seedling uniformity issues and yield losses. Although it is not
recommended to establish these plants, it happens from time to time that a grower receives over
mature or taller plants than is considered ideal. In this instance it is recommended to sterilize the stem
with a fungicide and plant the seedling deeper into the soil than normal. This is not the best thing to
do, but lateral roots will shoot from the stem to help the plants. Sometimes seedlings are received
with flowers or buds already setting, it is recommended to remove them at planting in order to give the
plant more energy to establish itself. Controlling field irrigation with the use of soil moisture
instruments such as irrometers or tensiometers is highly recommended to ensure the development of
a healthy root system and avoiding over-irrigation. Domesticated peppers, in particular sweep
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peppers are very prone to root rot diseases such as Phytophtoracapsici and saturated soil conditions
for long periods of time should be avoided at all costs.
3.5 FERTILIZATION
During the production of sweet and hot peppers, correct fertilization is the single most important factor
that determines the success of a crop. With good management practices these crops could be
produced under a wide range of different conditions, however some growing conditions are more
favourable than others. In order to calculate the correct nutrient requirement, the following aspects
need to be available and taken into consideration:
Table 4:
Nutritional requirements of pepper in open field
Expected yield Removal by yield (kg/ha) Uptake by whole plant (kg/ha)
(Ton/ha) N P K Ca Mg N P K Ca Mg
20 40 12 70 10 6 121 30 173 95 28
40 80 24 140 20 12 191 49 282 137 43
60 120 36 210 30 18 261 67 390 179 57
80 160 48 280 40 24 331 86 499 221 72
100 200 60 350 50 30 402 205 608 263 86
120 240 72 420 60 36 472 124 716 305 100
140 280 84 490 70 42 542 142 825 347 115
Table 5:
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175 350 105 612 87 52 629 167 968 381 129
200 400 120 700 100 60 710 189 1096 427 146
3.6 IRRIGATION
The supply of adequate water to the roots of a pepper plant is critical. Under- or over irrigation can
have a devastating effect on the outcome of the crop. It is therefore very important to apply water at
optimal times. More frequent light irrigations are needed on sandy soils. Higher applications with
longer intervals will be needed on clay soils.
When scheduling irrigation, the size of the root system at the time of irrigation needs to be taken into
account. In general, the root system can be compared to the aerial growth of the plant. The roots
spread into the soil at a similar rate to which the aerial growth develops. Most pepper roots occur in
the top 500 – 600 mm of soil level, even at maturity. For this reason irrigation should be monitored at
this level with irrometers. Deep, thorough irrigations are preferable to light and regular watering
intervals. Drip or flood irrigation is preferable to overhead irrigation, due to susceptibility to foliar
diseases. The amounts of water used will vary depending on the climatic conditions. During the cooler
months peppers require about 25mm per week and this might increase to 50mm under very hot,
windy and dry conditions. For irrigation purposes, the growth of peppers can be divided into four
growth stages.
Stage 1: Establishment
Can last up to 2 weeks.
Seedling establishment takes place and plants start to grow actively.
Low amounts of water are used.
After seedling establishment to just before first flower, it is highly recommended (although a
fine line of management) to reduce water drastically. It will force the roots to grow
aggressively deeper into the soil looking for moist. This will help the plants at fruit set stage to
handle difficult and stress related periods better due to the increased roots.
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Very high loads carried on the plant.
Water usage starts to decrease.
Trellising:
Advantages:
Very high percentage pack outs.
Highest percentage first grade pack out.
Less disease prevalence.
Less spraying needs to be done.
Reduced risks.
Disadvantages:
Increased productions costs.
Non-Trellising:
Advantages:
Lower input costs.
Disadvantages:
Reduced fruit quality and lower pack out percentage.
Higher percentage plants falling over.
Higher percentage fruit rot.
Higher percentage leaf diseases prevalent.
Increased spraying program.
For open field trellising poles should be between 1.2 – 1.5 meters long. Treated poles last longer, but
caution should be taken with Creosote treated poles as this might burn some of the plants on hot
days. Poles should be planted directly after seedling transplantation. Some growers even do the
planting of poles before the time. Wire or rope can be used and should be done at first flowering stage
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or around one month after transplant. Although more expensive, wires last longer and don’t have the
ability to gather diseases. Rope could be infected with bacterial spores and should be sterilized after
use. Poles should be planted around 40 – 50 cm into the soil and not more than 3 meters apart. It is
essential that the end or corner poles are supported. Poles should be able to carry the plant and its
fruit, and withstand side winds. When rows are 1.5 meters apart and the crop is planted in a 1 hectare
square block of single lines, one would need 2200 poles and around 40 000 meters of wires if 3 sets
or 6 lines of wire are used.
For the ‘tramline’ system (as discussed in the plant population section) one would need double the
amount of poles as it would be placed opposite each other on either side of the tramlines.
A pepper plant has the ability to grow and develop very fast and constant trellising should be done.
The plant will make side shoots that grow to the sides of the main plant. These shoots should be
neatly tucked in between the wires and not damaged. This should at least be done on a weekly basis.
Trellising under protection could be done in two ways.
One way would be to do it the same way as the conventional open field method, or what growers refer
to as the Spanish method. With this method plants grown in a single line or double lines (tramline) are
boxed on either side with poles, string or wire. Plants will then grow inside this boxed area upwards to
the desired height. Layering of plants grown this way would not be possible and one will need to use
the height to the top of the structure to its maximum potential.
The alternative way would be done by trellising a steel wire at 2 – 2.5 meters above the single or
double row. Rope or twine is then hung down from this wire for the plant or stems to be able to be
guided up against the rope. As the plant matures, the rope would then be shortened or rolled up at the
top if necessary, or the plant would guide itself along the rope to the top. With this method, only one
or two stems are allowed to grow, and all suckers are removed. Layering of plants could be done with
this method as all the plants and or stems have their own individual supportive string.
4.2 PRUNING
Pepper plants grown in a greenhouse are normally trained to two stems and need good support from
an overhead trellising system due to the brittleness of their stems. The first training of the stems is
done one month after transplanting and will continue every other week, depending of the growth rate.
This type of training system allows for better light penetration, but if more light is available, more
stems per plant may be considered. A maximum of up to four stems are used. One fruit should set for
every two leaves the plant produces and flowers are allowed to set after the lateral branches have
produced four leaf axils after the fork. The first flower produced by the immature transplant should
always be removed so as not to inhibit future growth. Scissors or finger tips can be used to remove
the desired shoots. Smaller wounds will heal faster. A disinfectant should be used to prevent the
spread of disease. If too many stems are allowed to develop, energy is used in developing the
multiple growing tips and fruit production may be slowed. More stems will however result in more,
smaller fruit, produced increasingly later in the season. Fewer stems will produce fewer, though
larger, fruit, and the plant will take less space.
More compact type peppers do not require pruning, as they are mainly grown in open field which
would result in less vegetative growth and a increase in sunburn damage to the fruits. Topping the
plants around 30 days before the first frost will give every fruit that has set an opportunity to mature,
as the removal of the growing tips will direct all sugar produced by the plant to the fruit.
4.3 POLLINATION
In general, pepper plants are more susceptible to cold than most vegetable types. Low temperatures
can cause plants to lose flowers and buds, which can lead to dramatic yield losses. Capsicums are
self-pollinating, and 60 -70% relative humidity is considered optimal for good pollination and fruit set.
With humidity levels of 90% or higher, pollen may not shed. As less pollen is produced on cloudy
days, better pollination is required at these times to ensure good fruit set. Good pollination improves
fruit quality and yield and this aspect can be influenced by the farmer. Methods of aiding pollination
include tapping support wires, hand-held electric vibrators or use of motorized back-packs that blow
air onto the plants. Under proper conditions, pollinating each cluster every second day is generally
adequate. Fertilization occurs 48 hours after pollination. This is the most critical stage in production.
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Manual weeding.
Mechanical weeding with small tractor and implements.
Mulching of the rows.
Weed control products.
There are a few products are registered to control weeds, particularly on post-emergence annual and
perennial grasses, and pre-emergence for grasses and broadleaf weeds.
Sweet peppers are mainly marketed in the green stage. All Capsicum types will be green in this stage
and only once fully matured will turn colour to its genetic background. There are various colours on
the market available, but the main ones would be red, yellow and orange. In the green stage the
pepper is not matured and shelf life is expected to be much longer. Shelf life in the coloured stage is
highly vulnerable to the fruit being fully matured. The fruit size of a pepper rarely indicates the maturity
stage as some varieties are genetically larger in size than others. As an indication of when peppers
should be harvested in the green stage the firmness of the fruit plays an important role. Coloured
peppers are normally harvested at colour break stage. This will give sufficient time to get the product
to the desired market depending on the distance etc.
Green Stage:
The pepper fruit is still green and when picked at this stage, will most probably last up to a maximum
of two weeks in cold storage. Internally and externally fruits are very hard and crispy. This is the main
segment in which the product is marketed.
INDEMNITY
All technical advice and/or production guidelines given by STARKE AYRES or any of its personnel with reference to the use of its
products, is based on the company’s best judgement. However, it must be expressly understood that STARKE AYRES does not
assume responsibility for any advice given or for the results obtained.
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