Enhance Pepper Yields

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Enhance Pepper Yields

Pepper plants are picky about temperature. Their seeds germinate best in soil temperatures above 75 degrees F, they prefer to be transplanted into garden soil that is at least 60 degrees F, and they can't abide frost at all. Optimal pepper-growing temperatures range between 65 degrees and 85 degrees F during the day and between 60 degrees and 70 degrees F at night.

When daytime temperatures climb above 90 degrees F or fall below 60 degrees F, pepper plants often experience blossom drop—a condition where flowers fall off the plant before fruit can set. Blossom drop causes low yields in otherwise healthy plants.

The peppers' optimal temperature range causes difficulties for gardeners in desert areas, where temps can soar well into the 90s during the day but drop below 60 degrees F at night.

One way to get around this problem is to plant peppers earlier in your growing season, when daytime temperatures are more moderate. If evening temperatures are chilly, place a lightweight row cover over your plants. Just be sure to remove the row cover on days forecast to reach above 80 degrees F, since the temperature inside the row cover will be several degrees warmer than the ambient air temperature.

If nighttime temperatures are optimal but daytime temperatures rise too high, you must provide some kind of afternoon shade. Consider planning your garden so that taller plants, such as corn and tomatoes, shade the peppers during the warmest hours of the day. Or plant your peppers in containers and place them in an area of your yard that receives afternoon shade.

You can also shade the plants with shade cloth—a fabric designed to allow only a fraction of sunlight through. Shade cloth (also called shade netting and shade fabric) and row covers are available at most garden centers, through mail-order gardening catalogs, and online from the Gardener's Supply Company.

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