Come summer, gardeners will feel the heat, and not just in degrees, but also in Scoville units. Even though it’s February, it’s a good time to either begin pepper seeds or start planning which varieties to grow.

Pepper plants can be grown in spring and summer gardens and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes to meet versatile tastes — they can be big, boxy and sweet or hot enough to make your eyes water in a Thai curry. And different varieties can have different needs.

Follow these tips to get the most out of this popular nightshade.

1. Break out the seed equivalent of an electric blanket. 

Nurseries and big box stores will have a selection of fully grown sweet and hot peppers by the spring, but if you want to grow a less common variety, start earlier in the season with seeds.

But since it can still be a little chilly, Brijette Peña, owner and founder of San Diego Seed Company, recommends getting a heating pad to put under the container where gardeners start their seeds. The speciality plug-in mats can be found at garden specialty stores and run $12-$25. They can be kept on for 24 hours a day until seeds germinate.

“It ensures that the soil heats up to an appropriate temperature to allow for quick and easy germination,” Peña said. “That’s not to say that the seedlings won’t germinate without that, but they’ll be much slower and much more erratic in their germination.”

Once plants get to be about 5 to 6 inches, they’re usually large enough that they can be safely placed outside, Peña said.

Some varieties of super hot peppers require warmer temperatures to grow. (Getty Images)

2. Have no chill. 

Whether you’re starting from seed or full grown plants, you’ll want to wait to plant your peppers outdoors until temperatures are at least in the 50s at night consistently.

For most parts of Southern California that will be around April, according to Kelsey Swayze, manager at Cal Poly Pomona’s nursery and greenhouse, but there are some exceptions.

Swayze said some varieties of super hot peppers in excess of 1 million Scoville units require even warmer temperatures, including Carolina Reaper and Chocolate Champion.

“Those peppers in particular need a lot more nutrients and they also need warmer temperatures so we recommend you plant your super hot peppers in June,” she said.

3. Keep some good dirt on hand.

Like their tomato cousins, peppers like to be planted in a soft and loamy soil full of nutrients.

For in-ground planting, Peña recommends amending the soil with a high quality compost because it improves the soil structure and also adds beneficial microbes. She said that if the soil is particularly poor in quality, manure and worm castings can be added.

“If you’re planting them in pots, any high-quality potting mix that contains compost is good.”

4. Your plants will need a drink. 

Ensuring that plants are not underwatered or overwatered is important to develop and keep blossoms that could become peppers on the plant.

Water deeply and less frequently rather than daily, Swayze said.

Water the soil at the base of the plant until it is saturated and then let it dry out until the next watering. This will promote deep root growth instead of surface root growth, she said. Gardeners can feel the dirt with their hands to see how dry or wet it is.

Swayze said gardeners can also mulch the area around their peppers to help retain some moisture and suppress any weeds that could pop up as competition.

5. Plants need food, but don’t overfeed them

Keeping pepper plants well fertilized throughout the growing process is extremely important.

Peña said that as soon as seedlings develop their first set of true leaves, it’s time to begin fertilizing with a liquid fertilizer that has low amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium instead of a fertilizer that has those things in high concentrations.

“It’s like feeding an infant,” she said. “You don’t give an infant a steak.”

Fertilizer should be given to the seedlings every third to fourth time they’re watered, according to Peña.

You’ll want to continue fertilizing regularly after the plants are in the ground, Swayze said, and use a fertilizer that’s lower in nitrogen than it is in phosphorus and potassium, as nitrogen is what gives the pepper plant its lush new growth — but that’s not the most important thing.

“You want the plant to also focus on fruiting and flowering and rooting,” she said.

There’s a three number ratio that indicates concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and what they are relative to one another. A good ratio to look for, Swayze said, is 5-10-10 or something similar.

It’s also good to find a fertilizer that has calcium and magnesium because they can help fruit set, particularly in the really hot peppers.

Related links

How to start a vegetable garden from seed
How to get ready for spring gardening
Digging deeper into gardening? Here’s how to save seeds
What to do with that bounty of peppers in the garden and how to preserve your harvest

6. Plan for pests. 

Peppers can be susceptible to many of the same pests that plague tomatoes and eggplants, including aphids, leaf miners, tomato fruitworms and whiteflies.

The University of California’s Integrated Pest Management Program’s website (http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.peppers.html) lists many of the common pests and diseases that can plague pepper and recommends management practices.

7. Help them grow and thrive in sunlight.

How much light peppers need varies depending on variety, but in general they need about 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day.

In some parts of Southern California it’s possible to grow peppers into the fall and early winter, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best idea, Peña said.

“As the days get shorter and the sun gets lower on the horizon, they’re not going to get enough sunlight to really thrive and so you have to ask yourself is it time to pull the plant and start again next year?” she said.

If your heart is set on trying to get another year out of the pepper plant, Peña said, you can cut it back and let it enter a kind of dormancy before it springs back up and produces leaves again in the spring.

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