Hot Green Pepper Seeds

Hot Green Pepper is the chili lover's everyday favourite, picked young while the fruits are still glossy green for a clean, sharp heat and a crisp, fresh bite. Harvesting it green rather than waiting for it to ripen gives you a brighter, grassier flavour and a steady, generous yield, making it perfect for fresh salsas, pickles, stir-fries, and that classic fiery kick in Egyptian home cooking. As a warm-season crop, it rewards a long, sunny season with handfuls of slim green pods straight from your own garden or pots.

Planting

Hot and chili peppers need a long, warm season, so give them a head start indoors. Sow seeds about 0.6 cm deep in a sterile, soilless germination mix, starting 8 to 10 weeks before your last expected cold spell (some hot types need up to 12 weeks). Keep the mix warm at around 21°C to trigger germination, which usually takes about 10 days; a heat mat holding 27 to 32°C speeds and improves emergence. Once seedlings appear, grow them on at 16 to 18°C in bright light. When true leaves form, thin or prick them out so they stand 5 to 8 cm apart, or pot each one on when it reaches about 2 to 3 cm tall. Move plants outdoors only after night temperatures stay above 10°C and the soil has warmed to at least 18°C. Choose the warmest, sunniest spot you have, since peppers want full sun, at least 6 hours of direct light a day and ideally 8 to 10 hours. Space transplants 30 to 60 cm apart in the row, with rows about 75 to 90 cm apart; in the open ground you can set plants 38 to 45 cm apart, or 30 cm for dwarf types, and grow one plant per 22 cm pot in containers. In Egypt, start seeds under protection from late December to February, then transplant once the cold passes: in the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt from late February into March, and in warmer Upper Egypt from mid-February. A second autumn crop is also possible, sowing in July to August under shade and transplanting in late August to September for a harvest into November and December.

Fertilizing

Before planting, work a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 into the soil at roughly 1 kg per 9 m², adjusting phosphorus and potassium according to a soil test, and keep the soil pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Once the first fruits have set, side-dress with nitrogen to support continued growth and fruiting, but avoid overdoing it, as excess nitrogen produces bushy, leafy plants that are slow to bear. For peppers grown in containers or a greenhouse, feed weekly with a high-potassium liquid fertiliser, such as a tomato feed, as soon as flowering begins, which encourages fruit over leafy growth.

Care

Keep soil moisture even and steady. If the plants do not receive about 2.5 cm of rain per week, soak the soil thoroughly at least once a week, and use drip irrigation or soaker hoses rather than overhead watering to reduce disease. Watch for common pests such as cutworms, aphids, tomato hornworms, and stink bugs, along with corn borer, earworm, and armyworm in the field; common diseases include bacterial leaf spot, bacterial wilt, and viruses, while blossom-end rot and sunscald are physiological problems to look out for. Peppers are usually ready 70 to 85 days after transplanting. Pick the first fruits promptly once they reach full size to encourage more fruit to set; harvest them green for the crispest flavour and the biggest overall yield, since leaving chilies on the plant to ripen to full colour develops hotter flavour but suppresses new flowers and can cut total harvest by a quarter or more. Because Egyptian summers regularly climb above 30°C, which suppresses flowering and causes flower and fruit drop, aim to have plants flowering and setting before peak summer heat so the heaviest pick falls in late spring to early summer.