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Not recommended for growing in Australia - cool/mountain regions

• Harvest in 10-12 weeks. Cut fruit off with sharp knife.
• Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed.
• Best planted at soil temperatures between 64°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
• Space plants: 39 - 59 inches apart

Small bushy plant about 40cm high The seeds are reluctant to start germinating if temperatures drop at night. These are best sown in small trays in a warm, sheltered place: a small greenhouse if possible. Then plant out when about 10 -12cm (4-5in) tall.

They are from the same family as chilli but are not hot and spicy. The seeds are bitter.

Capsicums are frost tender and need warmth to ripen the fruit to the brilliant reds and yellows of commercial ones. They can be used green but are not as sweet.

There are a number of colours available, chocolate, black, yellow, orange as well as red. They all start off green and change as they ripen.

In cool, wet weather cover with a cloche or frost fleece.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Capsicum

Can be sliced and seeded and used raw in salads.
Will freeze successfully without blanching if seeded and sliced.

Or brush with olive oil, roast at a high temperature until the skin changes colour
then put in a covered dish until cool and rub off the skin and remove seeds.

Your comments and tips

06 Jul 10, Slatter (Australia - temperate climate)

Help we have been invaded and over run by slaters. How do you irradicate slaters(the ball insect).Not just in veggie patch but all around the home. Have a dog and 5 children under 10, so needs to be a natural source. Have a 10mx10m vegie patch with a 3 stage compost(uncovered). Have tried some natural sprays, but not much luck. With seedling i even put pvc pipe around them, it helps but they still manage to cause damage. Any ideas would be Greatly appreciated.

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12 Jul 10, suga (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

O.k this will sound weird but orgainic farming stats say it works! Collect the caterpillars.... on the full moon burn them and then spread their dead bodies around your problem area... the smell of their dessicrated race will deter them..... cruel yes sorta,but pesticides are worse...

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20 Jun 10, steve (Australia - temperate climate)

hi when are purple capsicums ready? and do they turn red thanks steve

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02 Jul 10, John Bee (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Steve, normally purple, and other colored capsicums change from the green color to the expected color (purple in your case) as the seeds inside start to mature. This coincides with the green chlorophyll color breaking down and the purple color pigments dominating. However I notice you are in a temperate climate in Australia (which means winter and hence quite cool) so that final change to purple may take forever and they may even get fruit rots before that happens. (being so cool). So, my suggestion is to harvest them green now and during winter, and as the weather warms up in spring then let them mature to the full purple color. They should not turn red as they are purple capsicums. If they do turn red then maybe you have the normal red capsicum and not the purple one. Cheers, John.

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19 Jun 10, Vivienne (Australia - temperate climate)

We are growing capsicums, black, and green, and the problem we have is that the fruit is going soft and rotten before they get to maturity, most of them are about the size of a roma tomato, and even smaller, when they are getting spots on them of rotting. What can I do?

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12 Jun 10, Wandy Robinson (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

when the capsicum is rotten ho can we overcome that problem for the capsicum to free from disease?

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01 Apr 10, Barb (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

HI Sacha and Nicole, Sounds like you may have fruit fly getting your capsicums. I had the same, but now I cover each little fruit with a piece of cloth (cut up an old shirt) and it seems to stop the fruit fly impregnating the fruit. Now that the weather is cooling they take a very loooong time to go red, so we usually eat them green. In summer we did get lovely red ones.

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30 Mar 10, Isabelle (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

When do you pick the capsicums? They are always growing but nothing happens.

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23 Mar 10, Nicole (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I also have the problem of my capsicums rotting before they ripen. Plants are healthy and fruit is large and healthy but they take ages to ripen and then seem to rot before the process is complete. Any advice??

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22 Mar 10, Sacha (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I planted 3 capsicum trees last September and have had some great produce over the summer. At the beginning of Feb they started looking sad and stopped producing fruit. I fertilised them and they have started producing fruit again but the fruit rots before it ripens on the tree. What should i do?

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