Wow you really are a newbie. I started growing peppers 3 years ago and I must say its pretty easy. I'll do my best to answer your questions. If I am wrong feel free to point it out. I'm still relatively new so I'm no expert but I have a little bit of experience.

1.) I bought my various pepper plants from a farmer's market and they were all about 15" high. Is there a way for me to tell how old they are?

If they are about 15 inches high I would say they are about two months old, maybe a little older.

2.) When the little tag says 70-75 days to maturity does that mean when a seed starts showing green until the point when the peppers are ready to pick?

I think it is the point at which time peppers start producing. I may be wrong on this but from my experience, the plants usually fruit in 2-3 months from the time of planting.

3.) How do you pick these peppers??? I have one pepper that's about 2" inches long and super bright red so it seems like it's ready to pick. Do I cut the stem it's on with clippers? Twist it off? If clipped, how far above the top of the pepper do I clip the stem?

Peppers usually ripen to red. Some ripen to other colors but the good thing about peppers is you can use them even before they are ripe. Example: green bell peppers and green jalapenos are not ripe. I actually prefer the flavor of ripe peppers though. I find them much sweeter and flavorful. Your pepper is probably ripe. Usually when a pepper is ripe it will usually break free rather easily by just grabbing it and bending it back until it snaps. You can use any method to harvest. Clippers at the point where the pepper stem meets the plant is fine.

4.) How do I know the peppers are actually ripe?

You can tell if a pepper is ripe when it turns color. Very few peppers ripen to green. You can even harvest the pepper when it starts turning and it will ripen off the plant.

5.) The one I have that is super bright red, what would happen if it just sat on the stem for a while longer? Will it spoil if it's not picked as soon as it's ripe?

Yes, the pepper will go bad eventually if left on the plant. It is a good idea to go ahead and harvest it so the energy of the plant is focused towards other peppers or towards new growth. You will know when it goes bad because it will start getting kind of soft.

6.) I have read people recommending nitrogen and epsom salts. Is this a good idea? How do I test the soil to figure out what my plants need (note that these are all in ground).

People have differing opinions on fertilizers so its kind of hard to give an exact answer. If the plant looks healthy and the leaves are dark green without any defects then you might not need any fertilizer. If the leaves look yellow then a few applications of nitrogen might be in order. Although, too much nitrogen can cause the plant to turn yellow as well but usually a yellow plant means it is lacking nitrogen. 10-15-10 is a good place to start with fertilizers. The middle number is the nitrogen. I can't remember the other two but one is potassium which helps in blooming. A good rule of thumb is to use nitrogen to get the plant started off so it can get big and healthy and then using potassium to get the plant to bloom so you will have more peppers.

7.) Am I supposed to be picking off some flowers or leaves to help growth? If so, how do I do that and which ones do I choose? I'm afraid if I cut some of this stuff it'll never grow back! :)

Don't pick any leaves or stems. Leave these alone, these are good. The more leaves and stems you have the more peppers. If you want to pick off the flowers you can. They will usually just break right off by just touching them. If you pick off the flowers the plants energy will be focused in growing larger as opposed to putting the energy in the actual pepper production. The little flowers are actually tiny peppers. If you go this route, you will have a bigger plant with more peppers in the long run. But either way is fine.

8.) How much should I be watering? I know based on rain fall... but combined with that, how many total inches of water a week?

There is no real measuring barometer for watering. I usually feel down in the soil an inch or two. If the soil is dry, its time to water. You can also wait for the plant to wilt a little bit but don't let it over wilt. Don't worry, it won't hurt the plant. Don't over water though. You can tell if a plant is overwatered by looking at the new growth. If the leaves are distorted or curled up, then the plant might have been overwatered. Just quit watering until the plant wilts just a little bit and it will recover fine.

9.) I don't see any bugs on the plants but I keep reading about all the bugs people find on their plants. Am I not looking closely enough or not looking enough times during the day??? I haven't used any insecticide at all.

If the leaves on the plant are green and healthy looking you probably don't have any bugs. I wouldn't worry too much about bugs. If you have an infestation, you will know. The leaves on the plant will start looking different. If you have any lady bugs hanging around your plants, leave them be. They are your pepper plants best friend. They eat a lot of the insects that can harm your plants.

I hope this helps.

Elgatoloco,

You are FANTASTIC!!!!!! Thank you soooo much. This really has helped me enormously. :) :)

Dee

concerning the fertilizer the standerd measurement is npk which is nitrogen phosphorus pottassium so the nitro is the first number another good thing to look for is the micro nutrients. im no expert so ask around. the epsom salts are for magnesium one of the micro nutrients it helps the root structure and other things again im no expert. this is also my first year but im a kid on summer break so i got the time to reasearch pretty much everything.

dsb, when you speak of peppers, do you mean HOT peppers? If so, I know that the less water a hot pepper plant gets, the more hotter the peppers will be. Hence why some of the hottest peppers grown in the USA come from the southwest where the rainfall isn't abundant so the peppers concentrate their hotness. The actual heat is more concentrated in the white rib like structures inside the peppers.

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If so, I know that the less water a hot pepper plant gets, the more hotter the peppers will be. Hence why some of the hottest peppers grown in the USA come from the southwest where the rainfall isn't abundant so the peppers concentrate their hotness.
snip

Rather than perpetuating this myth, let's kill it here.

I grow in hydro where the chile gets its roots sprayed with water for 16 hrs/day and I can grow very picante chiles.

I have varied the watering cycle from 1 min/day to 16 hr/day and it does not affect picante.

Interesting,..... maybe I did something wrong. I've always wandered why my neighbor who doesn't pay attention to watering his plants has hotter peppers than mine, which are watered decently. BTW, what do you mean by picante, hot??

Buy a Soil Moisture Meter. You can find them at almost any hardware store(Lowes, Home Depot, etc.)for around 5 bucks. These are great for beginners and prevent them from over-watering. Just insert it into the soil about 6 inches deep, a few inches away from the stem, and water whenever the meter gets to around 2-3. Water until the meter reaches about 8, and don't water again until it reaches 2-3 again.

Hi Gardenguy... see I told you I was a newbie. lol! Yes, mine are hot peppers like habanero.

Thanks so much Andyroo. I feel like I've been living inside Home Depot lately! I'll definitely pick up a soil mositure meter. That should help me "learn by feel" for next year.

Dee

my recommendation is to never use poison on the plants. there are always organic methods to take care of things. you can ask around here for an organic solution to any problem. there is also an organic forum here on GardenWeb.

I never have any problems on my peppers and tomatoes and never have sprayed them with a poison. no need. they grow fine without poisons.

by the way Sevin kills all the earthworms when you spray.

NPK. for a new plant you do NOT want nitrogen. You want P so the roots grow. P is also good for the flowers later. P is good when transplanting to help the roots.

I recommend alfalfa pellets for some fertilizer. very low cost. is basically the same as the SuperThrive. has some trace elements also. I think the NPK is about a 2-2-2. and makes a great organic tea for feeding the plants. some places sell 50 pounds of alfalfa pellets for $6. how can you beat that. think of it as rabbit manure before the rabbit eats the pellets. but better than rabbit pellets because no salt is added.

Calcium is another minor that you can get from ground limestone. with epsom salt it is a salt. so I only use it as a spray. dont want to add salt to the soil. only a few places have soil that is low in magnesium. where do you live. that can help with giving advice.

Cat clay litter is basically all kinds of trace elements. a handfull of clay kitty litter can be good. The red bag at wal Mart does not have perfume and cost is super low.

you can get seaweed or more accurately Kelp at starwest botanicals for super low price. seaweed is a super fertilizer. use on baby seedlings and transplants etc.

In Spanish, there are two ways to say hot

caliente = hot to the touch
picante = hot as in spicy

better than English, as when you say hot, listener can't tell which you mean......

I find a lot of the food in the stores labeled picante and it is very mild. or else my taste buds are burned out. lol.

1.) I bought my various pepper plants from a farmer's market and they were all about 15" high. Is there a way for me to tell how old they are?

No way of telling, depends on the variety, some only get 16 to 20" tall full grown. Some get over 4ft

2.) When the little tag says 70-75 days to maturity does that mean when a seed starts showing green until the point when the peppers are ready to pick?

DTM = Days from a 6 to 8 week old transplant, RED is not always the answer, there are Orange Scotch Bonnents, Lemmon, lilac, Tan, white and or chocolate habanero's and others, ( In Bells, theres a permagreen, that is green when ripe)

3.) How do you pick these peppers??? I have one pepper that's about 2" inches long and super bright red so it seems like it's ready to pick. Do I cut the stem it's on with clippers? Twist it off? If clipped, how far above the top of the pepper do I clip the stem?

Depends, how hot are they, Real hot, I snip the stems and let the fruit drop into a plastic cup.

4.) How do I know the peppers are actually ripe?

Again depends on the variety, a hot banana will never turn red..

6.) I have read people recommending nitrogen and epsom salts. Is this a good idea? How do I test the soil to figure out what my plants need (note that these are all in ground).

Epsom, add a tbsp to the soil around a couple plants, If the leaves get greener, you need epson salts, Odds are you don't need nitrogen

~ by the way Sevin kills all the earthworms when you spray.

Big thing is Sevin kills bees and messes up the human reproductive system If your parents were farmers and used a lot of this stuff, and you are male you "Might" have a
reproductive organ that will not grow any bigger than what you were born with. (Thank A tree hugger)

~~Although, too much nitrogen can cause the plant to turn yellow as well but usually a yellow plant means it is lacking nitrogen. 10-15-10 is a good place to start with fertilizers. The middle number is the nitrogen.

This is B.S. The first number, in a 3 number system is ALWAYS Nitrogen, The second number is ALWAYs Phosphourous, The 3rd Number is ALWAY Potassium. Peppers only need an N = 1.8 (RE NMSU Chile Capitol) Using an N = 15 is 8 times more N than a chile plant needs.

7.) Am I supposed to be picking off some flowers or leaves to help growth? If so, how do I do that and which ones do I choose? I'm afraid if I cut some of this stuff it'll never grow back! :)

Only if you live in a short season like a 90 to 120 day season, in a 150 to 200 day growing season, don't worry about it Try a few plants, see if it helps

8.) How much should I be watering? I know based on rain fall... but combined with that, how many total inches of water a week?

Stick an empty tuna fish or cat food cans, open end up, out in your garden. If it fills up during the week, you don't need to water, in ground plants. Potted plants odds are they will need some

9.) I don't see any bugs on the plants but I keep reading about all the bugs people find on their plants. Am I not looking closely enough or not looking enough times during the day??? I haven't used any insecticide at all.

When you use low to no nitrogen, you will have a lot less bugs, Aphids, cutworm, white flies, grasshopper. hornworm love it when you pour on the Mirical Gro.

Also MG delays ripening, lowers heat of chiles. But it's your choice.

Just my 2 after 55 years + of growing a veggie garden

IMHO organic is the way to go.

Byron

Some very nice advice there Byron..:)

Byron,

You are the man. Often duplicated, never equaled.

Mark

Thanks so much Byron. I'm trying to stay organic as well. I did try the Epsom Salts and it seems like it's helping with greener leaves. Let's see what happens over the next month. :)

Dee

I got like freak soil or something in my yard...I have never seen a single weed. I've had my garden for about a month now...will i be seeing weeds? (cause i got grubs-a few, i don't know if that's normal either, fellow newb here) in my dirt and i don't like weeding. oh well, it's all for the good of my peppers. (=