Divisi
How to grow Sweet pepper
Capsicum annuum · Solanaceae
Photo: Luc Viatour · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sweet pepper (bell pepper, capsicum) is a warm-season vegetable grown for its thick-walled, mild, juicy fruit — the kind you slice into relish, stew and salad. It is not a hot chilli; that is a different crop. Green, yellow and red peppers are the same fruit at different stages of ripeness, not different types — a green pepper left on the plant turns yellow, then red, growing sweeter as it colours. You grow it in two steps: first raise seedlings in a small nursery, then transplant the strongest young plants into a well-prepared field. Above all, sweet pepper lives on steady, even water and good drainage — it hates dry-then-wet swings (which rot the fruit tip) and it hates wet feet (which rot the roots).
NPS · Public domain 
Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Days to maturity
- 120–180 days
- Row spacing
- 60 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 40 cm
- Sowing depth
- 0.5–1 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will sweet pepper actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Sweet pepper
soetrissie · karya · sweet pepper · bell pepper · capsicum · poivron · tattasai · tatashe · pimentão · mhiripiri · pilipili hoho
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing sweet pepper, stage by stage
Your sweet pepper season, step by step — from raising strong seedlings in a nursery, through transplanting, steady watering and careful feeding, to picking the fruit over many weeks and getting it to market unbruised.
- Raise strong seedlings in a nursery
- Prepare the field and get your seedlings
- Transplant and settle them in
- Grow the frame and feed it
- Flowering and fruit set — the water-sensitive window
- Fill the fruit and keep it even
- Pick over many passes
- Cool it and handle gently
22 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for sweet pepper — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack sweet pepper
3 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your sweet pepper right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does sweet pepper take to grow?
Sweet pepper takes about 120–180 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for sweet pepper?
Space sweet pepper rows about 60 cm apart, with roughly 40 cm between plants within the row.
How deep should sweet pepper be planted?
Sow sweet pepper at about 0.5–1 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack sweet pepper?
The ones covered in this guide are Bacterial spot, Bollworm complex, Broad mite. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow sweet pepper with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first