How to Grow Chile Peppers From Seed

One chile pepper seed can create dozens of chiles—the plants are prolific producers. They’re also easy to start from seeds! Learn how and when to start chile plants with longtime pepper grower Jerad Bryant. These nine simple steps guide you from start to finish.

Growing chile peppers from seed, a wooden windowsill holds trays with young seedlings in pressed soil pallets, while a man's hand places a sign with the seed name.

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Peppers are a crucial part of the summer vegetable garden. Whether you like sweet or hot peppers, they’re essential in many recipes, such as stuffed bell peppers, sofrito, and stir fry. Their crunchy, juicy texture is best when fresh, though their flavors grow as you cook them

With the right materials, starting chile peppers from seed is relatively simple. Indoor seed starting is best, as these plants are extremely frost-tender and fare poorly in cold weather. You can start them months before your first frost date, then transplant the potted specimens in spring and summer as warm weather returns.

No matter when you decide to start seeds, these nine simple steps take you through each phase of the process. We’ll plant seeds, nurture seedlings, and transplant mature specimens into your garden. Without further ado, here’s how to grow pepper plants from seed!

Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry

Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry Sweet Pepper

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Sweet Pepper Seeds

Megatron Jalapeno

Megatron Jalapeño Chile Pepper

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Chile Pepper Seeds

Ancho Poblano

seed packet ancho poblano chile pepper

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Poblano Pepper Seeds

Step 1: Choose Your Favorites

Sturdy green stems support glossy, lance-shaped leaves with vibrant, small, elongated peppers that have slightly wrinkled bodies and glossy red skin hanging from the branches.
Start seeds early for a flavorful harvest later.

I love spicy peppers, though my body often can’t handle them! You may have a high tolerance for heat or dislike spice altogether! No matter your preferences, there are peppers perfect for you and your culinary needs.

If you’re intolerant of spice, try sweet peppers, bell peppers, or similar hybrids with sweet-tasting flesh. A new, funky variety called ‘Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry’ forms striped peppers with green, orange, and yellow hues. The leaves have splashes of white-cream variegation on green backgrounds. 

Spice lovers should go for spicy chiles with intense heat! They work well for flavoring meals and adding spice to salsas, sauces, and marinades. Thai chiles, ghost peppers, and habanero types are best for adding powerful spice to your meals.

Most seed retailers offer chile seeds early in winter so home gardeners can start them in time for the growing season. You’ll want to source and germinate seeds two to three months before your last average frost date. That way, the mature plants will be ready for transplanting two to four weeks after the last frost date. 

Step 2: Gather Materials

A man in a plaid shirt stands at a table filled with seed-starting materials, including peat pots, a bag of soil, gloves, a plate of seeds, a trowel, and a rake.
Containers, water, and warmth make all the difference.

Some materials like containers, potting soil, and water are absolutely necessary for starting pepper seeds. Other materials are less obvious in their necessity, though they reliably boost germination rates. Heat mats, grow lights, and humidity domes help create the ideal seed-starting environment for peppers. 

I had low germination rates for my pepper seedlings until I added these extra tools. Peppers, like tomatoes and eggplants, require warm temperatures and high humidity levels to germinate. A heat mat boosts soil temperatures, while a humidity dome traps the ambient moisture so it stays near the seedlings. 

Peppers also need lots of light while they sprout and mature. A bright windowsill with partial shade works best, as some direct sunlight is necessary for optimal growth. In the absence of natural light, try using grow lights! They mimic the light frequencies of the sun and work well for sprouting seeds indoors.

Step 3: Set Up the Space

Close-up of plastic trays with sprouted pepper seeds with thin vertical stems and green smooth cotyledons on a light windowsill.
Use heat mats and airflow to prevent fungal issues.

With your materials and seeds ready, it’s time to set up a germination station! This is another term for the area where you start pepper seedlings. The space is important, as it influences your plants’ health while they mature.

Most growers will set up a germination station indoors, especially if you live from USDA hardiness zones 2 through 8. It’s difficult to grow peppers outdoors because they won’t mature before winter arrives—they need many months of high heat and direct sunlight. Lucky growers in zones 9 and above may directly sow peppers outdoors during the warm months.

Indoor seed starting setups should be away from hot or cold drafts but near some airflow. Stagnant air can lead to fungal and bacterial issues that are easily avoidable. Simply place a fan on low near the seeds so that air travels around but not through them. 

Fill pots with potting soil, place them on bottom trays, and situate them above heat mats. Use a shelf with grow lights, or choose an open windowsill to place the seeds. A heat mat grows more important for seedlings by the window, as they may face cold drafts that leach through the windowpanes. 

For outdoor growing, prepare raised beds, in-ground beds, or containers for starting chili seeds. Remove weeds and debris from the site, add compost, and rake the soil surface so it’s even. 

Step 4: Sow Seeds

Close-up of a man's hand sowing tiny yellowish seeds into a seed starting tray filled with tightly packed soil in each cell.
Plant seeds a quarter inch deep for healthy growth.

Here comes the fun part. Sowing seeds is a rewarding experience—you watch tiny chili seeds grow into towering adult plants! You’ll sow chili pepper seeds two to three months before your last average frost date. This falls from December through March for most North American gardeners. You can find your last frost date here if you’re unsure when yours is. 

I like to plant peppers in 5” cube pots so they have some space for their roots to grow before they require transplanting. You may sow them in smaller containers, but they’ll need repotting when their roots outgrow the pot. 

Sow seeds by planting them a quarter inch deep into the soil. Cover them loosely with soil, then water well. Maintain a moist and not soggy soil culture for best results, and add a humidity dome on top to trap ambient moisture. 

Step 5: Care for the Seedlings

Close-up of a hand in a black glove spraying water from a bottle onto young seedlings in a seed starting tray filled with loose soil.
Keep soil moist, but avoid overwatering to keep plants happy.

Continuous care for growing seedlings ensures you catch issues before they spread out of control. Pests like aphids and diseases like damping off may target indoor seedlings. Spray off pests with water daily until they disappear. If you see disease symptoms, remove infected plants from the site to prevent them from spreading pathogens to healthy specimens. 

Some other basic care guidelines ensure the seedlings stay healthy. Maintain a moist soil culture by watering once the surface dries, and avoid watering if the dirt’s already wet. If you’re using a humidity dome, verify it has proper ventilation to let air flow inside. Some domes have vents you can open, though most you’ll lift off daily and place back after a few minutes. 

After the seeds sprout, you can remove the heat mat. It can cause the soil to dry quickly, leading to thirsty, weak seedlings. It also encourages quick growth indoors, which might not be ideal if you still have weeks of winter left. The only time you’ll want to leave the heat mat is if your home is particularly chilly during the cold months. 

Step 6: Uppot Overgrown Seedlings

Close-up of a pepper seedling with its root ball protruding from the starting tray.
Repot when roots become tangled to keep plants healthy.

Because you start peppers so early indoors, you may see some of them outgrow the germination station! Chiles quickly decline in health and vigor when their roots grow pot-bound.

Here are some common symptoms of root-bound plants:

  • Soil quickly dries
  • Roots poke out of the drainage holes
  • Plant pots look swollen and expanded
  • Pepper plants frequently need water

If you lift the chile plant out of the pot to see a tangled mass of white roots, it’s a sign the plant’s ready for uppotting. Transition seedlings from two-inch pots to four or five-inch ones, and move those in four-inch pots to one-gallon containers. Keep them under bright light and consistent airflow so they adapt well to their new pots. 

Step 7: Harden Off Chile Plants

A female gardener holds a wooden tray with mature seedlings featuring upright stems and oval green leaves tapering to the tips, ready for hardening off before transplanting.
Start hardening off plants two to four weeks after frost.

Near the end of winter and the beginning of spring, it’s time to move chile plants outdoors! They benefit from a hardening-off period before transplanting so they can adapt to outdoor conditions. Start moving them outside two to four weeks after your last frost, when daytime temperatures are 70°F (21°C) and nighttime temperatures are at least 55°F (13°C).

Harden off peppers by placing them under partial shade or dappled sunlight in a protected space. Chile peppers love direct sunlight, though they need some time to grow used to it. Keep their soil moist, not soggy, and protect them from strong winds. Start with an hour or two of exposure and increase by an hour or two each day.

If cold weather surprisingly arrives, move the potted plants indoors until it dissipates. Your seedlings are ready for transplanting into the garden after one to two weeks of hardening off

Step 8: Transplant Mature Chile Plants

Close-up of a gardener's hands in grey gloves transplanting a seedling with slender green stems and glossy, lance-shaped leaves into soil in a garden.
Dig a hole twice as deep and wide as the roots.

Transplanting is an important step of the pepper growing process. With the right care, you’ll help your plants establish themselves in your garden. Start by preparing the planting hole. Dig a hole twice as wide and as deep as the rootball, then place the plant inside the hole. 

Backfill soil around the roots until the dirt reaches the surface. Water well, and watch to see if the soil condenses. Sometimes, the soil condenses deeper than the surface level. Simply add more dirt to the hole until it reaches the top.

Chiles appreciate a heaping helping of compost. Add it on top of the soil so it acts like a mulch. The compost protects sensitive roots. As it decays, it injects beneficial nutrients and microbes into the site. These benefit the larger soil food web that exists below our feet. A healthy soil microbiome leads to vigorous, sturdy pepper plants later in the growing season. 

Step 9: Watch Over Your Chiles

A woman harvests hot red peppers from a lush plant with dark green, pointed leaves and colorful, elongated fruits, placing them into a wicker basket in a garden.
Harvest regularly to encourage more flowers and fruit growth.

The work isn’t done yet! Continuous care during the growing season ensures that your chile plants stay in tip-top shape. Keep their soil moist, not soggy, and ensure they receive six to eight hours of daily direct sunlight.

Summer pests like aphids, white flies, and thrips target ripening chiles and their leaves. Blast them away with strong streams of water, spraying daily until they disappear. Consider stronger organic solutions if the water streams don’t work.

The last key component of pepper growing is continuous harvesting! Peppers, like peas and beans, will produce fewer flowers and fruits if their seeds reach maturity on the plants. The specimens believe they’ve successfully reproduced and there’s no need for more chiles. Pick ripening chiles, and you’ll convince the plants to flower more during the warm months. 

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