How Far Apart Should You Space Pepper Plants?

When I started gardening, I liked to pack as many plants as I could into any given space. Without paying attention to spacing requirements, I quickly learned that small seedlings become big adults that compete with each other for soil and resources. 

Peppers grow tall and bushy and provide prime real estate for shade crops below their foliage. Simply because they need some space doesn’t mean all that spaciousness goes to waste. Try planting fall crops and shade crops below the plants—when fall arrives and you pull out the pepper plants, the other veggies will be ready to take over. 

I still like to pack vegetables and fruit plants together, but I now pay attention to each cultivar’s needs. Give your peppers the space they like, and they’ll happily produce chiles without issue. With extra margins, these varieties receive the airflow, moisture, and sunlight they need. 

The Short Answer

Most pepper plant varieties need a foot and a half to two feet from each other. This allows additional areas for them to spread into as they mature. This distance guideline applies to seeds and young transplants. Allow space between each maturing specimen, and they’ll widen and lengthen to new heights.

The Long Answer

How far to space your chile plants depends on the variety size and how big your garden is. A foot and a half to two feet is a guideline and a starting point. Larger varieties like bell peppers may need more space, and smaller varieties like ‘Santaka’ may need less. 

Variety Size

Each variety differs in mature height, width, and rate of growth. Large types like ‘Orange Sun’ form large fruits on thick-stemmed, beefy plants. Increase the spacing to three feet and give this type the extra room it craves. 

‘Santaka’ and ‘Cayenne Blend’ form fruits on dense, compact plants. Pack these in tightly amongst each other, and they’ll do just fine. All they need is a foot and a half width around them; tight spacing encourages these small types to reach for the sun.

One fun way to test spacing requirements is to run an experiment. Select your favorite variety, and grow two of them a foot apart. Then, plant a third plant by itself with plenty of elbow room. Watch the three plants thrive or struggle, and notice how tight spacing affects your cultivars. 

Garden Size

In a small garden spacing requirements are the last thing you want to hear about. With limited space, you’ll want to pack as many veggies and fruits as possible. I garden in raised beds with limited space—I try to place my plants as closely together as they can handle. 

I’ve learned that compact varieties fare well with less space than bell, sweet, and large-fruited types. Here are some tasty ones to try:

• ‘Thai Hot’ Chile Pepper
• ‘Biquinho Red and Yellow Blend’ Chile Pepper
• ‘Santaka’ Chile Pepper
• ‘Cayenne Blend’ Chile Pepper
• ‘Jimmy Nardello’ Sweet Pepper

If you notice other plants crowding out your chiles, prune them and let air and sunlight through. Because I plant my crops close together, I sometimes trim them to ensure optimal growth for all species. 

One example is nasturtiums—these flowering annuals attract pollinators and repel pests, but they also overrun raised beds easily. Snip off excess leaves from plants like these, and your peppers will receive all the direct sunlight and wind they desire.

Gardeners with large gardens are lucky; you do not have to pack plants and save space. With large gardens, then, the danger is spacing plants too far apart. Large gaps in the canopy lead to soil erosion, excess moisture evaporation, and low levels of soil life activity. Follow the spacing guides for each chile you cultivate for best results. 

In Rows

When cultivating using rows, arrange chiles symmetrically in lines. Row gardening provides a convenient pathway to walk on as you tend to your crops. This agricultural method makes harvesting and maintenance easy, although it requires more space than conventional styles. 

Space each row two to three feet apart, and place each plant in the row a foot and a half to two feet apart from the next one. By the end of summer, your rows will be a blend of colors as dozens of chiles ripen into oranges, reds, and purples. 

Support Growth

Save additional landscape space with a trellis, tomato cage, or bamboo stake! Chile pepper plants reach new heights with support; tying them to a stake encourages upward growth. You may desire taller rather than bushy plants in small gardens so that there is more room to plant other crops.  

Even in large gardens where there is ample capacity, adding a trellis or tomato cage optimizes your landscape—you’ll be able to fit more in it than you thought possible! 

Adding support also lets more wind through, which increases your pepper plants’ disease resistance. When you water, more of it is let through because your chiles are upright and not blocking the soil. If you lack a tomato cage, stake, or trellis, use whatever you have available. A thick stick or a metal pole also functions well as a support system. 

Container Spacing

The spacing guidelines also apply to container-grown pepper plants. Most mature specimens reach two to three feet tall and wide and need some headspace to extend—some types, like the ghost pepper ‘Bhut Jolokia’ reach four feet tall! Whether in containers, raised beds, or planters, peppers fare better when you space them an appropriate distance apart. 

The beneficial part of container growing is allowing you to space veggies and fruits apart based on their current phase. When you first transplant seedling peppers, they’re much smaller than they’ll be as adults. Place them close together to save space, and increase their distance from each other as they mature. 

Compact, bushy types like the ones mentioned above fare well in a three to five-gallon pot. For large fruit varieties like ‘Golden Cal Wonder,’ use a five-gallon or larger container. Add support like a trellis or stake for further space-saving, and watch your container fruits perform just as well as in-ground ones.