Feeding peppers is one of the easiest ways to get bigger harvests. But when should you feed them, and what should you use? Let me walk you through it.
NPK Balance
Your pepper plants need different nutrients at different stages of their life.
When they're young and growing, they want plenty of nitrogen. This is what fuels all the leafy green growth.
Later, when they start to flower and set fruit, they need more potassium. This is what helps produce more flowers and fruit.
The different levels of these nutrients are shown on your fertilizer as an NPK rating.
- N = Nitrogen
- P = Phosphorus
- K = Potassium
A good fruiting fertilizer might be something like 4-3-8. Lots of potassium, with a decent amount of nitrogen and phosphorus too. This is the kind of feed you want when your peppers are flowering and producing fruit.
When the plants are younger, you can use something with a higher nitrogen content to encourage plenty of leafy growth.
You don't want to overdo it on nitrogen in the later stages though. Too much and you'll get loads of leaves but very little fruit.
What I Use
I like to garden organically, so I use an organic tomato feed.
To keep things simple, any tomato feed will work well on peppers too. They want the same nutrients in roughly the same ratios. Look for something marketed as tomato food and you can't really go wrong.
Organic feeds tend to have a more balanced NPK rating, often something like 3-3-3. This is because it's harder to make a naturally derived feed where one nutrient massively dominates the others. They still work well, you just might need to feed a little more often.
Homemade Alternatives
There are loads of homemade fertilizers that work well on peppers. Here's my favorite.
Comfrey and Nettle Liquid Feed
Comfrey tea is a simple-to-make plant superfood. If you haven't made your own rocket fuel yet, here's how I do mine.
What You Need
- Comfrey and nettle leaves
- A barrel or bucket with a lid
- Water
- Sack or pillowcase (optional but advised)
- Something to weigh the leaves down
Making The Tea
It really is simple.
Start by harvesting a load of comfrey leaves and chuck them in a barrel or bucket. Comfrey is incredibly resilient. You can chop it right back and it'll bounce back, so don't be gentle.
Add plenty of nettle leaves too. I just pinch the tops off some from the weedier areas of my yard. If you're foraging for nettles, avoid anywhere that might have been sprayed with weed killer. The last thing you want is that ending up on your peppers.
Once you've got a good pile of leaves in there, cover them with water.
If you have a hessian or cloth sack (a pillowcase works well), put the leaves in that first before submerging them. This stops them clogging up your tap later. The downside is you end up with a really stinky sack.
You'll need something to weigh the leaves down so they stay below the surface. I use a wooden post with a plate fixed to the bottom. Anything heavy enough will do.
Now put a lid on it.
This is important. The mixture is going to smell absolutely terrible as it ferments. Even with a lid, keep the barrel well away from any spot you actually want to spend time in.
After 2-4 weeks, your tea will be ready.
A barrel with a tap makes it really easy to draw off the liquid, especially if you've used a sack. I pour it into old water bottles for storage.
The longer you leave it brewing, the stronger it gets.
I dilute it down in a watering can and apply it regularly to my peppers. You could use it as a fortnightly feed instead, but I prefer the little and often method.
Feeding The Soil
Feeding your soil isn't just about better veg or bigger blooms. It's the foundation of any successful garden. Soil isn't a lifeless medium, it's a living ecosystem. Look after it and it'll look after your plants.
Why Feed The Soil
Healthy soil grows healthy plants. It supports strong root growth, holds water better, and helps plants resist pests and disease.
Over time, weather and cropping deplete the nutrients in your soil. Feeding it puts those nutrients back and encourages a natural, self-sustaining system. That beats dumping synthetic fertilizers on every year.
Start With Organic Matter
The easiest and most effective way to feed your soil is with organic matter. Homemade compost, well-rotted manure, leaf mold, or green manure all work brilliantly.
Spread it on top in fall or early spring and let the worms and rain pull it down. No need to dig it in. Nature does that for you.
If you've got heavy clay, organic matter helps break it up. If you've got sandy soil, it adds structure and helps it hold moisture. Either way, a couple of inches of mulch once or twice a year makes a huge difference.
Use Compost And Manures Wisely
Well-rotted manure is brilliant for hungry crops like peppers, tomatoes, squash, or brassicas. Don't use fresh manure though. It's too strong and can scorch plants or bring in weed seeds. Mix it in during winter or early spring before planting.
Good garden compost should be dark, crumbly, and smell earthy. If yours is slimy or smells bad, it's not ready yet. Turn the bin every now and again, and try not to add too much grass clippings or kitchen waste at once. That can throw the balance off.
Try Green Manures
Green manures are crops grown specifically to be chopped down and worked back into the soil. Clover, field beans, and phacelia are common ones. They improve soil structure, add nutrients, and suppress weeds while they're growing.
Sow them after harvesting your main crops, let them grow, then cut them back before flowering and either dig them in or cover with mulch.
This is especially useful over winter. Bare soil loses nutrients to rain, but a cover crop holds everything in place. It's an easy way to keep your soil productive without much effort.
No-Till Gardening
No-till (or no-dig) gardening is all about protecting the soil structure and feeding the biology within it. Instead of turning the soil over each year, you apply compost or organic matter directly on top.
This mimics what happens in a natural woodland, where nutrients get recycled from the surface down. The worms, fungi, and microbes do all the heavy lifting for you.
Each year, add a 1-2 inch layer of compost across your beds. This encourages soil life to flourish, breaks down organic matter, and pulls nutrients into the soil. Weeds get suppressed too, so beds stay tidy with less effort.
It's a low-labor, high-yield method that suits both new and established plots. You need to be consistent with mulching, but once the system is in place it pretty much runs itself.
Biochar
Biochar is a form of charcoal that gets added to the soil. It doesn't feed plants directly but works like a sponge, holding onto nutrients, water, and beneficial microbes. It's especially useful in poor or tired soils that don't hold onto feeds well.
The key with biochar is to "charge" it first. Mix it with compost, worm juice, or a natural liquid feed and let it sit for a couple of weeks. This loads it up with nutrients before you spread it. If you add it raw, it can actually lock up nitrogen for a while, which is the last thing you want.
Once it's charged, apply it like a mulch or mix it into the topsoil. It lasts a long time. Once it's in the ground, it can stay active for decades. It's not cheap, but used sparingly alongside other organic matter, it's a worthwhile investment.
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