13 inches too close?

[AlittleSalt]

I'm planning our pepper beds to plant out. They fit perfectly if I can plant them 13 inches apart. (I have always planted 18" apart)

So, I Googled it,

"Plant peppers in a bed that receives full sun. Provide a sandy loam soil that drains well and contains plenty of organic matter. Depending on the size of the pepper varieties planted, spacing should be 12-18 inches apart."

What do you think - too close together?

Here are the varieties. The number is how many plants I have of each kind:

6 Thai Chili
6 Red Cherry
6 Jumbo Jalapeño
6 Jimmy Nordello
4 Early Jalapeño
2 Cayenne
2 Chocolate Beauty
5 Tabasco
5 Shizhito
3 Aji Amarillo
5 Leutchauer Paprika
3 Anaheim
2 Thai Chili Large
5 Serrano
6 Poblano
5 Stavros Pepperoncini
3 Penot Noir
3 Chocolate Cherry Bomb
2 Hungarian Wax
1 Twilight
1 Riot
2 Sweet Cayenne
3 Bishop’s Crown
2 Peppadew
6 Aji Limon

This is how it looks laying it out. Oh, and anything you see green in that bed is a volunteer tomato plant. There's a bunch of them.

[ChiliPeppa]

I plant mine that close. Helps keep the soil shaded and prevent sun scald.

[KarenO]

Peppers like to touch each other. "Hold hands"

KarenO

[whistech]

I plant my peppers 12 to 15 inches apart in my raised beds and they do fine for me. I do use rebar stakes to keep the peppers growing upright.

[AlittleSalt]

After doing the math, they'll have to be planted at 13" apart. 3 raised beds with 32 pepper plants each = 96.

There are 94 plants on my list above.

I would still like to read everyone's advice

[heirloomtomaguy]

Depending on variety 13 inches is pretty close. It will work but yield may be less and the bugs are going to have a field day. It will be difficult to spray neem or what ever you use on the underside of leaves planted that close. If bugs are not an issue then i say go for it.

[Worth1]

Another problem that can happen is if you mulch and water too much and the soil stays damp all of the time with the peppers shading each other you will invite chili wilt.
Make sure it dries out good before watering and you should be okay.
Some of my peppers I have grown before got as big as tomato plants.

Worth

[ChiliPeppa]

Yeah I should add that I tend to plant most everything close together because of how dry it is here. I think your area is more humid?

[kath]

I've grown them that close in a row and had no problems here, but I don't live in TX. In 'square ft. gardening', they say pepper plants need 1 sq. ft. each.

[AlittleSalt]

I have decided not to mulch these beds because of the thick planting.

It's hot and humid here from May through mid July. Then the humidity goes down to around 20% Mid July through Mid September or later.

If it turns out they are too close - I'll remove some. I'm hoping that the with the different varieties and heights will help get more air to them.

I'm thinking this is a volunteer pepper beside the volunteer tomato plant?

[Zeedman]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I'm thinking this is a volunteer pepper beside the volunteer tomato plant?

That looks like a tomatillo. I have better success with tomatillo volunteers than I do when planting them on purpose.

For most C. annuum peppers, I plant in rows 12" apart, with plants 24" apart in the row, in a staggered pattern row-to-row. This works out to about 15" between plants, and they are quite healthy & productive at that spacing. I mulch heavily around the plants to keep weeds down, but on poorly-drained soils - or where drenching rains are common - that might not be a good idea.

I would agree with those who mention that other species can grow much larger, and might require more space and/or greater care in their placement. Fatali grew over 3' tall & 2' wide even in my short summer.

[AlittleSalt]

Zeedman, I think you are right. I think they are tomatillos. There are several plants growing that bed. I took a flashlight out and looked at other tomatillos growing that I planted and they look the same.

I grew green (Verde) tomatillos in 2014 that produced way more than we could pick and use. The soil in that raised bed came from 30-50' away. I need to save a couple volunteers tomorrow.

Thank you Zeedman.

Originally Posted by Zeedman

That looks like a tomatillo. I have better success with tomatillo volunteers than I do when planting them on purpose.

For most C. annuum peppers, I plant in rows 12" apart, with plants 24" apart in the row, in a staggered pattern row-to-row. This works out to about 15" between plants, and they are quite healthy & productive at that spacing. I mulch heavily around the plants to keep weeds down, but on poorly-drained soils - or where drenching rains are common - that might not be a good idea.

I would agree with those who mention that other species can grow much larger, and might require more space and/or greater care in their placement. Fatali grew over 3' tall & 2' wide even in my short summer.

[Patihum]

One thing I'd make sure of is that you don't plant one that's going to get 3 ft. tall and wide right next to a 2 footer and it gets shaded out.

[AlittleSalt]

Patihum, I agree. I was just thinking, "I need to do some more homework on these plants." The Poblano plants get pretty big. They'll probably need to be planted in the main garden.

I almost forgot, I planted ornamental peppers out in the raised beds with the Porter tomatoes.

The first picture is Royal Black. I got the seeds from Worth.

The second picture is Maui Purple. I got the seeds from Star.

I also planted Brazilian Starfish, Cardinal, Marbles, Filus Blue, Riot, Mambo, and Masquerade. I planted them dark-green-dark-green-etc...

[TomNJ]

Tabasco plants are huge! Mine have been 5' tall and 3-4' wide. I give them their own zip code in my garden.

TomNJVA