You might think that peppers are one of those seed only grown plants. For many gardeners they are, but what if you want an exact copy of a favorite pepper plant? With peppers we typically sow the seeds in late winter and grow the seedlings on to plant out in the spring. Through cuttings we have another way to grow more peppers. Peppers respond very well to cuttings! Read on and find out how to propagate peppers through cuttings.
How to Propagate Peppers from Cuttings
Recently I took a cutting of the ‘Ghost’ pepper (Bhut Jolokia) to try grow a few more. This technique will work with red peppers, green peppers, cayenne peppers, Jalapeno peppers, and all other vegetable garden peppers.
Why would you want to take cuttings of peppers?
For one thing peppers are perennials and can come back repeatedly as long as they are not killed by frost. This makes pepper plants excellent for bringing indoors in the fall before cold weather hits. Peppers brought indoors can even produce in the winter under the right conditions (excellent light and good heat).
In the fall you have all your pepper plants out in the garden but instead of digging them up you can take a few cuttings a few weeks before the frost date in your area to root some pepper plants to grow indoors.
For some detailed instructions on propagating a number of different plants get this book: Propagating Plants (Am. Aff). I’ve used an earlier edition for years to learn how to propagate all kinds of plants for my garden.
In the spring you can do the same and plant your successful cuttings outdoors to grow in your garden. This is especially good if you have a rare variety of pepper you want to keep growing (think Ghost Pepper, Carolina Reaper, etc) or if you have an especially delicious pepper you don’t want to do without!
Taking cuttings of peppers
Taking cuttings of peppers is very simple.
- With a clean knife or pruners cut a 4″ section of a pepper branch. I like to select branches with stem tips then pinch off the growing tip of the branch.
- Dab a little rooting hormone on the base of the stem (this step is optional but can speed up rooting)
- Then stick the pepper cutting in a moist rooting medium like sand or a 50/50 peat and perlite/vermiculite.
- Keep the cuttings moist so they do not dry out. You may want to mist the leaves every now and then to prevent too much water loss through the leaves. Since there are no roots misting helps to prevent water from transpiring from the leaves.
Plant Propagation Resource Page
How long does it take for pepper cuttings to root?
In about 2 weeks you should start to see little roots begin to form. That’s when I put my cutting in a pot and introduced it to the outdoors in a shady location and gradually expose them to more sunlight until I can plant them in the garden.
Making more plants for free is very cool, but its even more cool when you can eat from the plant you propagate!
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