Wondering how to grow the biggest peppers?
What is the trick to growing larger peppers?
First, start off with the largest pepper varieties, such as the Legacy Big Jim chile – this giant is the Guinness Book of World Record holder for being the largest chile pepper in the world! These New Mexican chiles have great flavor, thick flesh, and mild to medium heat with 2,000 - 4,000 Scovilles. These chile giants can grow up to 14" in length, but typically range from 8-10".
While pod size can range somewhat on pepper plants, remember that peppers are not like pumpkins or squash where they just keep getting bigger if the conditions are right. So selecting big pepper varieties is key to getting extra large peppers. You can't force a Pequin (bird pepper) plant to grow large peppers!
Other great big pepper varieties to choose include the Big Jim NuMex Green Chile grow to almost 8” long, our popular Medium Hatch Big Jims grow to 7" long, and if you want lots of heat, don't miss our Hatch Green Hot Doublecross chile which is extra large, growing 9" long or larger and has 9,000 Scovilles so it's both huge and spicy! Make sure to wear gloves when you peel them, or your fingers may burn. ;)
You can also grow the biggest sweet peppers – the Red Marconi Pepper is a large sweet pepper! These big Italian sweet peppers produce lots of large 7-8” long pods.
Another great large sweet pepper is the delicious yellow Italian heirloom Corno Di Toro Giallo pepper. This extra large sweet Italian frying pepper grows large 8" pods that are shaped like a bull's horn, hence the name. These big yellow peppers are delicious when used fresh in salads or on sandwiches, but they are also traditionally fried to bring out the best of their wonderful, sweet buttery flavor.
Best Big Pepper Growing Conditions
On top of growing some of the biggest pepper varieties, you can also make sure to provide optimimal growing conditions for your peppers.
Good Soil: Good loamy, well-draining soil amended with compost can provide optimial growing conditions so your pepper plants grow large with big peppers (depending on the variety of course!)
Full Sun: Peppers will grow larger pods when they have full sun. Make sure they are getting 6-8 hours of sun a day.
Consistent Watering: Water when the soil is drying out slightly – but don't overwater and don't underwater peppers for optimal growing conditions to get the largest peppers.
Above: Growing peppers in pots can help produce bigger peppers and plants
Grow in Containers: Large containers are great for growing the biggest peppers as you can use the best potting soil that allows the peppers root systems to grow easily over the season. Plus, you can bring pots inside or to a warm place during cold spells in the spring and in the fall to keep them growing longer. Soil in pots warms up faster than the ground after the winter, so you can get them growing faster sooner in the season. Make sure to use large containers, ideally 5 gallons or larger, to better help hold water during hot weather, and allow for deep and wide root systems.
Compost: Feed plants with plants! Make your own compost and top dress your peppers throughout the season. Your pepper plants will reward you by producing more larger pods.
Fertilize regularly: While peppers aren't heavy feeders, a balanced organic fertilizer will help them grow larger and produce more peppers. Liquid Fish Fertilizers are great, though stinky. ;) Note that too much nitrogen later in the season will prevent them from blooming and creating pods, so don't overdo it with heavy nitrogen fertilizers!
Want spicier peppers? Pick hot varieties, but also don't overwater them! Too much water literally waters down their heat levels.
Check out our top 12 tips for growing peppers from seeds »
