Customer Question:
Can soil outside New Mexico be manipulated in any way to mimic New Mexico soil enough to give similar if not the same results in the harvest?
If you have ever lived in New Mexico or tasted Hatch green chile then you know you can’t live without it! Well maybe you’ll live, but wouldn’t it be great to have them growing in your garden? Well you can!
While it's hard to match New Mexico's soils exactly, there are ways to ensure your soil is perfect for peppers! We have customers growing our Hatch Chile seeds all around the world with great success, so you don't need New Mexico soils and climate to be successful.
Technically, if you don't grow Hatch Chile in the Hatch region, then you can't call them Hatch chiles. However, we think they still taste great no matter where you live in the world, and, for a lot of people who are not in New Mexico, it's hard to even get Hatch chile!
While it's hard to match New Mexico's soils exactly, there are ways to ensure your soil is perfect for peppers! We have customers growing our Hatch Chile seeds all around the world with great success, so you don't need New Mexico soils and climate to be successful.
Technically, if you don't grow Hatch Chile in the Hatch region, then you can't call them Hatch chiles. However, we think they still taste great no matter where you live in the world, and, for a lot of people who are not in New Mexico, it's hard to even get Hatch chile!
Best Soil for Peppers:
Chile peppers prefer a well-drained loam or sandy loam soil with a pH of 7.0–8.5. Since peppers prefer rich, loamy soil that is well draining, we like to dig in an inch or so of good, organic compost in garden beds before planting each season. Compost is nature's free fertilizer, and chile plants love it! Learn more about Growing Peppers with Compost. You'll find if you have well-draining soil with lots of compost mixed in, your chile plants will thrive. If you plant chiles in containers, make sure they are large, at least 5 gallons and filled with good quality potting soil that drains well.
The one thing peppers hate most is wet feet! We find that if your chile plants are turning yellow, overwatering or poor draining soils are most often the problem!
Shown above: One of our seed customers in northern Wyoming grows our Heritage Big Jim seeds with great success!
Nitrogen:
If you use fertilizer, don't over-fertilize with nitrogen especially later in the season – as peppers will grow lots of leaves but won't bloom and fruit as well if they have too much nitrogen!
The one thing peppers hate most is wet feet! We find that if your chile plants are turning yellow, overwatering or poor draining soils are most often the problem!
Shown above: One of our seed customers in northern Wyoming grows our Heritage Big Jim seeds with great success!
Nitrogen:
If you use fertilizer, don't over-fertilize with nitrogen especially later in the season – as peppers will grow lots of leaves but won't bloom and fruit as well if they have too much nitrogen!
