Caring for an Ornamental Pepper Plant

An ornamental pepper plant makes for a great and colorful addition to your home garden or landscape setting, but it is important that you know how to care for it. The ornamental pepper plant, or Capiscum annuum, originally hails from South American and is often called the Christmas pepper plant for its habit of producing its trademark tiny ornamental peppers just in time for the holiday season to begin. The ornamental pepper plant is well suited for use as its name implies, producing small peppers that are less tasty than they are decorative. Many gardeners who are not particularly hankering for a large home crop of spicy peppers nevertheless appreciate the splashes of bright color that the ornamental pepper plant provides, producing peppers not just in the traditional shade of red, but in many other shades as well including green, orange, black, purple and yellow.

Preparing to Plant an Ornamental Pepper Plant

The ornamental pepper plant prefers sunnier sub-tropical temperatures and conditions, with its ideal temperature range between 65 and 75 degrees. The ornamental pepper plant prefers moist, cool soil that has excellent drainage, but it will fare well in other types of soil, too. For best results, be sure you select a location for the ornamental pepper plant that receives at least four hours of sunlight per day. Ornamental pepper plants also appreciate humidity, and misting is great for this. Ornamental pepper plants do not like cold temperatures so if nighttime temperatures drop to below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, move pepper plants indoors.

Planting and Caring for an Ornamental Pepper Plant

The ornamental pepper plant is most often grown from seeds or young established plants. Seeds should be planted in the spring so that the plant will yield peppers by the time fall arrives. Keep the soil moist and water it whenever the soil feels dry to the touch. Offer diluted all purpose fertilizer followed by a good watering to the plant once a month. The ornamental pepper plant responds well to "pinching", which refers to a technique by which gardeners encourage a plant to produce denser, bushier growth by pinching away the topmost two inches of new growth on the branches.

The Life Cycle of the Ornamental Pepper Plant

The ornamental pepper plant will only produce one crop of peppers before falling permanently dormant. For this reason, many novice gardeners will simply discard the plant after the peppers have dried and dropped. However, the ornamental pepper plant is still a great addition to an indoor or cool weather garden setting for its distinctive lush dark green foliage and can survive quite happily as long as basic care conditions are met. For households with pets or small children, there are advantages to the absence of the peppers, which are spicy and can cause burning of eyes and skin when split open. For this reason, selecting a safe location for the ornamental pepper plant, and when removing fresh or dried peppers, it is recommended to wear gloves and protective clothing.