Capsicum Cultivation

Rich in vitamins and minerals capsicum is one of the most demanding vegetables across the world. It is available in different colors and each one has its own significance. Usually these are called sweet peppers or bell peppers. In India green capsicum is mostly cultivated, where as the other colored ones have great importance in metropolitan cities. Although its cultivation method is somewhat expensive, the end profits will make you forget about those things. So lets see what are the possible conditions for farming this expensive and most demanding crop.

Climate

• Capsicum requires both warm and cool conditions, but too much water or too much hot can affect the growth of the plant.
• In general a temperature range of 21 to 29oC is considered as ideal for its farming.

Soil

• Well drained loamy soils are considered to be the ideal ones for capsicum cultivation.
• But high moist soils or water logged soils can kill the seedlings before germination itself.

Growing the seedlings

• Mainly there are three varieties of capsicum available in the market. The red ones are called Bomby, the yellow ones are Orobelle and the most grown green ones are called Indra.
• The raising of seedlings is carried either in a net shed or in a poly house to protect the crop from certain insects. These type of protective cultivation leads to high yielding.
• The pro trays in which the seedlings are raised are filled with necessary growing medium like well composed vermicompost and sand mixture.
• According to experts, the seedlings will rise within one week and be ready to transplant by one month under appropriate water conditions.

Land preparation

• At first, the soil inside the net shed or poly house is ploughed and smoothened. Later sufficient well decomposed organic manure is added before making beds.
• Beds are made with one feet height and three feet width by maintaining a distance of two feet between each bed.

Planting

• On a single bed two rows are planted by maintaining a distance of 50cm.
• Before planting the seedlings make sure they are sprayed with necessary pesticides and fungicides. Contact the farming experts if you are not familiar with this segment.
• Each seedling has to be transplanted on to the beds carefully by maintaining a distance of 40 cm for each seedling.

Irrigation

• In capsicum cultivation irrigation is carried through drip method. Usually each plant requires a dripper and depending on the season, 2 to 4 liters of water is required per square meter.
• Every time thorough check up of moisture levels is needed for the next level of irrigation.
• Finally make sure to change the irrigation water after 5 days.

Plant protection

• Apart from different diseases Aphids, Thrips, white fly, fruit borer are the most common pests affecting the growth of the plants.
• As it is an expensive crop to farm, expert advice is needed in this segment to take necessary precautions for preventing more losses.

Harvesting

• For green pepper harvesting, the fruits get in to handy after two months where as the remaining peppers will get ready by third month after plantation.
• You can harvest the green peppers at an interval of 10 days up to 3 months. The remaining bell peppers will be harvested at the same interval up to 6 months also.
• At an average a yield of 80 to 100 tons of capsicum is possible per hectare.
• Post harvesting, the fruits are graded according to color and size. Later the fruits are stored at cool temperatures to increase its storage capacity.

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