Indoor sweet pepper grow help.

I am thinking about making an attempt at growing some sweet bell peppers indoors in my hydro setup. I was wondering what light cycles i need to use, and if they need complete darkness throughout their dark period in order to be successful.

i grew some habaneros and thai peppers in my tent along with some tomatoes. They seem to do OK with whatever light cycle my pot plants were on at the time. I would recommend that you top the peppers when young else they tend to get leggy. Also, you need at least 400 watts to make them fruit. They also seem to take the switch from MH to HPS pretty well too. Basically what I'm trying to say is just throw them in with your girls and they'll do fine without any special treatment...but topping is necessary for production as well as size management.
I also grew tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers in the same tent and they all did really well.

http://www.howardresh.com/hydroponic-culture-peppers1.html

This was a good read. I found for hot peppers that about 16 hr days were required for good fruit set and I'm guessing its the same for sweet peppers. Capsicum isn't a photo period dependent plant unlike cannabis. And so light leaks aren't a problem. Only a couple things stood out from the info I read that were worth pointing out. One is it can take up to 120 days to get a yield. The other is that the plants being grown indoors have to be hand pollinated. You only have to shake the plants I think but it probably helps if you recognize which parts of the flower are male and which parts are female. Here's a pic.

Do you need to pollinate them in order for them to fruit?

Sorry this is my first time really growing anything other than cannabis, i can't grow it atm so im trying to get my fix on growing veggies and i don't really know much about it at all.

Zaehet Strife said:

Do you need to pollinate them in order for them to fruit?

Sorry this is my first time really growing anything other than cannabis, i can't grow it atm so im trying to get my fix on growing veggies and i don't really know much about it at all.

Click to expand...

yup u gotta shake em so it says. Outside bees pollinate them

Zaehet Strife said:

Do you need to pollinate them in order for them to fruit?

Sorry this is my first time really growing anything other than cannabis, i can't grow it atm so im trying to get my fix on growing veggies and i don't really know much about it at all.

Click to expand...

Yeah either shake 'em like dannyboy says or you can use a battery powered electric tooth brush and "tickle" the flowers to help pollinate them. you can grow tomatoes in the same way indoors. I actually have 2 tents and I kept the peppers and tomatoes etal... in the veg tent..18 hours a day...BUT I also had some in the flower tent and they did well too...experimentation is the key...

And thanks for the rep!

The length of time it takes from seed to harvest is dependant on the variety. Most of the mild peppers are fairly quick (jalapeño about 65 days) compared to the super hots (like the Bhut Jolokia at 160 days or so).

Yes you do have to hand pollinate when indoors. The easiest way is with a spray bottle. Since I give all mine a misting with Epsom salts once a week pollination has never been an issue. Just be sure to spray a bit directly into the flowers. No need to go from flower to flower.