Pepper Plant Care: What to Do When Your Live Pepper Plants Arrive

Unboxing Pepper Joe's Live Pepper Plants

Congratulations on receiving your live pepper plants from Pepper Joe’s! Whether you’re new to growing peppers or adding to an existing garden, proper care during the first few days is key to helping your plants thrive.

This guide walks you through exactly what to do when your plants arrive, how to transplant them, and how to prepare them for outdoor growing.

Step 1: Unbox Your Live Pepper Plants

Carefully open the packaging and remove your plant. Our live plants are shipped in custom packaging designed to protect both the plant and its roots during transit.

You’ll notice a rockwool cube surrounding the roots. Rockwool is a lightweight, soil-free growing material that helps maintain the right balance of moisture and oxygen while protecting roots from pests and disease.

Important:
👉 Do not remove the rockwool. Removing it can damage the roots and slow plant growth.

Step 2: Inspect Your Plant

Once unboxed, take a moment to inspect your plant.

Slight wilting or drooping leaves can happen after shipping and is normal.
→ Water the plant immediately and allow up to 24 hours for recovery.
Broken stems or significant damage should be reported promptly so our team can help.

If your plant hasn’t recovered after a day or arrives with physical damage, please contact us through our contact form with a photo of the issue.

Step 3: Transplant Your Pepper Plant

Pepper Joe’s live plants are ready to be transplanted shortly after arrival.

How to plant:

Choose a container that is at least 1 gallon in size.
Use a well-draining potting mix (pepper plants dislike soggy soil).
Place the rockwool end of the plant 2–3 inches deep into the soil.
Water thoroughly after planting, allowing excess moisture to completely drain.

Pro Tip

Hot pepper plants grow best in loose, well-draining soil. Avoid heavy mixes that retain too much water, as this can stress roots.

Step 4: Watering After Transplant

After transplanting, keep the soil consistently moist but never waterlogged. Pepper plants prefer a balance. Roots should stay hydrated but never sit in standing water.

As the plant establishes itself, allow the top inch of soil to dry between waterings.

Are Your Pepper Plants Ready to Move Outdoors?

Before moving your pepper plants outside, it’s important to make sure conditions are right. Pepper plants are sensitive to cold and establish best when both air and soil temperatures are warm.

Before beginning the hardening-off process, check the following:

Soil temperatures are consistently 65°F or warmer
Nighttime temperatures remain above 55°F
There is no risk of frost in your area

If conditions are still cool, keep plants indoors or in a protected space until temperatures improve. Waiting for the right conditions helps prevent stress, slowed growth, and leaf damage.

Once these basics are met, your plants are ready to begin step 5: the hardening-off process.

Step 5: Harden Off Your Pepper Plants

Before placing your pepper plants outdoors full-time, it’s important to harden them off. Plants grown in a greenhouse need time to adjust to wind, sun, and outdoor temperature changes. Planning ahead is key to ensuring a smooth transition before permanently moving your seedlings outside. This step is essential for healthy transplanting and strong plant development.

Hardening-off schedule:

Days 1–3: Place plants outside in a shaded, protected area for 1–2 hours daily.
Days 4–7: Increase sun exposure to 2–4 hours per day.
Weeks 2–3: Gradually increase direct sunlight by 1–2 hours per day until plants tolerate full sun.

This gradual process helps prevent leaf burn and stress.

For more information on hardeing off your pepper plants, check out our step-by-step guide to transplanting your pepper plants.

Ongoing Pepper Plant Care

Once hardened off, your pepper plants can be grown in:

Garden beds
Raised beds
Large containers

Provide full sun, warm temperatures, and consistent watering for best results throughout the growing season.

Need Help?

If you have questions or concerns at any point, our team is here to help. Please reach out through our contact form, and we’ll be happy to assist.

Routine Upkeep & Care

On average, our live pepper plants will start producing peppers in 60-90 days. While they're growing, each variety will undergo different changes in growth and production.

Feed your plants nutrients. Your plant needs essential nutrients to thrive and boast great yields of peppers. We have a great selection of fertilizers to help give your seedlings the boost they need.

Look out for pests. Common pepper plant pests like aphids and spider mites look to wreak havoc on your newly planted seedlings. Use a soapy water solution or stronger pesticide to keep pests, pathogens, and other invasive species at bay.

LEARN: Tips & Tricks on How to Get Rid of Pests
Prune your plant as needed. Giving your pepper plants a trim allows more sunlight to hit the plant and promotes areas of new growth such as where pepper pods form and develop.

WATCH: How to Prune Pepper Plants in 5 Easy Steps

You can learn more tips and tricks on how to care for your new pepper plant by visiting our Grow With Joe blog page today!

Live Pepper Plants from Pepper Joe's

Growing peppers from seed can become a tedious, time-consuming process. Live pepper plants from Pepper Joe's help you skip the seeds and get right to the fun of planting and caring for healthy established pepper plants. You can choose so many different options from super hot pepper plants to our rare and exotic plant varieties!

Each of our pepper plants has been hand-picked and cared for by our team of pepper-growing experts. Our team works hard to ensure you get a quick and safe delivery of your favorite pepper plants to your doorstep!