How Long Do Bell Pepper Plants Live? This Long! (2024)

Most people believe that any vegetable to fruit plant will only survive the growing season, however, that is not true for all plants. If you live in a climate that does not have harsh winters, you may be able to get your plant to survive from season to season for a while.

Under the right conditions, Bell pepper plants can survive for several years, but only if you live in a climate that does not experience true winters. In climates that have harsh winters, the plants will only last the first garden growing season that you plant them in.

Now, there are several things you can do to help the bell pepper plants live longer than expected, but this is mostly just taking care of the plants and ensuring they have what they need to grow. Doing your normal upkeep is the only way to help plants survive any longer than normal.

Lifespan Of Bell Pepper Plants

If you are consistently taking care of your garden and plants, you are likely to have plants that last through multiple growing seasons, allowing you to harvest multiple rounds of peppers. Taking care of your garden and plants consist of:

• Consistently watering
• Removing weeds
• Removing peppers when ripened
• Cutting off dying sections
• Reducing bugs or insects on or around your plants

If you are taking care of your plants, and you live in a climate that doesn’t have harsh winters, you stand a chance of having your bell pepper plants live for several years, through 3-5 growing seasons. They will go dormant in the colder months but will come back to life once it gets warm again.

Helping Bell Pepper Plants Live Longer

No matter where you are growing a bell pepper plant, in a pot, or in a garden you need to do the same things to help keep the plant alive and thriving as long as possible. The biggest thing is that the plants need full sun and warmth to grow and provide peppers.

If you are expecting colder weather, you need to cover your plants with large pots, buckets, or plant covering blankets to help save your plants from becoming too cold. If you live in a warmer climate, you may need to water your plants daily to ensure they aren’t getting too dried out.

When planting your bell peppers, you have to ensure they have been spaced a good length from each other to minimize the plants choking out other ones. If the plants are planted too close together, there may not be enough water or nutrients in the soil for both plants, therefore, one can thrive while the other doesn’t, or both may have growth issues.

To ensure your plants have enough space to grow, you want to plant them approximately 12-18 inches apart to allow them adequate growth space.

How Big Do Bell Pepper Plants Grow?

Most bell pepper plants grow anywhere from 18-24 inches wide and 3-6 feet tall. They can take up quite a good bit of room in the garden, so it’s important to plan well for the size of these plants so they don’t grow over each other.

If your bell pepper plants don’t have enough room to grow, they will most likely take over the space of other plants and some of them may die from a lack of nutrients and space.

Another thing you may need to do that will help the plant to grow bigger without breaking is to put in stakes beside your plants to have something to grow onto and help hold their weight. When the fruit is growing, it can often get too large or heavy for the plant to hold it up and the stem will break.

Once it breaks, the stem may die off not allowing the fruit to fully grow or mature. The stakes ensure the weight doesn’t have to be carried fully by the plants. You also want to ensure proper drainage and ways for water to leave the garden area.

If your garden floods, or has too many pools of water after it rains, you may end up drowning the plants, causing them to die early. The other issue can be the fruit splitting or becoming too ripe too quickly due to an excess of water.

While you can’t fully control this, you can reduce your manual watering days if you have rain coming that week to help offset the amount of water your plants get exposed to. You can also create drainage systems that funnel water away from your garden after a certain amount of exposure.

Once your garden gets so wet, it physically can’t allow any more water to soak into the ground so it will start to puddle up. This can cause plants to be overwatered and die, a drainage system can allow the water to be directed away when it gets too wet, therefore saving your plants and soil from being washed away.

Final Thoughts

Bell pepper plants are one of the few plants that can be used for several years before needing to plant new ones. They may go dormant, but they can come back and bear more fruit if you take care of them, and live in a climate with mild winters.

Now, if they are not taken care of, or your garden is not maintained well, you may never see them live past a single growing season. However, their lifespan can range from 3-5 years if maintained properly.

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