Whenever you’re growing something, you’re always faced with a dilemma – should you grow it from seed or buy a transplant from a nursery?
You should buy poblano plants from a high-quality nursery if you don’t want to deal with the finicky germination stage. Transplants give you a head start and avoid the headache of doing it yourself. However, a low-quality transplant can cause season-long troubles and potentially bear no fruit. Do your research before purchasing from a nursery!
Keep reading to find out the pros and cons of buying from a nursery.
Are poblano pepper plants from a nursery better than home grown?
Growing poblano peppers from seed require extra time, space, and effort but are they actually any better than skipping a step and buying seedlings from the nursery?
Poblano pepper plants from a nursery are not better or worse than homegrown ones. Buying a transplant will let you skip the germination stage, so that can be considered a pro. However, you don’t know what conditions the transplants were grown under, so you might end up with a dud that won’t produce no matter how well you treat it.
Poblano pepper plants from a nursery have one main advantage: you get to skip the germination and seedling stages, often considered the most difficult parts of gardening.
If you’re just starting out, a poblano pepper plant from a nursery will be much easier to grow.
That being said, you don’t know what conditions the nursery poblano has been through. It’s possible to buy a poblano pepper plant from a nursery that won’t produce a single pepper all season.
Are poblano peppers from a nursery easy to grow?
So are nursery poblanos simple to grow?
So long as you end up with a high-quality transplant, poblano peppers from a nursery are easy to grow. Just follow the typical protocol of transplanting, fertilizing, watering, and placing your peppers in the sun. Staking or caging your poblanos will help too!
Assuming your poblano pepper is of high quality, you’ll have an easy time growing it!
First, fertilize your poblano upon transplant. Fertilize it 2-3 times throughout the season, or use an extended-release fertilizer.
Be very careful while transplanting. Dig a hole big enough for the root system, hold your poblano suspended in the hole, and gently surround it with dirt.
Be sure to provide 1-2 inches of water each week. This number may increase or decrease depending on the weather and how well your soil drains.
Placing your poblano in full sun will give it the best chance of thriving!
Another pro tip is to stake or cage your poblano peppers to provide extra support.
How long does it take to grow poblano peppers bought from a nursery?
Will buying a transplant speed up the growing process?
It takes poblano pepper plants bought from a nursery 2-3 months to grow harvestable peppers.
Consider the fact that poblano peppers take around 3-4 months to grow from seed.
Now subtract the month or so that the seedlings were growing in the nursery.
Therefore, poblano peppers brought from a nursery will have harvestable peppers in about 2-3 months.
While peppers purchased from a nursery will not actually grow more quickly, it may seem quicker to you since you won’t be around for the first month of development.
How long do poblano pepper plants from a nursery live?
Will your plant live longer or shorter if you buy it from a nursery?
Poblano pepper plants from a nursery can live for many years under the right conditions. Poblanos are perennial, indeterminate plants so long as the climate allows. Otherwise, they will last your whole growing season. Consider growing your poblanos in containers so you can bring them in when it gets too cold – or too hot!
If your climate doesn’t support year-round growth, your poblanos will likely last your whole growing season.
You can also learn how to grow poblano peppers in a container and bring them inside when the weather gets cold – or in the southern states when it gets too hot!
All that being said, poblanos that were purchased from a nursery do not necessarily have a greater likelihood of surviving to the next growing season.
Learn more about poblano pepper growth stages and how to grow poblano peppers from seed!
