Black Pepper Plants: 6 Tips for Peppercorn Plant Care

The black pepper plant (scientific name Piper nigrum, also called the peppercorn plant or pepper tree) is a flowering vine that produces green flower spikes and small, dark fruits (or drupes) called peppercorns that you can dry and grind into a common table seasoning.

Native to southern India and now common across Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Brazil, and other tropical regions, the black pepper is a tropical plant that enjoys warm, wet conditions with mild winters (equivalent to USDA Hardiness Zone 12). Nowhere in the United States do winters stay warm enough for year-round black pepper growth, though the southernmost parts of the country might allow for perennial black pepper growth. In other climates, gardeners can grow black pepper vines as an ornamental annual or bring the plants inside or into a greenhouse over the colder months.

The most common way to grow your own black pepper plant is from a seed.

1. 1. Choose fresh seeds. Black pepper seeds are only viable for a short time and don’t store well over months. Choose fresh seeds from a healthy plant or from a local garden center.
2. 2. Soak the seeds. Let the seeds soak overnight to soften their thick seed coats—this makes it easier for seedlings to sprout.
3. 3. Plant the seeds. Use a loamy soil high in organic matter and plant the seeds one-quarter-inch deep and three inches apart.
4. 4. Keep the soil warm and evenly moist. Water the soil regularly, keeping the soil moist as the seeds sprout and grow leaves. Maintain temperatures around eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Germination can take up to a month.
5. 5. Transplant. Once young plants are at least six inches tall, you can transplant them into your garden or into a container.

Black pepper plants need a lot of care to thrive.

1. 1. Give it the right light. Black pepper plants do best in a spot with partial shade that receives around six hours of direct sunlight per day or in full sun if your climate has mild summers. If you’re growing your pepper plant indoors, choose a windowsill that gets plenty of morning sunlight.
2. 2. Prepare the soil. Unlike many other plants, black pepper plants prefer to stay moist all the time, and they thrive in dense soil that retains a bit of moisture, rather than in well-draining soil.
3. 3. Keep the soil moist. Black pepper plants aren’t drought-tolerant, and they need their soil to stay consistently moist. Water your black pepper plant regularly to keep the soil wet around their roots.
4. 4. Maintain high humidity. Black pepper plants thrive in high humidity. If your area isn’t naturally humid, consider growing your black pepper plant in a greenhouse or indoors as a houseplant near a humidifier to maintain humid conditions.
5. 5. Maintain warm temperatures. Black pepper plants aren’t cold-hardy and require temperatures to stay above sixty degrees Fahrenheit to survive. If your area’s temperatures threaten to dip below sixty degrees Fahrenheit, consider moving your black pepper plant inside for the winter.
6. 6. Grow it near a trellis. As climbing vines, black pepper plants need a strong support system—plant it near a trellis, cage, fence, or mature tree so that its vines can grow upward.

Follow these steps to harvest mature fruits from a black pepper plant.

1. 1. Wait until the fruit reddens. Immature peppercorn fruits grow in green clusters on the vine, gradually turning red as they ripen. Once the peppercorns have turned red, you can pluck them from the vine. (If you harvest the green peppercorns before they’re ripe, you’ll produce green pepper.)
2. 2. Dry the peppercorns. Separate the red peppercorns on a tray and let them dry in the sun (or in a food dehydrator) for at least three days. You’ll know they’re ready when they turn black and hard. (To produce white pepper, remove the red hulls from the peppercorns before drying them.) You can store whole peppercorns in an airtight container.
3. 3. Grind them. When you’re ready to add black pepper to a dish, grind the dried peppercorns in a pepper grinder or using a mortar and pestle. You can also grind the black peppercorns early and store the ground black pepper for later use.

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