Whether spicy or sweet, pepper varieties are the spice of a home gardener’s life. With peppers you can grow a range of colors and flavors that allow this one crop to rival the range of variety in the rest of your garden as a whole.Pair this with the fact that peppers are a cost effective choice for your home garden in most cases and peppers seem like a no brainer as an item that should make their way from your grocery cart to your raised beds. The only question that remains is: how much could they ‘save’ you?
For the first harvest, many pepper varieties are likely to at least break even, with modest gardens ‘saving’ $100s for some varieties and losing $10s for others. Consecutive harvests are likely to result in a positive ROI, between $10s -$100s. Variety is everything when it comes to the ROI on peppers.
| 1st Harvest 2ft x 2ft | 1st Harvest 4ft x 8ft | Consecutive Harvest 2ft x 2ft | Consecutive Harvest 4ft x 8ft | Lbs per Plant | Cost/lb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jalapeno Pepper | $(15.97) | $(64.61) | $24.03 | $191.50 | 3 | $2.45 |
| Carolina Reaper Pepper | $(15.83) | $(63.55) | $24.17 | $192.56 | 0.25 | $30.00 |
| Bell Pepper | $(10.35) | $(19.71) | $29.65 | $236.40 | 3.6 | $2.45 |
| Shishito Pepper | $3.77 | $93.25 | $43.77 | $349.56 | 2.5 | $5.00 |
| Ghost Pepper | $5.17 | $104.45 | $45.17 | $360.56 | 0.75 | $17.00 |
| Habanero Pepper | $18.17 | $208.45 | $58.17 | $464.56 | 2 | $8.00 |
| Banana Pepper | $18.37 | $210.05 | $58.37 | $466.16 | 4 | $4.00 |
| Poblano Pepper | $24.93 | $262.53 | $64.93 | $518.64 | 7.2 | $2.45 |
heck out the table in Is a Home Garden Worth It as Produce Costs Rise? To see how peppers compare to other crops. Continue reading that article to learn more about the costs of having a home garden and other, non-monetary, benefits.
How Much Do Peppers Cost?
Sweet peppers and similar varieties tend to cost approximately ~$2.45 per pound. This number comes from taking the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers from previous years (the latest number being from 2020) and pairing this with other price points in local and online grocery stores. This $2.45 has been used for Bell, Jalapeno, and Poblano peppers in our numbers.
It could be argued that Banana, Shishito, and Habanero peppers should fall under this sweet pepper umbrella as well. If this were the case, their numbers would fall closer to Jalapeno or Bell Peppers. However, these numbers are not what I found when looking to purchase these peppers today.
Banana peppers cost per pound are set to $4 for the purposes of our examples.
Shihito and Habanero peppers tend to be smaller than most of the other (non-hot) peppers on this list. As a result plants produce less pounds per plant and a pound consists of more individual peppers. Pounds of Shihito and Habanero peppers for use in our examples are set at $5 and $8 respectively.
The ‘hot peppers’ listed here, the Ghost and Carolina Reaper have much higher costs per pound, $17 and $30 used here respectively. These tend to be even lighter than other peppers resulting in many many more individual peppers needed to fill a pound. Ghost pepper prices range significantly, anywhere from $8-$25. Carolina Reaper peppers are usually purchased dried, and are by far the most expensive per pound listed here.
Prices also vary based on season and location.
How Much Does the Average Pepper Plant Produce?
The general answer to this question is usually 2-4 lbs per plant. Many sweet pepper plants, and pepper plants in general, fall within this range. Here this would include Jalapeno, Bell, Shishito, Habanero, and Banana pepper plants. Which is 5/8s of our examples.
The Poblano pepper, one of our outliers, is heavier than most peppers (close to that of the more popular bell pepper, which seems to produce less peppers per plant). This results in only needing 3-4 peppers to fill a pound. For our purposes we have used 7.2 lbs/plant, twice that of the bell pepper. However, many sources claim you can get as many as 40 peppers per plant (which would be several more pounds).
The ‘hot peppers’ listed here are the remaining outliers. These peppers are much lighter than most other peppers including those on our list, with plants producing usually a fraction of a pound. The Ghost pepper is listed at .75 lbs/plant, but may produce a pound or more (up to ~100 peppers). The Carolina Reaper pepper is listed at .25 lbs/plan (needing well more than 100 peppers to fill a pound).
How Many Pepper Plants Should I Grow?
The general suggestion is to plant 2-4 sweet pepper plants per person and 1-2 hot pepper plants per person.
Growing For Two
For two people you would need between 4-8 sweet pepper plants per person and 2-4 hot pepper plants per person. If we use 4 plants for both examples (the low end of sweet pepper and high end of hot peppers), the 2ftx2ft example in the table at the top of this article supports this amount of pepper plants intensively spaced.
While the variety makes a significant difference in whether the first harvest costs you ~$15 or ‘saves’ you $25, it is likely you will break even or ‘save’ less than $5 of the first harvest. However, consecutive harvests, which could range from $24-$65 in savings, will on average likely ‘save’ you ~$45.
For sweet peppers, if you were to hit the top of this range and plant ~8 plants instead, your first harvest ‘savings’ would be close to ~$12. Consecutive havests could result in ~$88 savings.
Growing For A Family of Four
For four people you would need between 8-16 sweet pepper plants per person and 4-8 hot pepper plants per person. If we use 8 plants for both examples (the low end of sweet pepper and high end of hot peppers), you would need 2ftx4ft of space to accommodate 8 intensively spaced pepper plants.
Your first harvest may cost you ~$32 or ‘save’ you ~$50, but on average it is likely to ‘save’ you ~$7. Consecutive harvest may ‘save’ you somewhere between ~$50 and ~$130, but on average is likely to ‘save’ you ~$83.
For sweet peppers, if you were to hit the top of this range and plant ~16 plants instead, you would need 4ftx4ft of space for intensively spaced pepper plants. This may cost you ~$45 or ‘save’ you ~$120, but will likely ‘save’ you ~$45 for your first harvest. Consecutive harvest may ‘save’ you between ~$95-$260, but will like ‘save’ you ~$185 on average.
Disclaimer: Nothing written here is meant to imply a guarantee or to provide financial advice. It is possible your entire crop fails or that your experience results that are different from the estimates provided here. Please do your own additional research before pursuing anything as a financial investment.