Different plants in the garden require more or less sunlight to thrive. Some prefer partial sun, like leafy greens, beets, and other cool weather crops. Other plants require more energy from the sun to produce their large fruits.
Peppers grow quickly and produce bountiful harvests of large fruits. As a result, pepper plants can be demanding in terms of sunlight. In this article, I’ll share our lighting guide for growing peppers in the sun.

How Much Sun Do Peppers Need?
From seedling to full-grown plants, peppers need strong light to grow best. If you don’t provide grow lights indoors, plants can become tall and leggy instead of low and strong. The same is true for outdoor plants.
In short, peppers should be planted in a location that receives 6-12 hours of direct sunlight daily. Prioritize morning sun over afternoon light to avoid the most intense time of day for direct sunlight.

Tip: Pick a spot that gets the most sunlight by observing your available growing space before planting. There are apps available to survey your yard and pick the best spot.
The more sunlight a pepper plant receives, the more energy it can use to convert to crop growth. Peppers can survive off of 6 or fewer hours of sunlight, but you will likely end up with smaller harvests.
Can Peppers Plants Grow in the Shade?
If your gardening space is limited or covered, you may wonder if peppers can be grown in the shade.
While peppers prefer plenty of direct sunshine, the plants may still be grown in partial shade. However, growing in full-shade is not recommended for peppers. Attempting this will lead to smaller plants and poor yields.
Without any direct sunlight, water will not be used nearly as quickly by the plant. This can lead to poor soil aeration and drainage, along with slower transpiration.
However, the main concern is the lack of energy available to the plants for photosynthesis. Shade leads to slower growth, smaller harvests, and generally unhappy pepper plants.
Transitioning Peppers from Indoors to Sunlight
While peppers grow best in full sun, the transition from grow lights to sunlight must be done slowly. Sunlight is intense, so the hardening off process must be gradual.

When you are transplanting peppers outdoors, begin with just a few minutes per day in direct sunlight. Then, move the plants back into shade or indoors. Over the course of 2-3 weeks, increase the direct sunlight time each day by 10-15 minutes until the plants can be in sun all day.
This slow process will increase the plant’s ability to handle direct sunlight. The energy from the sun will then be usable by the plants, instead of causing them harm.
Can Peppers Get Too Much Sun?
If you rush the hardening off process, your plants will undoubtedly suffer from sun scald on the leaves, wilting, and even complete leaf drop. It won’t likely kill the plants, but they may need to re-acclimate by growing new foliage, effectively slowing down the time to harvest.

However, even properly hardened off pepper plants can get too much sun. During the hottest days of summer, the afternoon sunshine (usually between 3:00-5:00 PM) can cause stress for pepper plants.
Learn more about hardening off peppers here.
During a particularly hot period, provide temporary shade during the afternoon hours. This can be done with garden fabric, an umbrella, or by moving potted plants into the shade.
Growers in zones 9+ may need to plan for extreme temperatures by employing one or several of the above techniques. Shade cloth can help keep the peppers from dropping flowers during a heatwave, increasing overall plant yields and decreasing sun stress.
What is Sun Scald?
Sun scald is essentially a sunburn for your plants. It can affect both leaves and fruits. Tender plants that are not adjusted to direct sunlight are the most vulnerable.
Fruits can also become burned when they are exposed to prolonged direct sunlight. The leaves of your pepper plants should provide shade to the hanging fruits, but if they become exposed, they may develop soft spots.

This can cause fruits to become unusable, at least partially. Avoid sun scald by hardening off plants properly, and by providing partial shade when necessary. Again, afternoon sun is the most intense, so the plants may need a bit of relief during particularly hot weather.
Can I Grow Peppers in a Sunny Window?
Many growers wonder if the sunlight from a sunny window is sufficient for growing peppers. We have personally experimented with growing seedlings and potted pepper plants in windows.
Unfortunately, sunlight through a window is not ideal for growing pepper plants, regardless of age. Young pepper seedlings will likely grow to be leggy and weak, and full plants may not produce harvests.
This is due to the limited time and intensity of the sunlight that reaches plants through a window. Some plant varieties thrive with filtered and/or indirect sunlight, but not peppers.
For indoor growers, I recommend using an efficient grow light for seedlings or full plants. In particular, LEDs are becoming more affordable and can ensure your plants get a strong start to the season.
I highly recommend Viparspectra’s p1000 LED light for a great, versatile indoor light.
If you must use a window for growing peppers, find a south-facing window that is not obstructed by trees or other shading objects. South is the ideal direction because it will receive morning, mid-day and afternoon sunlight (in the Northern hemisphere).
When to Plant Peppers
If you are planning to grow peppers from seed, you will need to determine when to plant them indoors. This depends on your particular climate, and can vary from early January, all the way to early May.
If you live in a warm climate with a short winter, you can plant much earlier than those in cooler climates.
See our chart on when to plant pepper seeds here.
Generally speaking, pepper seeds should be sown indoors 8-10 weeks prior to your last local date of frost. This allows the plants to get a head start, prolonging the growing season outdoors.
If your climate doesn’t experience freezing temperatures, you may be able to plant at any time of the year, though you should time it so the plants are not too heat-stressed during fruiting.
What Temperatures Kill Pepper Plants?
Peppers grow best in temperatures between 70-85°F. They can tolerate temperatures as low as 55°F before showing signs of stress, and up to 100°F. This range will vary slightly based on the species of pepper.
In short, temperatures below 32°F will likely cause pepper plants to die. If it is a soft freeze, where the roots do not freeze, your plants may survive. However a hard freeze will kill pepper plants.
Fun fact: Capsicum pubescens pepper varieties are the only domesticated pepper plants that are known to tolerate cold well.

Provide protection from cold temperatures with garden fabric, a thick layer of mulch, or by moving plants closer to the warmth of your home.
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I hope this article helps you determine how much sunlight to give your peppers. I wish you the best of luck growing your plants. Here’s to a huge harvest!
George Chartier
Monday 19th of December 2022
What is a good range of time for my grow lights. My plants are doing well, but I'm always looking to improve.
peppergeek
Thursday 22nd of December 2022
If they are in the growth stage, usually around 15-16 hours daily. However, if you're just getting them through the winter, or if they are fruiting, I'd recommend less (around 12/12).
David Niemi
Sunday 18th of December 2022
I'm in zone 7a but in a mostly-oak forest. This means I never have anything approaching full sun once the oaks get their leaves in late April; but I also have no problems with sunscald after that point, need a lot less watering, have less intense heat in midsummer, and have a lot of beneficial insects helping me. Peppers have been my most reliable part-sun crop over the years, as long as you grow the right kinds and start them early -- very large and very slow-growing peppers are difficult here, but small to medium varieties can do very well. (I have also had nearly as good success with green beans, medium-sized cool-weather tomatoes, tomatillos, winter squash, cilantro, and basil; but in really wet years like 2018 only peppers have thrived).
Kevin
Sunday 18th of December 2022
I planted a few seeds earlier this year (March) thinking that I may only get 10% of them to take, well 99.9% of them took, so now I now have over 50 plants (capsicums and chilli) most are still in pots and producing fruit. I am trying to use a few raised garden beds to get them out of the pots. We Live in Australia QLD, and we are in the middle of our summer, but my greenhouse keeps getting up to 50C around 10am. The plants seem to love this environment with very little wilting. I do water them twice a day Cheers.
STEPHEN FRENCH
Sunday 18th of December 2022
I am growing under lights and have lots of flowers that I am fertilizing my self There is fruit on at least 3 flower ends, the light is 12-15 inches from the plants. Thanks to your emails filled with information.
peppergeek
Sunday 18th of December 2022
Excellent! Glad to hear they are starting to fruit
Juan P
Sunday 18th of December 2022
being in region 10, this part is really difficult. Full sun even in late spring was causing my plants to wilt and scald really easily, but putting them in partial shade seemed to stunt them. Adding a cloth drop helped but it was still way too brutal of heat and light for them. There were days where I had to water twice a day
Juan P
Sunday 18th of December 2022
@peppergeek, that is a great tip! thank you! i might transplant my aji amarillo, charapita, and Limos. Those have been the most rewarding. One good thing about my region is that my Aji Amarillo and charapitas might just survive the winter
peppergeek
Sunday 18th of December 2022
In-ground planting can save the plants thanks to deeper root growth and much better moisture retention. If you have a spot you can grow I recommend trying that next season!