Warm-season and frost-tender. Start indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost; plant out 2 to 3 weeks after your last frost. First harvest 60 to 85 days from planting.
Put in your ZIP code to see when to start, plant and harvest hot peppers where you live, from your own frost dates.
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From seed to harvest
SowSeed goes inWeek 0
SproutFirst shoots showWeek 1–2
Plant outSet out transplantsWeek 6–8
FlowersFlowers openWeek 10–12
Fruit setsSmall fruit formsWeek 11–14
HarvestReady to pickWeek 15–20
How to plant and grow
Start seeds warm
Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost. Keep them at 80 to 90 °F until they sprout; hot pepper seed can be slow.
Harden off
Over a week, move seedlings outside for longer each day. Bring them in if nights drop below 55 °F.
Plant after frost
Set plants 12 to 18 inches apart once frost is past and nights stay above 50 °F. Rows about 30 to 36 inches apart leave room to pick.
Keep moisture even
Water deeply at least once a week, about an inch total. Mulch helps hold moisture and limit weeds.
Harvest with care
Cut fruits with shears once they reach full size, green or fully colored. Wear gloves when handling very hot types and keep hands away from eyes.
Common problems
Photo: “Aphids on Kale leaf” by Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
AphidsPest
What you'll see: Clusters of small, soft-bodied green, black or gray insects on new shoots and under leaves. Leaves curl, and a sticky film may coat them.
Prevent
Check leaf undersides each week; a few aphids do little harm.
Pull nearby weeds, such as wild mustards, that feed aphids.
Grow flowers for lady beetles, lacewings and hover flies, and avoid broad sprays that kill them.
Organic options
Knock aphids off with a strong spray of water.
Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on leaf undersides, repeated as the label allows.
Neem oil, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide).
Conventional options
Malathion or permethrin, if the crop is on the label. These also kill the insects that eat aphids.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
What you'll see: Small water-soaked spots on leaves turn brown, sometimes with a yellow edge, and leaves drop. Pepper fruit gets raised, scabby spots.
Prevent
Buy clean seed and healthy transplants.
Do not plant peppers or tomatoes where either grew last year.
Water at the base, and stay out of the garden while plants are wet.
Organic options
Pull off spotted leaves and remove badly infected plants.
Copper slows the spread when started early. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
Same as organic: copper is the main spray. Control is hard once the disease is established.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Photo: “Blossom end rot” by A13ean, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
Blossom-end rotGrowing problemNo spray helps
What you'll see: A sunken, leathery dark patch forms on the bottom end of the fruit. It is not a disease: the fruit ran short of calcium, almost always because watering was uneven.
Prevent
Water deeply and evenly; drip irrigation on a timer helps.
Mulch to keep soil moisture steady.
Test the soil before planting and lime only if the test calls for it.
Go easy on ammonium nitrogen fertilizer.
Organic options
Even watering and mulch fix it. Pick off affected fruit.
Conventional options
Same as organic. Calcium sprays do not work: leaves cannot move calcium into the fruit.
SunscaldGrowing problemNo spray helps
What you'll see: Pale, papery or sunken white patches on the sun-facing side of the fruit, often after the plant has lost leaves. Rot may follow.
Prevent
Keep plants leafy: water, feed and control leaf diseases.
What you'll see: Plants are stunted and wilt in the heat. Roots have knobby swellings, and carrots may fork.
Prevent
Grow resistant varieties; look for N on the label.
Rotate susceptible crops, or move the garden.
Solarize the bed: clear plastic over moist, tilled soil for 6 weeks or more in summer.
Grow French marigolds as a cover in infested beds.
Organic options
Pull and remove roots after harvest.
Keep an infested bed bare and tilled through the summer.
Conventional options
None for home gardens; nematicides are for commercial applicators.
Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.
The link opens this growing guide, so anyone can read it and look up their own planting dates.
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Sow
Sprout
Plant out
Flowers
Fruit sets
Harvest
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