How to Grow Hot Peppers for Homegrown Fiery Flavor

Hot peppers add flavor and heat to a variety of dishes and can be preserved for the pantry, too. Here’s how to grow hot peppers successfully in your garden!

Have success? Try making this sweet and spicy jalapeno jelly.

colorful hot peppers.

Getting to Know Hot Peppers

Hot peppers, from the Capsicum family, were the International Herb of the year for 2016. The Capsicum annuum species includes both sweet peppers and hot peppers. 

Pepper plants — sometimes called chile peppers or (spelled differently) chili peppers — are nice enough looking that they can be added to a front yard garden with nobody the wiser!

Hot peppers come in a large range of shapes, colors, sizes, and spiciness. From mild to fiery hot, there are peppers for every purpose and to suit every single taste bud. 

Peppers can be preserved by fermenting, pickling, drying, and freezing, and they can be eaten fresh. You can stir fry them, stuff them, sauce them, and bake them.

red hot peppers in a huge stack, with a few yellow and green ones

How Hot is Hot?

The most widely recognized method to gauge the heat of hot peppers is the Scoville scale. This  measures the concentration of capsaicin, the compound that gives peppers their heat, in parts per million (ppm).

Scoville heat units range from 0 (for a pepper with no detectable heat) to over 2,000,000 (for the hottest peppers).

  • Sweet bell peppers: 0
  • Shishito peppers: 200-1,000
  • Banana peppers (sweet): 500
  • Poblano peppers: 1,000-2,000
  • Jalapeno peppers: 2,500-8,000
  • Serrano peppers: 10,000-23,000
  • Habanero peppers: 100,000-350,000
  • Scotch bonnet peppers: 100,000-350,000
  • Carolina reaper (Guiness World Record hottest pepper): 2.2 million

The hotter peppers are ideal for infusing in oil, vinegar, or vodka for spicy condiments, or adding to Mexican, Thai, or Indian recipes. Milder peppers are good served raw on vegetable trays and in salads.


 

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How to Grow Hot Peppers from Seed

Hot peppers are propagated from seed. They’re commonly sold as seedlings ready for the garden at nurseries, but the selection is limited. Germinating your own hot pepper seeds allows you to try a wide range of hot pepper varieties.

If you’d like to try your hand at starting your own peppers from seed, start them in seed trays or pots about 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost date. Check the seed packet for specific requirements. 

Pepper seeds should be surface sown or just barely covered with soil; they need a bit of light in order to germinate. Give the seeds a head start and soak them before planting.

Place seed trays or pots on a seedling heat mat to maintain the proper soil temperatures. The ideal temperature range is between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Since peppers germinate best at warmer temperatures, try germinating pepper seeds in your Instant Pot!

Once the seedlings emerge, give the pepper seedlings supplemental full spectrum lighting under a grow light. This will ensure that the plants don’t become spindly and weak while growing indoors. 

Once the plants have two true leaves, transplant them into individual 2″ pots. Use an enriched, organic potting mix in your seedling pot. Keep the pots watered well; if the potting soil dries out the plants will be stunted. 

If the seedlings begin to outgrow the 2″ pots, you can move them up to a larger container while you wait for the temperatures to allow for outdoor, in-ground planting. 

At this point, you can also plant the seedlings into a large planter, if you’re a container gardener. Keep the potted pepper inside until the weather cooperates. If you have warm days and cold nights, you can set the pots out during the day and move them back in for protection at night. 

 

Moving Peppers Out to the Garden

Transplant seedlings — whether homegrown or those purchased from a garden center — outdoors when all risk of frost has passed and nighttime temperatures remain above 50°F. 

 

Hot pepper plants grow best between 65° and 85°F. If cold weather threatens after you’ve planted the seedlings outside, cover them to protect them from frost damage. You can use a plastic bottle cloche if the plants are small enough, or drape the plant with a row cover or frost cloth overnight. 

If the blossoms are dropping off your plant, the daytime temperatures are too hot for pollination. If your peppers are in containers, try moving them to a shady spot until the day time temperatures moderate. Keep the soil moist but not dripping.

Pinch the tips of the plant back to cause the plant to branch out and become more bushy. This extra leafiness protects the developing fruit from sunscald. 

If you live in a warm, frost-free climate, peppers can be grown as short lived perennials once you get them started.

green jalapeno hot peppers on a plant

Requirements for Growing Peppers

Light requirements

Peppers are a crop that needs full sun. Plan for between 6-8 hours of direct sunlight each day during the prime growing season for your region.

Soil and fertilizer requirements

Peppers prefer warm soil with good drainage. Add one cup of complete organic fertilizer to the planting hole. Transplant pepper seedlings, maintaining the depth of the original pot. Check with your area’s Cooperative Extension office to see about specific recommendations for your garden’s soil.

While plants are growing, you may need to fertilize periodically. Side dress with compost about a month after planting and then every few weeks. 

Water requirements

To grow healthy pepper plants, water regularly to keep the soil moist, but not soggy. 

A layer of mulch placed around the base of the plant helps to maintain soil moisture and keep down weeds. 

purple peppers on a plant

Common Pests 

Peppers often have the same insect pest and disease problems as tomatoes and eggplant. Maintain good watering practices, because plants will stop flowering and fruiting if they experience dry conditions. 

Controlling insect vectors can minimize damage when growing hot peppers, as the spores travel between plants on the feet of insects.

Cutworms are a risk to young seedlings. These caterpillars live underground an emerge at night to chew through the base of young plants. Placing a protective ring around seedlings can help, as can diatomaceous earth. If you see cutworm damage, use a chopstick to gently disturb the soil around the plant and look for the curled “C” of the cutworm to remove them manually.

Leafhoppers and tree hoppers are attracted to peppers and can cause problems. 

Prevent problems with soil diseases, like verticillium wilt, by rotating where you plant peppers and avoid planting where tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes have grown in the last 2 or 3 years.

Place peppers where sunlight and wind can dry the leaves naturally and inhibit the spread of fungal spores. If you see signs of mildew on the leaves, spraying the plant with diluted, full fat yogurt, kefir, or whey can arrest the progression of mildew.

red hot peppers on a plant

How to Grow Hot Peppers in a Pot

Most peppers don’t need a lot of space to grow. Use a pot or window box that is at least 10 inches deep. If you live in a warm climate that tends to be dry in summer, a larger pot will need watering less often.

Fill your containers with a potting mix enriched with organic matter. Add ½ to 1 cup of complete organic fertilizer to each pot. Water peppers well after transplanting. Keep pepper plants evenly moist during the growing season. Peppers don’t like to dry out.

yellow hot peppers on a plant

How to Harvest Hot Peppers

Peppers will continue to flower and produce fruit until the night time temperatures dip below 50°F. If you’re growing pepper plants in containers, you can extend the season by moving the plants to a sunny spot inside. 

Harvest when the peppers are plump and just beginning to color. If you wait for the fruit to color completely there will be more sugar in the fruit, but the plant will produce fewer peppers. Hot peppers continue to ripen after picking.

When the peppers are ripe, use handheld pruners to clip each one from the plant. 

Remember to wear gloves when picking hot peppers, and don’t touch your face. Just picking the fruit can get capsaicin on your hands and cause a burning sensation if you touch your eyes, your lips, or any other delicate spot.

 

Good Companions for Peppers

Herbs to plant near hot peppers include: basil, cilantro, oregano, parsley, and rosemary. Hot peppers like to be planted near cucumbers, eggplant, escarole, okra, Swiss chard, and tomato.

Avoid growing hot peppers near beans, cabbage family plants, dill, or fennel.

stack of red hot peppers in italy

How to Save Seed from Peppers

If you’re growing hot peppers that are heirloom varieties, you can save seeds to plant again the following season. 

Cut fully ripe peppers open and scrape out the seeds. Allow them to dry completely and store in a cool, dry place.

Note: wear gloves to protect your skin and mucus membranes from the hot capsaicin oil on the seeds. For more on saving pepper seeds, go here.

Overwintering Plants

If you bring pepper plants indoors when cold temperatures threatens, you can extend the life of the plant. 

Potted plants can easily be moved inside at the end of the season and placed near a sunny windowsill. Plants grown in the ground can be dug up and potted for the winter months. 

It’s unlikely that you’ll see much of a harvest from peppers during the winter months unless you provide greenhouse-like conditions, but moving plants indoors means that come springtime you’ll have fully mature plants to set out. 

red chile peppers in two containers: a vintage teal loaf pan and a white ramekin.

Using Hot Peppers in Recipes

The entire pepper is edible, but the seeds and membranes carry the most heat. You can tone the heat down by removing seeds and membranes before chopping. Spicy peppers can be used fresh in many recipes and they’re a critical ingredient in making salsa

They’re also easy to preserve. Add fermented pepper relish, fermented hot sauce, or pickled jalapenos to recipes during the winter when fresh peppers are hard to come by. You can dehydrate peppers easily, too.

Note: If you’re cutting hot peppers, consider using disposable gloves, especially if the peppers are extremely hot. The oils from the peppers can burn your hands, and worse, your eyes if you happen to touch your face while processing them.

orange hot peppers on a plant.

Originally published in March 2016; this post has been updated.

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About the author: Kris Bordessa is an award-winning National Geographic author and a certified Master Food Preserver. Read more about Kris and how she got started with this site here. If you want to send Kris a quick message, you can get in touch here.

7 comments… add one
  • Christine Aug 3, 2020 @ 2:14

    My jalapenos are not hot at all this year. They are just like regular green bell peppers. :*( Never had this happen before and I’ve been gardening for 35 years. Any idea why they’re not hot?

    • Andrew Jan 25, 2021 @ 16:02

      The seeds your Jalepenos grew from this year were probably cross pollenated with a sweet pepper or a bell pepper last year. It does not affect the heat in the jalepenos that come from the cross pollenating until you take the seeds from a cross pollenated pepper and grow them the following year.

  • Linda Scott Jul 29, 2017 @ 7:31

    I have a small plant but when the flower grows it never produces and chile, the bud falls off. What am I doing wrong? Thanks you Linda Scott

    • Kris Bordessa Aug 4, 2017 @ 8:26

      I wish I could help. It happens sometimes, but there could be so many reasons. Keep at it!

  • James Petrson Nov 9, 2016 @ 2:39

    Love your article and LUV HOT peppers!! Always looking for tips on growing them. Cross pollination really intrigues me as I ended up with a really large what was supposed to be sweet pepper grown for my bro, as he does not like hot. Not as hot as a Ghost but close. Being so large they were great for making hot sauce, which we all like. Enough that I made a 2 year supply for the whole family and friends! I live in eastern Alberta, so have lots of heat. In fact, it’s Nov 9 and we are getting +20 temps, crazy. Thanks for your info!!

  • Alison byrd Mar 19, 2016 @ 4:11

    I don’t have my own personal website. I found your information on PINTEREST. I have some land but not a homestead or farm. I was just reading about the peppers. I have fond memories of my grandfather’s garden. He used to grow a hot pepper. It was thin and about two inches long. He used to reuse a small glass jar (like from olives) and put the peppers in them with white vinegar. Being from the South he would use the vinegar to flavor his greens. Chris, I look forward to reading more posts about your experience with your homestead. Thanks for taking the time to educate others. I respect your dedication to share your knowledge with others. Be encouraged, it is not in vain.

  • Margaret @ Pure Pearl Homestead Mar 8, 2016 @ 15:02

    Chris! This is too funny that I came across your post today, I was just thinking this morning the peppers I want to grow this summer! I was looking for a good chile pepper to dry and grind for chile powder, have you ever done that with any of the Anaheims you’ve picked?

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