Chile Pepper Seeds
It’s been quite cool here in South Florida during January, and now we’re set to get more near-freezing weather this week — it doesn’t bode well for chile peppers! I’ve got one out in the garden already — Thai Hot — but none of my other chile seeds (except for Pretty Purple Pepper) have germinated. My sweet peppers, on the other hand, have pretty much all germinated fine.
Hmm.
The Need for Heat
Thinking that warmth may be the issue (it’s been awfully cool inside the house as well), I decided to spring for a new seed germination heating pad. If you’re not familiar with them, they provide a gentle heat to the bottom of the seed tray. Think of these as heating pads for seeds!
Note: you cannot use a regular “people” heating pad to warm your seeds — they are not designed to operate 24/7 and the seed germination pads are. If you use a regular heating pad, you risk starting a fire (or at the very least developing hot spots and give too much heat to the little seeds).
Now my new one is about 20″ x 10″ in size, and I can put two of my 8″ x 8″ trays on it with room to spare. I generally like only only do smaller trays, in cycles. That way, while one tray is sprouted and enjoying the grow lights, I can be starting another set.
Today’s Chile Pepper Seeds
Some of today’s seeds are new (I just bought them recently) and some are from 10 years ago — treasured seeds that I can’t help but try and grow again.
The new seeds are:Â Cambuci Hot, Jalapeno M, mustard habanero, Peter Pepper and Bhut Jolokia.
The older seeds are: Tam Jalapeno, Jaloro, Hot-Banero and Brazilian Rainbow. The last two especially, since they were both from saved seed in my garden. Hot-Banero was the absolute hottest pepper I have ever grown and Brazilian Rainbow is rare. I’d love to see how my Hot-Banero stacks up against Mustard Habanero and Bhut Jolokia!
Unfortunately, it’s going to be awhile before I really can expect any “action” from my plantings. Chile seeds seem to take quite a bit longer than sweet peppers, so I’m thinking it will be around Valentine’s Day before I see the first of the chiles popping their heads above ground.
Germinating pepper seeds isn’t really hard, except for the waiting part. But given my weather of late, I’d have to wait to plant them even if they were already sprouted and grown enough.
Pepper Plants and Seeds
Pepper plants and seeds are fun to work with (as you probably already know). So today is an update on the peppers and chiles that I have on deck — plants and seeds.
Bell Pepper, Yellow
This is a plant that I bought, with hopes of getting some more bells. As you’ll remember in some of my growing peppers in Florida posts, I traditionally have a hard time with bell peppers. This time I decided to just buy a plant and hope for the best.
It’s doing fairly well, and some blossoms are getting ready to appear — at least six so far. I’d have liked the plant to be a little larger, but I’ll see what happens. The size may have something to do with the fact that it’s been cooler than normal these last few weeks — days in the 60’s to low 70’s, nights in the 40’s.
Sweet Banana Peppers
The next on deck and growing well are the Sweet Banana peppers. I love the sweet bananas, and they are still a way from planting out in the garden, but they’ve been doing well, in spite of the cooler weather (I have them outdoors in a protected location).
Redskin Bell
Redskin, a bell with a “weeping” habit, is doing well. I figured I’d try another kind of bell, and grow it out on the screened patio in a pot, see what happens.
Purira Chile Pepper
I love growing the hot peppers that look like Christmas trees, with candles of all kinds of colors. Purira
Pretty in Purple Pepper (Hot)
Pretty in Purple is one is another of the ornamental but hot peppers. The leaves and stems are mostly purple, and the peppers are purple, ripening to red hot red. Put one or two in your chili for a nice heat.
Sweet Pickle
Name notwithstanding, I like to eat these Sweet Pickle peppers fresh. Kind of remind me of the Purira chile, with a Christmas tree appearance. These are great sliced up in salads, soups and salsa. Not hot at all — just sweet. One of these days I’ll have to try pickling them.
The Really Hot Chiles
My bhut jolokia has arrived, and I’m waiting for the mustard habaneros to show up. Thai hot, peter pepper, datil and hot-banero are also waiting in the wings. Hot-banero is the hottest habanero I’ve ever grown (my own strain), and I want to see how it stacks up against jolokia and the mustard habanero.
I’m not in a super-hurry for the really hot peppers; they like the warmth and it’s still pretty cool. In my experience, the hotter the pepper, the warmer the soil it needs to germinate, and the longer it takes to germinate. I don’t plan on putting any of the really hot chiles out in the garden until maybe the beginning of March.
But I will very shortly be germinating some jalapeno seeds — Jalapeno M variety. Debating on trying the Jaloro as well; those are some of my legacy (i.e. 10-year-old) seeds. Germination for the older seeds has been kind of low, but we’ll see what happens. Jaloro is a yellow jalapeno, instead of the usual green. But I like to use it red, which gives it a really nice kick.
Growing Chile Peppers
So, is growing chile peppers any different than growing bell or sweet peppers? Overall growing is the same, but there are some special considerations for hot chile peppers. And the hotter the pepper, the more important these differences become.
What’s the Scoville Rating of the Pepper?
You should be aware of the Scoville rating of your chosen peppers. The what rating? If you’re not familiar with it, check out the about chile peppers post to find out about the Scoville scale. Then come back here and read on!
The reason you need to know about the general Scoville rating is that the higher the Scoville, the warmer the peppers like it! This includes everything from germination to growing weather.
I personally have noticed a difference in temperatures for germinating seeds for non-chile peppers versus the hot ones. And also within the peppers based on their heat. My sweet pepper seeds almost always germinate faster than the chiles. In fact, I’m seeing it right now, with the latest batch of seeds (sweet and chile) that I am germinating. So far, it’s just the sweet/bell peppers that have popped their head above soil.
So growing chile peppers starts with warmer germination temperatures. If you want information about a way to keep the growing medium warmer than usual, check out the growing peppers in Florida post.
Growing Chile Peppers – Containers or Garden?
Most chile peppers don’t grow terribly large, so are fine for growing in containers if that’s your wish. The peppers that seem to always grow larger for me are the jalapeno peppers, so if you grow them in a container, make it a larger container. When happy in the garden, I’ve had jalapenos grow over 4 feet tall. Let me tell you — that was a lot of jalapenos!
Now here’s something anecdotal. In my experience, the hotter the pepper, the shorter the pepper grows.  It doesn’t mean a shorter pepper isn’t just as prolific as the larger peppers, though. In fact, the very hot chile peppers like Bolivian Rainbow (which I grow for ornamental and eating purposes) bears smaller peppers but tons of them! But these peppers rarely grow more than about 20 inches tall.  This isn’t a hard and fast rule, though — there are some habaneros that can grow 3 feet tall.
I’ve just ordered some bhut jolokia seeds, which happens to be the hottest pepper in the word these days (1,000,000+ Scoville). So I’ll see if they need even warmer soil and weather conditions. And I’ll see how tall they grow, compared to my average-sized habaneros.
Chile Pepper Weather
Keep in mind that chile peppers originated in Central America, so you know they love hot weather. And interestingly, some hot peppers like habaneros and scotch bonnets can live as a perennial in a climate with warm weather year ’round.
The farther north you grow them, the more hours of direct sunlight your chile pepper plants need. (Here in South Florida in the summer, I make sure they get morning and afternoon sunlight, but have dappled shade mid-day; our sun is strong!)
So keep your chile pepper seeds warmer during germination (up to 95 degrees for the hottest peppers), although 85 tends to be the best overall temperature. Make sure you plant your peppers in a very warm area of your garden with plenty of sunshine, but which still has good air circulation. Give them some fertilizer (I prefer organic fertilizers) and keep the soil damp, but not wet.
Then, enjoy the harvest of your chile peppers!
