Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history
Caper
Caper
How to sow caper: Direct seed
Sun requirement for caper: Plant in Full Sun
The caper is a shrubby perennial plant native to the Mediterranean that is cultivated for it's edible flower buds, or capers. It has rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pink flowers. Capers require semi-arid climates. They will die in temperatures below -6 ºC. The flower buds are harvested and pickled and used as seasoning in Mediterranean cuisine. If the caper bud is not picked, it flowers and produces a caper berry, which can also be pickled and eaten. Capparis spinosa is most commonly grown, but other Capparis species can also be cultivated for their buds or berries. Capers can be planted from fresh seeds gathered from ripe fruit. If using dried seeds, cold stratify before planting to aid germination and awaken seeds from dormancy. Capers can also be propagated from cuttings, but plants grown from cuttings are more susceptible to drought in the first few years.
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Caper facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
90cm × 120cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For caper, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 10°C and a shortest growing cycle of 120 days at its best temperature, about 1200 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your caper will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Photos
Photos
Caper crops
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 120 to 270 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Capparis spinosa L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Capparales Capparidaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | sub-shrub |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells), excessive (dry/moderately dry) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about capers
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