Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history
Cayenne Pepper
A variety of chili pepper
How to sow cayenne pepper: Direct seed indoors, transplant seedlings outside after hardening off
Sun requirement for cayenne pepper: Plant in Full Sun
Cayenne peppers are a cultivar of Capsicum annuum. They are members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, and related to tomatoes and eggplant. The upright plants produce long, thin, red fruit that can be up to 25cm long. Cayenne peppers have a Scoville rating of 30,000 to 50,000 units and are slightly hotter than jalapenos. They are generally dried and ground to make cayenne spice, but they can also be used whole or in a thin, vinegar-based sauce.
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 cayenne pepper, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 120 days at its best temperature, about 2040 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 cayenne pepper 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.
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
by neotoma,
I finally found the seed packets I ordered from Made in New Mexico last fall, and have started jiffy-pots of Big Jim, Hatch Green, NuMex Joe Parker, and Chimayó chiles.
Basically , I want to be able to make chili verde and sa…
cayenne peppers
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Sign in or sign up to track your cayenne pepper harvests.If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 120 to 180 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Capsicum frutescens L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Solanales Solanaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | sub-shrub |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours) |
Resources outside Growstuff.
chives
ginger
Photos
shiny
Batchelor harvested 25.
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