Last edited on June 01, 2020. View history
Piri Piri Pepper
A variety of Capsicum frutescens
How to sow piri-piri pepper: Direct seed indoors, transplant seedlings outside after hardening off
Sun requirement for piri-piri pepper: Plant in Full Sun
Capiscum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae that produces peppers. The Capiscum genus contains 20-27 species of peppers which vary in color, shape, size, and heat. 5 species are domesticated. Most peppers are green when unripe and change color as the fruit matures. The fruit of most species contains capsaicin, which gives hot peppers their spiciness. Bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) are an exception: they do not contain capsaicin due to a recessive gene, and are therefore not spicy. The Scoville scale is used to measure the relative heat of peppers. Bell peppers have a rating of 0-25 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), jalapenos are between 2,500-10,000 SHU. All peppers, regardless of species, prefer a long, warm growing season and well-drained soil high in organic matter. Seeds can be started indoors 8-10 weeks before hardening off and transplanting. In cooler climates, it can be preferable to grow peppers in containers indoors to extend the growing season and prevent frost from killing plants. Peppers have an upright growing habit and can benefit from staking to help the plant support the fruits.
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Piri-piri pepper facts
Lifespan
Grown for
fruit harvested 4 timesCrop 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 piri-piri 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 piri-piri 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.
How members grow piri-piri peppers
Sunniness
Planted from
Harvested for
Photos
Photos
Piri-piri pepper plantings
Piri-piri pepper harvests
Video
Where piri-piri peppers grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
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Who's planted piri-piri peppers
- shiny Front lawn 6 · Wellington, NZ
shiny
Piri-piri pepper harvests
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shiny harvested not specified.
almost 7 years ago
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shiny harvested not specified.
almost 7 years ago
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shiny harvested 3.
almost 7 years ago
shiny harvested not specified.
View all piri-piri pepper harvests
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Time to harvest
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.
Ecological requirements
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) |
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