Hot Peppers

About 110–200/g, except Thai Hot.

Chiles have been consumed in Mexico for more than 5,000 years. In the U.S. hot peppers have increased dramatically in popularity.

Capsaicin compounds cause most of the heat in peppers. Warm nighttime temperatures stimulate maximum development of capsaicins and increase pungency levels. Pungency is expressed in Scoville units, after Wilbur Scoville, an Englishman who devised the method used for eighty years to measure the heat in peppers.

Some Scoville ratings for general categories are:

• Bell, Banana and Pimiento peppers 0
• Habanada 0
• Beaver Dam <1k
• Ancho, Poblano 1–2k
• Anaheim ~1–2.5k
• Czech Black 2–5k
• Fireball 2.5–5k
• Jaluv an Attitude 2.5–5k
• LRN Cayenne 3.5–5k
• Early Jalapeño 4–6k
• Hungarian Hot Wax 5–10k
• Hot Portugal 5–30k
• Fish 5–30k
• Bulgarian Carrot 5–30k
• Thai Hot 25–40k
• Ho Chi Minh ~30k
• Matchbox 30–50k
• Hinkelhatz ~125k
• Habanero 200–325k
• self defense pepper spray 2–3M
• police-grade pepper spray 5.3M
• straight capsaicin 15–16M.

If you overdose on hot peppers, plain carbs like bread, rice or tortillas are better than any liquid at removing the heat from your mouth. Handle hot peppers with caution; capsaicin is highly alkaloid and can burn skin.

Peppers

Days to full-color maturity are from transplanting date.

Capsicum comes from the Greek kapto which means ‘bite.’

Culture: Start indoors in March or April. Minimum germination soil temperature 60°, optimal range 68-95°. Set out in June. Very tender, will not tolerate frost, dislike wind, will not set fruit in cold or extremely hot temperatures or in drought conditions. Black plastic highly recommended. Row cover improves fruit set in windy spots. Pick first green peppers when they reach full size to increase total yield significantly. Green peppers, though edible, are not ripe. Peppers ripen to red, yellow, orange, etc.

Saving Seed: Saving pepper seed is easy! Remove core of the fully ripe pepper (usually red or orange) and dry on a coffee filter. When dry, rake seeds off the core with a butter knife. To ensure true-to-type seed, grow open- pollinated varieties and separate by 30 feet. Use only the first fruits for seed; allow only 3–4 fruits per plant to grow and remove all others. Fewer fruits = larger seeds = greater seed viability. Later fruits often have germination rates of only 60%.

Diseases:

• BLS: Bacterial Leaf Spot
• CMV: Cucumber Mosaic Virus
• TMV: Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Germination Testing

For the latest results of our germination tests, please see the germination page.

Our Seeds are Non-GMO

All of our seeds are non-GMO, and free of neonicotinoids and fungicides. Fedco is one of the original companies to sign the Safe Seed Pledge.