Last edited on 9 Oct 2019. View history

Capsicum frutescens Capsicum Frutescens

Capsicum frutescens

A variety of capsicum

How to sow Capsicum frutescens: Direct seed indoors, transplant seedlings outside after hardening off

Sun requirement for Capsicum frutescens: 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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Capsicum frutescens facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
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 Capsicum frutescens, 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 Capsicum frutescens 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.

Growing Capsicum frutescens

  1. Sow seeds indoors 8 weeks before planting out
  2. Harden off the seedlings 1 week before planting out
  3. Stake the plants 3 weeks after planting out
  4. Water regularly at planting out every week
  5. Feed with liquid fertiliser 6 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
  6. Pick fruit regularly at first harvest every week
  7. Pull out finished plants 6 weeks after first harvest

Varieties of Capsicum frutescens

Image of kambuzi

kambuzi

Capsicum frutescens
Image of malagueta pepper

malagueta pepper

Capsicum frutescens
Image of piri-piri pepper

piri-piri pepper

Capsicum frutescens
Image of siling labuyo pepper

siling labuyo pepper

Capsicum frutescens
Image of tabasco pepper

tabasco pepper

Capsicum frutescens

Photos

Capsicum frutescens crops

Capsicum frutescens plantings

Red eye chilli
Red eye chilli
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IMG_20180308_142307
IMG_20180308_142307
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20201018_155007
20201018_155007
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2020-03-02_12-07-30
2020-03-02_12-07-30
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Capsicum frutescens harvests

2020-01-29_10-15-16
2020-01-29_10-15-16
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2020-02-14_12-39-30
2020-02-14_12-39-30
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2020-01-29_10-14-52
2020-01-29_10-14-52
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More photos

Video

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Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Capsicum frutescens L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Asteridae
Solanales
Solanaceae
Optimal temperature 18 - 30 °C
Absolute temperature 7 - 40 °C
Optimal rainfall 600 - 1500 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 400 - 2000 mm/year
Optimal soil pH 5.5 - 6.8
Absolute soil pH 4.3 - 8.3
Crop cycle 120 - 180 days
Max altitude 2000 m
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)
Optimal light very bright

Licensed under CC-BY-4.0 .

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) ECOCROP, the crop ecological requirements database. Version 1. https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog/dataset/ecocrop. Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/ecocrop_1/.

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