Plant Library

Group/Class:  Hot Habanero

Description:

An extremely hot variety with a fruity, smoky flavor; performs wonderfully in patio containers and gardens; compact habit with strong, upright stems; fruit emerge green and mature to red; delicious when used for hot sauces and salsas

Edible Qualities

Habanero Red Pepper is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. It produces green oblong peppers (which are technically 'berries') which are usually ready for picking from late summer to early fall. The fruit will often fade to red over time. The peppers have a spicy taste and a crisp texture.

The peppers are most often used in the following ways:

• Cooking
• Drying
• Seasoning
• Sauces

Planting & Growing

Habanero Red Pepper will grow to be about 18 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 16 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. This vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.

This plant is quite ornamental as well as edible, and is as much at home in a landscape or flower garden as it is in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America, and it is considered by many to be an heirloom variety. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Habanero Red Pepper is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.