Plant Library

Group/Class:  Hot Cayenne

Description:

Abundant yields and versatility make this variety a must have for spice lovers; perfect for containers or gardens; produces long, skinny, hot peppers; emerging green and maturing to bright red; ideal for sauces, pickled, stuffed, grilled or salsas

Edible Qualities

Garden Salsa Hot Pepper is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities. It produces large green long peppers (which are technically 'berries') with red flesh which are usually ready for picking from early summer to early fall. The fruit will often fade to scarlet over time. The peppers have a hot taste and a crunchy texture.

The peppers are most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Eating When Cooked/Prepared
• Cooking
• Baking
• Sauces

Planting & Growing

Garden Salsa Hot Pepper will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 20 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 typically grown 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. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Garden Salsa Hot Pepper is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.