Plant Care Library

Other Names:  Cayenne Pepper

Group/Class:  Hot Cayenne

Description:

Abundant yields and a bushy habit make this variety a must have for containers or gardens; produces long thin, hot peppers that emerge emerald green and matures to wrinkled bright red; ideal for hot sauces, pickled, dried or fresh in salsas

Edible Qualities

Long Thin Cayenne 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 long peppers (which are technically 'berries') with red flesh which are typically harvested when mature. The fruit will often fade to red over time. The peppers have a hot taste and a crunchy texture.

The peppers are most often used in the following ways:

• Cooking
• Drying
• Pickling
• Seasoning
• Sauces

Planting & Growing

Long Thin Cayenne Pepper will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 18 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.

Long Thin Cayenne 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.