Tabasco pepper

Sun

Full sun, ideally at least 6-8 hours daily; light afternoon shade can help in very hot inland gardens.

Water

Water thoroughly when the soil surface starts to dry. Keep moisture reasonably steady during flowering and fruiting, without leaving roots waterlogged.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained soil, preferably slightly acidic to neutral; use a free-draining vegetable potting mix in containers.

Height

3-6 ft (0.9-1.8 m)

Spread

2-4 ft (0.6-1.2 m)

Flowers

Small white to greenish-white flowers from summer into autumn, or over a longer season in frost-free conditions.

Foliage

Evergreen. Pointed, smooth-edged green leaves on branching stems that become woody with age.

Growth

Fast in sustained warmth; slow in cool weather.

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Heat tolerant
• Low allergen
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Needs looking after

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1.6 ft (0.5 m)

2. After 1 year

   2.2 ft (0.67 m)

3. After 2 years

   2.8 ft (0.84 m)

4. After 3 years

   3 ft (1 m)

5. After 5 years

   4 ft (1.4 m)

   full size

About 5 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Mildly toxic: may upset a stomach

Growth rate

Moderate

• Start seeds indoors with bottom heat 8-12 weeks before your expected planting date.
• Harden plants off and plant outside only after frost risk has passed and nights are consistently above 13°C (55°F).
• Mulch after the soil warms, keeping mulch clear of the main stem.
• Feed container plants regularly with a tomato fertiliser at the label rate once flowering begins; avoid excessive nitrogen.
• Stake tall plants before heavy fruiting, especially in windy positions.
• Move container plants into a bright, frost-free place before cold weather if you want to overwinter them.

Pruning. Remove dead, damaged or diseased stems whenever needed; routine pruning is unnecessary for annual crops. For overwintered plants, shorten weak or crowded growth in late winter or early spring as fresh growth begins.

Pick the small upright chillies when fully red for their characteristic ripe flavour and heat, usually about 90-120 days or more after transplanting in warm conditions. Snip the short stalks rather than pulling against the branches, and wear gloves when handling or processing the fruit.

Late winter

Sow indoors in warm conditions, ideally with a seed-compost temperature of 25-30°C (77-86°F).

Spring

Pot seedlings individually and keep them in strong light with steady warmth.

Late spring

Harden off and plant out after frost, once nights are reliably warm; delay until early summer in cooler districts.

Summer

Water consistently, feed container plants and stake branches as the crop develops.

Late summer

Harvest red chillies regularly and check leaf undersides for pests.

Autumn

Gather remaining fruit before frost and move selected container plants under cover.

Winter

Keep overwintering plants bright and frost-free, watering sparingly without letting the root ball dry completely.

• Grow in a large patio container where the upright, multicoloured fruit can be seen close up.
• Use as a taller crop behind basil and parsley in a sunny kitchen garden.
• Repeat plants through a warm edible border for green foliage punctuated by red fruit.
• Combine with marigolds and other compact summer flowers in a potager, leaving enough room for airflow.

Garden styles it suits: Potager (kitchen garden), Edible landscape, Modern courtyard, Small-space, Tropical and Mexican hacienda.

Plant it with: Basil, Parsley, Marigold, Sweet alyssum and Spring onion.

Wildlife: Flowers can attract bees, although they are self-fertile. Birds may eat ripe chillies and disperse the seeds in warm climates.

• Aphids gather on young shoots: wash off small colonies with water and use insecticidal soap labelled for edible crops if necessary.
• Whitefly and spider mites can build up under cover: inspect leaf undersides, improve growing conditions and use appropriate greenhouse biological controls or labelled treatments.
• Flowers drop or fruit fails to set in cold nights or extreme heat: keep plants warm in cool climates, ventilate greenhouses and provide light afternoon shade during severe heat.
• Root rot and wilting follow poorly drained, saturated soil: improve drainage, empty standing water from saucers and let the surface begin to dry between waterings.

The fruit is edible for people but very hot: capsaicin can cause substantial burning of the mouth, eyes and skin, and stomach upset. It is an irritant rather than a conventional poison; keep fruit away from children, cats, dogs and horses. Leaves and stems are not recommended as food, and reliable species-specific information on their toxicity to pets and horses is limited.

• Bird's-eye chilli (Capsicum annuum)

  Many bird's-eye chillies have similarly small, upright fruits. Capsicum annuum usually has one flower per node, while C. frutescens often has several; fruit appearance alone is not a reliable identification.

• Habanero pepper (Capsicum chinense)

  Typical habaneros have broader, wrinkled or lantern-shaped fruit rather than the narrow, pointed Tabasco shape. Unusual cultivars and hybrids can be difficult to separate without examining flowers and calyces.

• Jerusalem cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum)

  This poisonous ornamental bears round, cherry-like orange or red berries rather than slender, upright chillies. Do not eat fruit from an unidentified ornamental plant.

Tabasco refers to the Mexican state of that name, while the Latin epithet frutescens means becoming shrubby.

Propagation. Usually grown from seed, which germinates best at 25-30°C (77-86°F) and may take several weeks. Softwood cuttings taken during warm weather can preserve a particular plant; saved seed may not come true if other compatible peppers flower nearby.

Accepted botanical name

Capsicum frutescens

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Hawaii, the lower 48 states, Navassa Island, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.

Native range

Bolivia, Brazil West-Central, Belize, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Guyana.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.