A worm's eye view of ripening cayenne peppers. I decided to grow cayenne peppers this year because the commercial cayenne pepper purchased in the grocery store just didn't have the kick or taste of fresh garden cayenne pepper. After the fruit ripens to a crimson color it can be bound together by the stems with ordinary jute and hung out in the open sun or in a cool, dry, location. Additionally, the entire plant can be dug up and hung upside down roots and all just before a hard frost is expected and allowed to dry for several weeks. Further processing requires seed removal if desired from the pod and finely milling or chopping the dried pepper into flakes where it can be added to your favorite dish for the desired heat. Always use gloves when processing Cayenne or Habanero peppers as the chemicals that provide heat can be extremely irritating to soft skin tissue particularly around the eyes and genitals! Cayenne pepper plants are relatively easy to grow from seed and contain a compound called capaisin which is believed to have medicinal benefit for the human digestive system, heart, and circulatory system.

The cayenne pepper plants were started indoors during the week of April 15 in USDA zone 5b from seed. I plan to start the seeds during the first week of April next year. I started the seeds in a media of consisting of one part coarse builder's sand to one part commercial peat moss. The media was mixed with water until until you could press the media together with one or both hands and make sort of a snowball out of it. Moist, but not wet is the key. The plants were started in a "Wardian case" in an east facing window with about five hours of direct sunlight per day. After the second set of leaves developed the plants were potted up in four inch plastic pots and the media was changed to a commercial soil-less mix of peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. The product 's name is called "Pro-Mix" and was purchased at the local Agway store.

Shown at right from my pepper garden are ripening habanero peppers. The literal translation of "habanero" means "From Havana". The origin of this fruit however is believed to be from China. The habanero pepper plants are used to divert the pepper maggot from laying eggs in the bell pepper plants and thus utilized as a means of insect pest management. The 'Habanero' pepper is the hottest tasting of all peppers. I once knew an Italian gardener who grew hot cherry peppers that I thought were extraordinarily hot, but the 'Habanero' is much hotter on the heat scale than those.

Bell peppers are the primary pepper crop that I grow in my pepper garden because of my personal tastes. I enjoy eating bell peppers with a great variety of foods such as fresh breakfast omelets, roasted peppers on an afternoon sandwich, stuffed peppers for an evening meal, and as a staple in a garden salad. Bell pepper, Cayenne, and Habanero peppers were all started at the same time around April 15th. They were grown until a secondary set of leaves formed and then potted up into four inch plastic pots in a soil less mix of peat moss, vermiculite and perlite. When outside temperatures warmed the plants were moved to a cold frame for hardening off and continued growth and development. When the permanent garden soil temperature warmed to around 60° F. the pepper plants were moved and transplanted under agricultural grade black polyethylene plastic. The black plastic functions to raise the soil temperature, suppress weeds, and conserve moisture. To install it, first prepare the soil, install drip irrigation at this time if desired, then cover with the black plastic and secure the row with wire hold downs or whatever your creativity will lead you so long as the plastic edges won't lift during a strong wind and rain. Space the plants about two feet apart, then cut a hole in the plastic slightly larger than the circumference of the four inch pot, set the plants, then water the plants in. The use of a three inch cardboard sleeve at the base of the plant and set into the soil about an inch will discourage cutworm activity until the plants obtain their woody stem characteristic. Slice the cardboard sleeve lengthwise to wrap the stem without damaging the plant. Subsequent applications of a few tablespoon's of non-fat dry milk to raise calcium levels will be greatly beneficial to the plant and assist to provide essential nutrients for robust growth and development.

I would estimate that a well grown pepper plant would produce up to six large peppers attaining a commercial size of three inch diameter or better and several smaller peppers that can be harvested right up until a hard frost.