Red Hot Pepper Capsicum annuum

Red Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum) is the everyday fiery chili that turns up the heat in any dish. Its slender pods start green and ripen to a glossy, deep red, and that final colour change is where the real fire lives, the riper the pod the sharper and warmer its kick. With a bold, lingering heat and a clean peppery aroma, it is the go-to chili for hot sauces, chili paste, drying for flakes and powder, or simply chopping fresh over a plate to wake it up. A long, warm growing season rewards you with steady flushes of pods, making it a satisfying chili to raise from seed.

Planting

Hot and chili peppers love warmth and need a long season, so start them off early under cover. Sow seeds indoors about 8 to 10 weeks before your last expected frost, allowing up to 12 weeks for the hottest types. Set each seed roughly 0.6 cm deep in a sterile, soilless germination mix. Keep things warm at around 21°C and the seeds usually sprout in about 10 days; a heat mat held at 27 to 32°C speeds and improves emergence noticeably. Once seedlings appear, move them into bright light at 16 to 18°C. Prick them out as soon as the first true leaves show so they stand 5 to 8 cm apart, or pot each one on while it is still small. Only transplant outdoors once night-time lows stay above 10°C and the soil has warmed to at least about 18°C. Give plants the warmest, sunniest spot you have, full sun means at least 6 hours of direct light a day, though 8 to 10 hours is better. Space transplants 30 to 60 cm apart in the row with rows about 75 to 90 cm apart, or for dwarf types about 30 cm apart; in containers, one plant per 22 cm pot. In Egypt this is a warm-season, frost-sensitive spring crop: sow under protection from late December through February, then transplant after the cold spells pass, from late February to March across the Delta and Lower Egypt, or from mid-February in the warmer soils of Upper Egypt. Aim to have plants flowering and setting fruit before peak summer heat, since temperatures above about 30°C suppress fruit set. A second autumn crop is possible too, sowing in July to August under shade and transplanting in late August to September for a harvest running into November and December.

Fertilizing

Start with the soil. Before transplanting, work a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 into the bed at about 1 kg per 9 m², adjusting phosphorus and potassium to suit a soil test, and aim to keep the soil pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Once the first fruits set, side-dress with nitrogen to fuel continued growth and fruiting, but go easy: too much nitrogen gives you bushy, leafy plants that are slow to bear. If you are growing in containers or a greenhouse, switch to a high-potassium liquid feed (a tomato-type feed works well) and apply it weekly as soon as flowering begins, which nudges the plant to favour fruit over foliage.

Care

Even, steady moisture keeps peppers happy. If the plants do not get about 2.5 cm of rain in a week, soak the soil thoroughly at least once weekly and try to keep moisture uniform; drip irrigation or soaker hoses are far better than overhead watering, as they keep the leaves dry and reduce disease. Watch for the usual visitors, cutworms, aphids, tomato hornworms and stink bugs, along with corn borer, earworm and armyworm out in the field. Common diseases include bacterial leaf spot, bacterial wilt and viruses, while uneven watering and sun exposure can bring on blossom-end rot and sunscald. Peppers are usually ready 70 to 85 days after transplanting, with habanero types taking around 90 to 120 days. Pick the first pods promptly at full size to keep new fruit coming. You can harvest green or leave the pods to ripen to full red for a hotter flavour, but note that letting them fully colour up suppresses new flowers and can cut your total harvest by 25% or more, so picking green keeps overall yield highest.