Hot peppers - the best varieties for open ground

There are many varieties of peppers, divided into two categories: sweet and hot. The latter are less commonly grown in gardens, although they are much easier to care for. They don't require training, are rarely susceptible to disease or pests, and most tolerate sudden temperature changes well.

However, not all varieties of hot peppers are suitable for growing in open ground. When choosing certain species for planting, it's worth paying attention to their propagation method and subsequent care: some should be planted in extremely limited quantities due to their pungency, while others require specific growing conditions.

Description of the best early varieties of hot peppers for open ground

To get a bountiful harvest in the shortest possible time, you can plant peppers in your garden that produce fruit in an average of 70-75 days. These typically produce small peppers, as they ripen quickly, although there are exceptions. One of their main advantages is their rapid development, during which time they are resistant to pests and require no treatment.

You should pay attention to the following early varieties:

• Impala is an early hybrid characterized by high productivity and suitable for both outdoor and greenhouse cultivation. The plant is quite tall and vigorous, with a well-developed root system. Impala has numerous leaves, which helps it easily survive intense heat. A single bush can bear up to 12 fruits, which are 15-18 cm long and weigh up to 80 g.

  

• Ostryak is a variety prized for its early maturity and decorative qualities. Its ripe fruits are used in cooking, as their small size makes them ideal for preserving and quickly processing into sauces. In open ground, Ostryak grows to 50 cm in height, and in greenhouses, to 1.5 m. The peppers are triangular in shape with a curved tip, weighing 5-8 g. They are attached to the stalk by a medium-sized stalk. The variety is resistant to prolonged drought and low light.

  

• The Tula pepper is an early variety, but it has the longest ripening period of all—90 days. It grows as a medium-height bush, producing single, cone-shaped fruits weighing up to 20 g as the plant develops. The average yield is 0.5 kg per plant, which is quite high. The fruit's flesh is very spicy.

  

• Chilean Heat is also an early-ripening variety, but at least 110 days must pass before harvest. This pepper has a conical, slightly curved shape, reaching approximately 20 cm in length. It has a strong yet pleasant aroma and a vibrant flavor. This variety is extremely low-maintenance: a few fertilizing sessions are sufficient for a large harvest.

You may be interested in:

Tall pepper varieties for greenhouses – how to grow them?
Just a few decades ago, bell peppers were grown only in certain regions of the Soviet Union. Mild…Read more…

• Habanero is the most popular chili variety, known to many fans of spicy dishes. Habanero has the following characteristics:
  • the fruit, hanging on a long stalk, has a heart shape and weighs 15 g on average;
  • is one of the hottest varieties of chili;
  • seeds are the most flavorful part of the plant;
  • pepper often has an uneven surface, covered with folds and wrinkles;
  • one medium-sized bush can produce up to 90 fruits;
  • Peppers are often not bright red, but orange.

    

Characteristics of mid- and late-ripening varieties

Growing late-bearing varieties is preferable for southern regions, as it reduces the risk of frost damage. However, some of the varieties presented are cold-hardy, and Vizier is one of them.

Among the late and mid-season varieties, it is worth paying attention to the following:

• Astrakhan pepper is a mid-season and most commonly grown variety. It is a compact plant, reaching up to 50 cm in height. The fruits are bright red, cone-shaped, and have a smooth, glossy surface. They average 5-9 cm in length and 2-2.5 cm in diameter. This variety is characterized by high yields, and to maximize yield, it is advisable to plant the seedlings in loamy, well-drained soil. The fruits are used to make pepper liqueurs and hot spices.

  

• Ram's Horn pepper is also a mid-season variety. While it's a difficult plant to grow, the resulting fruits have valuable flavor and ornamental qualities: their flavor is piquant and sharp, the aroma is quite strong, and the pepper itself is cone-shaped. It is elongated and wrinkled, primarily at the stem, and smoother at the tip, which can be curled. The bush is branched, reaching 60 cm in height. The main requirement for cultivation is a water-free soil, otherwise the peppers will not have a pungent taste.

  

• Cayenne pepper is a relatively new species with a typical pepper shape, but the fruit rarely exceeds 1.5 cm in size. Despite its small size, the bush itself grows up to 1.2 m, and up to 3 m in protected soil. The pepper itself is hollow, with walls no more than 2 mm thick. It often has shapes not only oblong but also reminiscent of cherries and olives. The fruits can hang from the stem, as with most varieties, or protrude like candles.

  

• The Tabasco pepper is a chili pepper variety grown primarily for sauces. Although it is a perennial, it rarely grows for more than two or three years. Similar to the Cayenne pepper, it is a shrubby plant reaching 1.5 meters in height. The average diameter is 1 meter.

  

  The fruits, no more than 4 cm in size, are borne in upward-facing clusters on the bushes. A single bush can bear numerous fruits. They are yellow-green at the beginning of ripening, later turning a rich red. The plant is considered one of the most productive and easy-to-care-for plants, easily grown in open ground.

• Vizier. This late-ripening plant produces one of the most unusual turban-shaped peppers. It is profitable to grow because its yield is high compared to other varieties, and the pepper itself is very disease-resistant. Vizier is cultivated for canning and making hot spices. General characteristics:
  • is a tall, semi-spreading, but at the same time compact plant;
  • fruit weight – 10-30 g;
  • the harvest time is from August to October;
  • the pepper is decorative, has an intense aroma and medium spiciness;
  • Most often the fruits are fleshy and deep red, but can have a yellow or green tint.

    

Description of the most popular and hottest varieties

The Scoville scale is used to determine heat, allowing for a comparative assessment of any pepper. To better understand how hot a product is, the following types can be compared:

• any bell pepper – 0 SHU;
• Tabasco – 5000 ECU;
• Habanero – 100,000 ECU.

Among the hottest varieties of pepper for open ground are the following:

1. One of the most widely cultivated species is the Trinidad Scorpion (1.46 million SHU), a chili variety. It gets its name from the small, spherical or heart-shaped tail at the end of the fruit. The plant is a small bush, growing up to 1 m. The leaves, like the pepper itself, have an uneven surface. The root system is poorly developed. The fruits are large, with an average diameter of 10 cm. The main requirements for growing conditions are fertilization and planting at a distance of 40-50 cm from each other in a location protected from strong winds.

   

2. Scotch Cap (100,000 SHU) is one of the most unusually shaped peppers, named for its resemblance to a Scottish cap. It is not recommended to dilute it in large quantities, as eating a piece larger than a pinhead can cause numbness and dizziness.

   

   The plant isn't particularly tall—about 60 cm—but it's stocky and strong. When ripe, the peppers are small, flattened, and have wrinkled, shiny skin. Scotch bonnet peppers come in orange and red varieties. Although all peppers are very hot, they impart a light apple or cherry aftertaste.

3. The Super Chili pepper (50,000 SHU) is an early-ripening, very hot hybrid, growing to 40-60 cm. The fruits are no more than 6-7 cm long, borne on petioles beneath the leaves, and change from green to a rich cherry color as they ripen. They can weigh up to 25 g, depending on care. The growing season is 70 days. Super Chili peppers are eaten dried and fresh, and less commonly canned. Due to their intense heat, they should not be planted in the same bed with bell peppers to avoid cross-pollination.

   

Planting seeds and further care of peppers in open ground

Before planting, the seeds need to be prepared. First, sort them, removing any empty ones. This can be done by pouring them into a glass of salted water. Good seeds will float, while unsuitable seeds will sink. After sorting, disinfect them: soak the seeds in a weak potassium permanganate solution for half an hour, then rinse and prepare a new solution.

• dissolve a teaspoon of nitrophoska in a liter of warm water;
• leave the seeds in it for a day.

The next step, which shouldn't be neglected, is hardening. Place the seeds in the refrigerator for two days, then store them at 18˚C for another day, then refrigerate them again for a couple of days. Then transfer them to a damp cheesecloth, cover with plastic wrap, and wait for germination.

You may be interested in:

A review of ultra-early pepper varieties with photos and descriptions
At the market, gardeners can find a wide variety of sweet pepper seeds. They will differ from each other only in…Read more…

To plant sprouted seeds, you'll need soil rich in micronutrients and several small peat containers. Add fine gravel to the bottom, top with soil, and make 1-cm-deep holes. Afterward, soak the seeds in the holes, cover with soil, and water with filtered water. Cover the containers with plastic wrap and leave them indoors at 15˚C.

Subsequent care of sprouts:

1. Remove the film a week after the seedlings appear.
2. Water them 1-2 times a week.
3. Provide bright, diffused lighting. If using fluorescent lamps, keep them on for no more than 2 hours.

   

4. When two leaves appear on each sprout, the seedlings will be ready for picking.
5. Mature seedlings should be planted when daytime temperatures do not drop below 20˚C. In open ground, plants should be spaced 15-20 cm apart.
6. Watering should be frequent, but in small amounts. In hot weather, you can moisten the soil up to twice a day.
7. Once the plants stretch out, they need to be provided with support, otherwise they will break under their own weight.

Frequently asked questions about growing

Hot varieties are relatively easy to care for, and growing any variety from seed is easy even for novice gardeners. Even low germination rates shouldn't discourage you: these varieties are very hot, and even a single fruit lasts a long time for cooking spicy dishes.