Chilli Pepper

About

Capsicum frutescens is the species that gives Tabasco sauce its pepper, piri piri its heat and Thai cooking its small fierce pods. The fruit is little, held pointing upwards rather than hanging, and it comes in enormous quantity from a single plant.

The most useful thing to know is that this is a genuine perennial, woodier and longer-lived than the annual chillies. A plant kept frost-free will crop for three or four years, getting larger and more productive each season, and in the tropics it becomes a shrub.

That matters wherever the season is short. A first-year plant sown in February produces a modest crop of small green pods that struggle to ripen. The same plant in its second year, already woody and rooted, ripens a heavy crop of red ones.

Appearance and character

A bushy plant with a woody base, 60 cm to 1.5 m under glass and up to 2 m as a perennial in the tropics.

Leaves are oval and pointed, mid-green, smaller and narrower than a sweet pepper’s.

Flowers are the identification. Greenish-white to yellowish, held one or two per node on erect stalks, and the pale green throat distinguishes them from the white flowers of Capsicum annuum.

Fruit is small, 1 to 4 cm, narrow and pointed, and held upright above the foliage rather than hanging. That upright habit is the most reliable field mark for the species.

Colour ripens from green through yellow or orange to red, and a plant carries all stages at once, which is why a fruiting bird’s eye is such a striking thing.

Flavour is clean and sharply hot with a smoky note in the tabasco types, and without the fruity complexity of a habanero.

Where it is from

Capsicum frutescens originated in Central and South America, most likely around the Amazon basin and Central America, and it was carried through the Caribbean before European contact.

Portuguese trade spread it further and faster than any other chilli species. Within decades of 1500 it was established across Africa, India and South East Asia, which is why piri piri is Mozambican, bird’s eye is Thai, and neither is native to those places.

Tabasco is a variety of this species, selected in Louisiana and used by the McIlhenny Company from 1868.

Europe has grown it under glass since the Victorian period and has never treated it as an outdoor crop.

Taxonomists have argued for decades over whether frutescens and chinense are separate species, since they cross readily and share much of their genetics. Both names remain in use.

How it grows

Sow indoors in January or February at 22 to 25 deg C. Germination takes ten to twenty-one days and benefits from a propagator.

Prick out into 9 cm pots at the first true leaf and grow on above 18 deg C.

Pot on into a 25 cm pot, a growbag or a greenhouse border in May.

Pinch out the growing tip at 20 cm to force branching.

Stake the plant, since a heavily fruiting bird’s eye is top-heavy despite the small pods.

Pick from August. The pods are usable green and much better red, and picking regularly encourages more.

Overwinter the plant at 10 to 15 deg C, cut back by two thirds and watered sparingly. This species repays overwintering more than any other chilli, since it is a true perennial.

Take cuttings in late summer if you want more plants of a good clone. They root readily in warmth.

Through the seasons

Midwinter is sowing, in January or February at 22 to 25 deg C.

Spring grows the plants on above 18 deg C, potting on twice. Overwintered plants restart into growth in March and should be repotted and fed.

Early summer moves plants to their final pot or border in May. Pinch out at 20 cm and stake.

Summer is flowering and fruiting. Water every two or three days, feed weekly with high potash once fruit sets, and damp down against red spider mite.

Autumn is the harvest, from August to October. Reduce watering and feeding from late September, then cut back and overwinter.

Care difficulty

Moderate in the first year and easy thereafter, which is the opposite of most crops here.

Overwintering is the technique that makes the difference. A second or third-year plant is far more productive than a seedling and needs nothing but a frost-free windowsill and occasional water.

Heat is the requirement. Growth stops below 15 deg C, and glass or a bright warm windowsill is what it needs outside the subtropics.

Germination is slow and needs warmth.

Blossom drop follows cold nights, dry roots or excess nitrogen.

Handling the fruit is where care is needed, and the heat level makes gloves sensible for any quantity.

Watering

Water every two or three days in summer, keeping the compost evenly damp.

Never waterlog. Root rot in a saturated pot kills more chillies than drought does.

A little drought stress once fruit has set raises the capsaicin content, so ease off slightly from August if you want more heat.

Damp the greenhouse floor on hot mornings against red spider mite.

Water an overwintered plant perhaps once a fortnight, just enough to keep the compost from drying out completely.

Container plants in a 25 cm pot need daily watering in a hot greenhouse.

Warning signs, diseases and pests

Red spider mite bronzes and speckles the leaves and webs the growing tips in dry heat. Damp down daily and introduce Phytoseiulus predators early.

Aphids cluster on the growing tips and distort new growth. Wash them off and use Aphidius under glass.

Whitefly coat the leaves in sticky honeydew. Use Encarsia parasitic wasps.

Blossom drop follows cold nights, dry roots or too much nitrogen.

Root rot follows waterlogging. Use a free-draining compost and a pot with good drainage.

Green fruit at the end of the season means a first-year plant in a short summer. Overwinter it and the second year will be different.

Leaf drop on an overwintered plant in December is normal and not a sign of death.

Growing environment

Full sun under glass, in a polytunnel, or on a bright south-facing windowsill.

Free-draining, moderately fertile compost with added grit.

Neutral to slightly acid, pH 6 to 7.

Temperatures of 22 to 30 deg C by day and above 15 at night.

A 25 cm pot is enough for a first-year plant and a 30 cm one for an overwintered plant.

Frost-free space at 10 to 15 deg C over winter.

Rotate with tomatoes, aubergines and potatoes on three years, or use fresh compost.

Feeding

Use a balanced liquid feed from potting on until the first flowers open.

Switch to a high-potash tomato feed weekly once the first fruit has set.

Avoid nitrogen after flowering, which gives leaf, delays fruiting and causes blossom drop.

Stop feeding in October.

Repot an overwintered plant into fresh compost in March and resume feeding when new growth appears.

Troubleshooting

A small crop of green pods in the first year. Normal for this species in a short season. Overwinter the plant. A second-year plant is far more productive and ripens its fruit.

Nothing germinated. Too cold. Capsicum frutescens needs 22 to 25 deg C and up to three weeks. Use a heated propagator.

Flowers appear and drop off. Blossom drop from cold nights, dry roots or too much nitrogen. Keep nights above 15 deg C, water evenly and feed with potash.

Fine webbing and speckled leaves. Red spider mite. Damp down every morning and introduce Phytoseiulus predators.

The plant lost its leaves in December. Normal on an overwintered plant. Reduce watering, keep it above 10 deg C, and it will reshoot in March.

The chillies are not very hot. Heat rises with sun, warmth and slight drought stress. Water a little less from August and let the pods colour fully.

How do I tell this from an ordinary chilli? The pods point upwards rather than hanging, and the flowers have a greenish rather than pure white throat. Capsicum annuum pods hang and its flowers are white.

Can I take cuttings? Yes, readily, in late summer with bottom heat. It is the best way to keep a good plant going and to share it.