Peppers
Cayenne
Easy to dry and grind.
- Indoors
- 8 to 10 wk (mid Mar)
- Outside
- Transplant after frost
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July; even, and forgives a miss
- Harvest
- Aug to Oct, red for drying
Care
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July and August, about weekly in spring and fall. A long soak at the base until the top few inches are wet, then let it dry before the next. Even and unfussy; a skipped day costs nothing, but a soggy week dulls the heat.
- Sow
- 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, cut the weaker at the soil line when true leaves show. Set plants 18 inches apart in the bed.
- Start inside
- Mat at 80 to 90F, sprouts in 7 to 8 days. Under the lights the moment they break ground, 14 to 16 hours; off the mat at the first true leaves. Outside after mid May, once nights hold 50F.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked in at planting carries the bed most of the season. A medium feeder, so side-dress once at fruit set, then ease off the nitrogen.
- Ready
- Pick the long pods red from August; they dry strung up or spread in a low oven. Keep picking and it keeps setting. Cut, do not pull.
- Trouble
- Sunken dark tip on the whips: blossom end rot from water swings, soak evenly. Brittle branches split under a load: a small stake. A soggy week dulls the heat: water lightly and let it drain.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in July and August; bags dry far faster than a bed. 30 to 40 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag.
One cayenne plant supplies the pepper jar for a year: long red whips that dry fast and grind into powder with actual flavor. It runs the same calendar as the other hots, started mid March, colored up from August.
Growing
Start indoors 8 to 10 weeks ahead, move to the bed, or a 5 to 7 gallon bag, after the mid May frost, and give the brittle branches a small stake once they load up. Thin walls are the feature here: pods dry on a string or in a low oven without any of the fuss thicker chiles demand. Pick red from August through October, and the plant will keep producing as long as it keeps getting picked.
Varieties
Ring of Fire is the early, dependable cayenne for northern seasons; Joe's Long makes foot-long show pods that still dry clean.
In the kitchen
Whole dried pods keep in a jar and grind to order, and fresh-ground cayenne makes the store version taste like dust. A few pods steeped in vinegar cover the hot-sauce shaker.