Peppers
Fresno
Ripens red, meatier than jalapeno.
- 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; keep it even or it cracks
- Harvest
- Aug to Oct, red-ripe
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. Keep it even; a feast-and-famine swing cracks the shoulders of the reddening pods.
- 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
- Leave the pods to color red from August, when the perfume arrives; pick the ripe ones off and the plant sets on to frost. Cut, do not pull.
- Trouble
- Cracked shoulders on reddening pods: a feast-and-famine cycle, keep the water even. Sunken dark tip: blossom end rot from swings, keep it even. Aphids on shoots: a hard water spray.
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.
Fresno is the jalapeno's fruitier twin: thinner walls, a faster turn to red, and more perfume once it gets there. One plant on the pepper bench covers it, same March start, with the pods left to color from August on.
Growing
Sow inside in mid March and keep the seedlings warm, since a pepper that never chills flowers sooner. One plant goes to the bed, or a 5 to 7 gallon bag, after frost; feed lightly once the first fruit sets and go easy on nitrogen after that. Resist picking green through midsummer, because the red stage from August to October is the point of the plant, and keep colored pods picked so it keeps setting until frost.
Varieties
Seed sold plainly as Fresno is the standard. Flaming Flare is an AAS-winning Fresno type bred to reach red earlier, which matters in a Beacon September.
In the kitchen
Red Fresnos are the backbone of fermented hot sauce; the thin walls collapse quickly in the blend and let the fruit through. They also mince raw into anything that wants heat with fruit behind it.