The Goat Pepper Planting Guide

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Goat peppers take patience. The seed can take up to four weeks to sprout, the seedlings need 8 to 10 weeks indoors, and the pods ripen 90 to 120 days after transplanting. Once they get going, though, the plants are vigorous and productive, and in most of the U.S., the season is long enough for them. The planner below works out your dates from your zip code.

Want to know how hot they get and what they taste like? That’s in our goat pepper profile. This page is all about growing them.

Bahamian Goat Pepper Seeds

A packet of Bahamian goat pepper seed for planting. Give it an early start: the seed can take up to four weeks to sprout, and the pods ripen 90 to 120 days after transplanting.

Last update on 2026-10-31. We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Growing at a glance

Goat Pepper

Heat: 100,000–350,000 SHU
Start seeds indoors: 8–10 weeks before your last spring frost
Germination: 10–21 daysIn soil around 70–85°F.
Harden off: 7–14 days before transplanting
Transplant: After last frost, once nights stay at 50°F or warmer
First harvest: 90–120 days after transplanting
Plant height: 24–47 inches

Get these dates for your zip code

Where these figures come from

Start seeds indoors: Living Seeds, Bahamian Goat
Germination: Living Seeds, Bahamian Goat; University of Minnesota Extension, Growing peppers; Nebraska Extension G1879, Garden Peppers; NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Special Seed Starting Instructions; Utah State University Extension, Peppers in the Garden
Harden off: UC ANR, Growing Peppers; Penn State Extension (Chester Co. Master Gardeners), Growing Peppers; Nebraska Extension G1879, Garden Peppers
Transplant: University of Minnesota Extension, Growing peppers; UGA Extension C1005, Home Garden Peppers; NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Growing Tips
First harvest: Living Seeds, Bahamian Goat
Plant height: Living Seeds, Bahamian Goat

When to plant goat peppers where you live

Goat peppers can’t take frost. Plant them out in full sun after your last frost, once nights stay at 55°F or warmer and the soil has reached about 60°F. The planner shows that 55°F date as well as the usual 50°F one.

Type in your zip code and you’ll get dates for starting seeds, hardening off, transplanting and your first harvest, all from NOAA frost data for your area, plus a check on whether your season is long enough. For goat peppers it usually is. They ripen before frost in 86% of U.S. counties, and in another 10%, only the quicker end of their range makes it.

Map of U.S. counties showing where goat peppers ripen before the first fall frost. The South, the Midwest, the East Coast, the Southwest deserts and the Pacific coast fit; the northern Plains and parts of northern New England are tight; the high Rockies, much of the Great Basin and northern Alaska won't ripen in time.

Starting goat pepper seeds indoors

Start the seeds 8 to 10 weeks before your last spring frost. Sow them no deeper than about a quarter inch, and keep the mix warm, around 80°F. A seedling heat mat is the easy way to get there. Most sprout in 10 to 21 days, but some take up to four weeks, so don’t give up on a tray too early. Got an older packet? Check how long pepper seeds last before you count on it.

Keep the mix evenly moist, but never soggy, and once they’re up, give them bright light from overhead. A week or two before transplanting, start hardening them off by setting them outside a little longer each day.

Planting goat peppers outside

Where should they go? Your sunniest spot, since peppers do best with 8 to 10 hours of sun a day.

Goat pepper plants grow bushy and vigorous, 2 to 4 feet tall, and the leaves tend to grow in tight bunches. That dense growth cuts down on airflow and invites fungal disease, so don’t crowd them. Space them 15 to 18 inches apart in rows 3 to 4 feet apart, and give the tallest plants a stake. There’s more in how much space pepper plants need.

They want fertile, well-drained soil with a pH of about 6.0 to 7.0. A soil test tells you where yours stands, and our guide to the best soil pH for peppers covers what to do about it.

Once the plants are in, mulch around them with compost, straw or wood chips to keep the weeds down and hold moisture in, keeping it off the stems. And if you lay black plastic down before planting, it warms the soil, too.

Watering and feeding goat peppers

They need about an inch of water a week. If the rain doesn’t give them that, soak the soil thoroughly, and water at the soil rather than over the leaves. Frequent light watering leads to weak roots, and uneven watering is tied to blossom-end rot. The planner above shows how much rain your area normally gets each month. Our post on watering pepper plants has the details, and here are the signs of overwatering pepper plants.

Go easy on the nitrogen, since too much of it gives you a lot of leaves and fewer peppers. Test your soil before you fertilize, and unless the test says you need phosphorus, use a low- or no-phosphorus fertilizer. Our guide to fertilizing pepper plants walks through what to use and when.

When to pick goat peppers

How do you know they’re ready? Watch the color. Goat peppers start out dark green and ripen to a soft peach-orange, about 90 to 120 days after transplanting. You can pick them green, but for that peach-orange color, leave them on the plant until they turn.

Use shears or pruners rather than pulling them off, since pepper branches are brittle. And wear gloves. At 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville heat units, goat peppers will sting your skin and your eyes, so keep your hands away from your face until you’ve washed up, and know how to treat chili burn before you start.

If frost is coming and you’ve still got green ones on the plant, pick everything. You can try to ripen peppers (somewhat) off the vine.

Common goat pepper plant problems

Few new peppers in a heat wave: very little pepper fruit sets once highs reach 90°F. The planner shows when that usually happens where you live.
Blossom-end rot: a brown rot on the bottom of the fruit, tied to calcium and uneven watering. See calcium deficiency in pepper plants.
Sunscald: see sunscald on peppers.
Curling or yellow leaves: see pepper plant leaves curling and pepper plants turning yellow.
Aphids and spider mites: see aphids on pepper plants and spider mites on pepper plants.
Plants that won’t grow: start with pepper plants growing slowly.
A frost on the way: see will frost kill pepper plants?

For the rest, including fungal leaf problems, we’ve got a rundown of common pepper plant diseases and problems.

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