Habaneros take their time. The seed’s slow to come up, the plants shouldn’t go outside till the nights are warm, and the first green peppers are 75 to 100 days out from transplanting. Ripe orange ones come later than that. Get the timing right, though, and they’ll fit almost anywhere in the U.S. The planner below works your dates out from your zip code.
Want to know how hot they get and what they taste like? That’s in our habanero profile. This page is all about growing them.
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- Heat
- 100,000–350,000 SHU
- Start seeds indoors
- 6–12 weeks before your last spring frost
- Germination
- 7–35 daysIn soil around 70–85°F. Seed is slow to come up and can take up to 5 weeks.
- Harden off
- 7–14 days before transplanting
- Transplant
- After last frost, once nights stay at 50°F or warmer
- First harvest
- 75–100 days after transplanting, for green fruitRipe, orange fruit takes longer.
- Plant height
- 12–24 inchesPlants range from 1 to 4.5 feet; most garden plants reach about 2 feet.
- Containers
- Can be grown in a large container
Where these figures come from
- Start seeds indoors: Baker Creek, West Indies Red Habanero; Pepper Joe's, How to Grow Habaneros
- Germination: Territorial Seed, Habanero; Baker Creek, West Indies Red Habanero; NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Special Seed Starting Instructions; University of Minnesota Extension, Growing peppers; Nebraska Extension G1879, Garden Peppers; 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: Territorial Seed, Habanero; Texas A&M AgriLife (Travis Co.), Vegetable Varieties for Central Texas
- Plant height: Territorial Seed, Habanero; Botanical Interests, Habanero Organic Chile Pepper; Rutgers NJAES FS1273, Production and Marketing of Habañero Peppers in New Jersey
- Containers: Baker Creek, West Indies Red Habanero
When to plant habaneros where you live
Don’t rush them outside. Rutgers recommends waiting until daytime temperatures average 70°F and nights stay above 55°F before you transplant them. The planner shows that 55°F date as well as the usual 50°F one, so you’ve got both.
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’s long enough. For habaneros it usually is: the first harvest comes in before frost in 94% of U.S. counties, and in another 5% only the faster end of the harvest window makes it.
Starting habanero seeds indoors
Start your seeds 6 to 12 weeks before your last spring frost. Habanero seed’s slow, and it likes warmth. Keep the seed-starting mix around 80°F, and don’t give up on it early. It can take up to five weeks to come up. Got an older packet? Check how long pepper seeds last first.
Once they’re up, the seedlings do well under fluorescent lights for 10 to 12 hours a day. A week or two before transplanting, start hardening them off: set them outside a little longer each day so they’re used to being outdoors by the time they go in the ground.
Planting habaneros outside
Give them your sunniest spot. The University of Georgia recommends 8 to 10 hours of sun a day for peppers.
Rutgers plants habaneros 15 to 18 inches apart, in rows 3 to 4 feet apart. There’s more on spacing in how much space pepper plants need.
You’ll want well-drained soil with a pH of 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.
Rutgers recommends black plastic mulch for habaneros, for earlier fruit and a bigger harvest. If you’d rather mulch with compost, straw or wood chips once the plants are in, keep it off the stems.
Growing habaneros in containers
You can grow habaneros in a big pot. Most garden plants don’t get much past 2 feet. Give each one a container of at least 5 gallons with drainage holes, and once it’s big and setting fruit, expect to water every day. There’s more in our guide to growing hot peppers in containers.
Watering and feeding habaneros
They need about an inch of water a week. If the rain doesn’t give them that, soak the soil thoroughly. Frequent light watering leads to weak roots. 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.
Don’t overdo the nitrogen. Rutgers warns that too much of it gives you a lot of leafy growth and hurts fruit set. It’s best to 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 habaneros
You can pick habaneros green, but the University of Georgia’s advice is to let hot peppers like these ripen on the plant. Common habaneros go from green to orange. They’re ready when the fruit’s firm with smooth, shiny skin. Expect the first ripe ones roughly 100 days after transplanting. Other habaneros finish in other colors: Caribbean Red and Red Savina turn red, and chocolate habaneros turn brown.
Don’t pull them off. Use shears or pruners, since pepper branches are brittle. And wear gloves. The oils can give some people a skin rash, and they’ll sting anyone’s eyes, so keep your hands away from your face until you’ve washed up.
If frost is coming and you’ve still got green ones, pick everything. You can ripen peppers off the vine.
Common habanero 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, we’ve got a rundown of common pepper plant diseases and problems.
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Related reading
- The Hot Pepper List: Browse chilies by heat level and flavor to find your next one to grow.
- Habanero vs. Jalapeño: How the two most popular hot peppers compare on heat, flavor and kitchen use.
- Pepper Companion Plants: What to plant next to your peppers, and what to keep away from them.
Growing my first Habaneros this year, and I have a few green peppers and hoping for orange ones when they mature.
Thanks. Very useful