The Red Savina is a slow pepper to grow. It needs starting indoors 8 to 12 weeks early, the plants want real warmth to get going, and the first red pods take 90 to 100 days from the day they go into the garden. So plan on a long, hot season, or grow it in a pot you can move.
Curious about the heat and the flavor? Our Red Savina habanero profile covers both, along with the pepper’s history. Here, it’s all about growing it.
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- Heat
- 350,000–577,000 SHU
- Start seeds indoors
- 8–12 weeks before your last spring frost
- Germination
- 7–21 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
- Containers
- Does well in a container
Where these figures come from
- Start seeds indoors: Baker Creek, Red Savina
- Germination: Renee's Garden, Red Savina Habanero; Baker Creek, Red Savina; 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
- Containers: Baker Creek, Red Savina
When to plant Red Savina habaneros where you live
Frost kills Red Savina plants, and cold ground stalls them, so hold off planting until the danger of frost is behind you, nights no longer drop below 55°F, and the soil has warmed to near 60°F. Then give them a spot in full sun. You’ll see both the 55°F date and the usual 50°F one in the planner.
Put your zip code in the planner below for seed-starting, hardening-off and transplant dates based on NOAA frost records near you. It doesn’t have harvest timing for the Red Savina yet, so allow 90 to 100 days from transplant to the first ripe pods, and check that against your first fall frost.
Starting Red Savina habanero seeds indoors
Get the seeds sown indoors 8 to 12 weeks out from the last spring frost. If your summers are short, lean toward the early end. Red Savina seed wants heat to sprout. A mix held at 80 to 85°F on a heat mat works well, and even then it can take one to three weeks to show. Older seed is slower still, so look up how long pepper seeds last if your packet’s been sitting a while.
Once they’re up, keep a strong light just above the seedlings. Hardening off starts 7 to 14 days before they go out: set them outside for a short spell, then a longer one each day, so they toughen up to sun and wind.
Planting Red Savina habaneros outside
Where should it go? Into the sunniest bed you have, one that gets direct light for 8 to 10 hours.
The plants grow to about 3 feet, sometimes 3½, so give each one 14 to 24 inches of room. Our post on spacing pepper plants has more.
Plant them in loose, well-drained soil, ideally at a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. A soil test is the only way to know, and soil pH for peppers walks through raising or lowering it.
Once they’re in the ground, mulch with straw, compost or wood chips, keeping it back from the stems, to hold moisture in and keep weeds down. And in cool areas, black plastic laid before planting helps warm the bed.
Growing Red Savina habaneros in containers
A pot is a good home for a Red Savina. Choose one at least 12 inches deep with drainage holes, and check it daily once the plant is full grown and fruiting, since pots dry out fast in summer heat. Our container-growing guide has the rest.
It’s also how you get more than one season out of a plant. Peppers are perennials where it doesn’t freeze, so a potted Red Savina can come inside before the first frost and keep going. See growing hot peppers indoors for bringing one in.
Watering and feeding Red Savina habaneros
Aim for roughly an inch a week of water, counting rain. Water deeply when you do, since shallow sprinkles keep the roots near the surface, and keep it steady, because swings between dry and soaked are tied to blossom-end rot. Your area’s usual monthly rainfall shows up in the planner. Our watering pepper plants post goes deeper, and it’s worth knowing the signs of too much water.
Be sparing with nitrogen, which grows a big, leafy plant with fewer pods. Get a soil test before you feed, and skip extra phosphorus unless the test calls for it. Our fertilizing pepper plants guide covers timing and products.
When to pick Red Savina habaneros
Red Savinas start green and turn a glossy red when they’re ripe, roughly three months after transplanting (90 to 100 days). Ripe pods are about 2 inches long and shaped like small lanterns. Green ones are edible, but the red is what this variety is grown for.
Snip them off with pruners rather than pulling, since the branches break easily. And wear gloves. These pods run up to 577,000 Scoville heat units, enough to burn skin and eyes, so keep your hands off your face until you’ve washed them, and have a plan for chili burn ready.
When frost threatens while pods are still green, pick them all and try to ripen them off the vine, or carry a potted plant indoors.
Want to save seed? Check your packet first, because some sellers list Red Savina as open-pollinated and others as an F1 hybrid, and seed from a hybrid may not grow true to the parent.
Common Red Savina habanero plant problems
- Flowers but few new pods in hot weather: fruit set falls off once daytime highs hit 90°F. The planner flags when that usually happens near you.
- A dark, sunken patch at the bottom of the fruit: that’s blossom-end rot. Read calcium and blossom-end rot.
- Pale, papery patches on the side facing the sun: see sunscald.
- Leaves that curl or turn yellow: start with curling leaves and yellowing leaves.
- Tiny pests under the leaves: check for aphids and spider mites.
- A plant that just sits there: see slow-growing pepper plants.
- Cold nights in the forecast: read will frost kill pepper plants?
Something else going on? Start with our roundup of common pepper plant troubles.
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Related reading
- The Habanero Planting Guide: The orange original, slow and heat-loving just like this one.
- The Ghost Pepper Planting Guide: The pepper that took the Red Savina’s record, and how to grow it.
- Preserving Chili Peppers: Drying, freezing and pickling a big harvest before it goes soft.