Orders with subtotals $1,200 and above receive bulk pricing.
If you have placed orders totaling at least $1,200 within the past 12 months, additional orders qualify for bulk pricing.
Bulbs begin shipping in late September.
Trees and plants begin shipping in March.
Potatoes and onion sets begin shipping in late March.
Seeds ship year-round.
Tools and growing supplies ship year-round.
Orders with subtotals $1,200 and above receive bulk pricing.
If you have placed orders totaling at least $1,200 within the past 12 months, additional orders qualify for bulk pricing.
Often curled and twisted, the wrinkled peppers grow 5–6" long, ½" across, and taper to a point. Dark green color changes to bright red. Prolific (“produce zillions”) and hot. The backbone of Hillary Nelson’s red chile pastes. Along with Matchbox, dries easily on screens; Holli Cederholm runs them through a food processor for crushed red pepper. Pre-1827 heirloom. Pungent; 3,500–5,000 Scovilles.
Items shipping from our garden seeds warehouse take 1-3 business days to process.
* We are currently receiving seed from our growers. We may hold orders for up to two weeks as we pack seed to complete orders.
About 110–200 seeds/g, except Thai Hot.
Chiles have been consumed in Mexico for more than 5,000 years. In the U.S. hot peppers have increased dramatically in popularity.
Capsaicin compounds cause most of the heat in peppers. Warm nighttime temperatures stimulate maximum development of capsaicins and increase pungency levels. Pungency is expressed in Scoville units, after Wilbur Scoville, an Englishman who devised the method used for eighty years to measure the heat in peppers.
Some Scoville ratings for general categories are:
If you overdose on hot peppers, plain carbs like bread, rice or tortillas are better than any liquid at removing the heat from your mouth. Handle hot peppers with caution; capsaicin is highly alkaloid and can burn skin.
Days to full-color maturity are from transplanting date.
Capsicum comes from the Greek kapto which means ‘bite.’
Culture: Start indoors in March or April. Minimum germination soil temperature 60°, optimal range 68-95°. Set out in June. Very tender, will not tolerate frost, dislike wind, will not set fruit in cold or extremely hot temperatures or in drought conditions. Black plastic highly recommended. Row cover improves fruit set in windy spots. Pick first green peppers when they reach full size to increase total yield significantly. Green peppers, though edible, are not ripe. Peppers ripen to red, yellow, orange, etc.
Saving Seed: Saving pepper seed is easy! Remove core of the fully ripe pepper (usually red or orange) and dry on a coffee filter. When dry, rake seeds off the core with a butter knife. To ensure true-to-type seed, grow open- pollinated varieties and separate by 30 feet. Use only the first fruits for seed; allow only 3–4 fruits per plant to grow and remove all others. Fewer fruits = larger seeds = greater seed viability. Later fruits often have germination rates of only 60%.
Diseases:
For the latest results of our germination tests, please see the germination page.
All of our seeds are non-GMO, and free of neonicotinoids and fungicides. Fedco is one of the original companies to sign the Safe Seed Pledge.