Purple cayenne peppers have the same shape and texture as traditional cayenne, but with a pleasant purple shade and a slightly sweeter flavour. The plants grow to be just over 60 cm tall and are ready to harvest in about 80 days. Bushy stalks grow vigorously, and before you know it, will be bursting with beautiful lavender white flowers.
Long, slender peppers reach 10-20 cm long as they ripen from light green to purple to orange and finally turn a gorgeous crimson. These colourful peppers come in on the Scoville scale between 30 and 50 thousand units, ranking them hotter than a jalapeno and milder than a habanero. They haven’t ripened fully at the purple stage and will have a green, vegetal flavour. Peppers will taste best when fully mature and red, offering a sweet and smoky profile.
The ripe peppers are perfect for making dried pepper flakes, hot sauce and fresh salsa. Even if you’re not into spicy foods, purple cayenne makes an excellent ornamental for your porch or patio. Any way you use them, these peppers are sure to stimulate the senses. Growing purple cayenne peppers is like watching a time lapse of a fireworks display in slow motion, right in your own garden!
- Latin Name: Capsicum
- Life Cycle: Perennial, usually grown as an annual
- Days to Maturity: 75-85
- Planting Depth: 5 mm
- Plant Spacing: 35-45 cm
- Row Spacing: 60-90 cm
- Growth Habit: 60 cm tall
GROWING INSTRUCTIONS
Peppers adore the heat and sun and will produce like mad during sweltering summers and mild falls. So, it should come as no surprise that they are very tender and can be quite finicky if faced with cold temperatures. Peppers come in a wide variety of shapes and colors and range from very sweet to extremely hot. You’re sure to find a pepper well suited to your palate.
Start seeds indoors 8-10 weeks ahead of the last frost date. Peppers require consistent heat in order to sprout. Keep soil at 24-32 degrees to ensure proper germination. Use a heating mat to achieve these temperatures. Plant seeds in flats or pots 10 cm deep. Germination should occur in two weeks with an optimal environment but can take up to five.
Set seedlings in a greenhouse, your sunniest windowsill or under a grow light for long hours to provide the necessary light exposure. Re-pot any young plants that begin to stretch, like tomatoes, up to their bottom leaf. This will stimulate more root growth and result in stockier plants.
Gradually harden off peppers for two weeks to prepare for transplanting. Soil should be at least 16°C (warmer is ideal) when preparing to plant outside. Choose the sunniest spot in your garden and prepare a fertile, well-drained bed with plenty of compost. Space plants 45-60 cm apart in the garden.
Give peppers a regular feeding with a liquid fertilizer high in potassium to encourage flower setting and fruit production. Give your plants a good soaking once a week, but allow them a dry period in between waterings. Pepper plants do well with staking, as they can become quite top heavy when loaded with fruit. Pick often to encourage more flower production.
Pepper plants are a sight to behold in the fall. A row or field can resemble a fireworks display, boasting vivid shades of green, yellow, orange, red and purple.
QUICK FACTS
- Peppers have been cultivated in South America for thousands of years before Christopher Columbus brought the plant back to Europe in the early 1500s. Over time, pepper plants have been bred for heat, size, yield, and colour.
- Peppers are perennial in tropical areas, but in colder climates, they are grown as annuals.
- Pepper seeds will remain viable for 3 years if stored in a cool, dark place, ideally between 4 and 10⁰C. After that, the germination rate may start to go down.
