When Is the Best Time to Plant Cayenne Pepper? A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods

Cayenne pepper is the smallest type of chili pepper and a relatively common cash crop in China, selling on the market for around 10 yuan, so many people grow it. So when is the best time to plant cayenne pepper? How do you plant it?

Planting Time for Cayenne Pepper

Generally around mid-March, choose a stretch of sunny, windless days and sow in the morning. In North China, spring direct seeding is usually done around Grain Rain, choosing warm, sunny weather for sowing. The row spacing is about 40 cm, and the sowing depth is 2 cm. The sowing depth should be consistent, and the seeds should be distributed evenly. Cover with soil above the sowing furrow, taking care to preserve soil moisture.

Planting Methods for Cayenne Pepper

1. Variety Selection

Choose varieties with a compact plant shape, high fruit yield, clustered fruits, deep red and glossy fruit color, fast and uniform fruit ripening, low flesh moisture content, high dried pepper rate, high pungency, and good market quality, suitable for cultivation in the local area. Examples include Japanese San'ying pepper, New Generation San'ying pepper, short clustered Bullet Head, and Tianyu No. 3.

2. Sowing and Seedling Raising

Before sowing, sun-dry the seeds for 2-3 days, then soak and sprout them. First, soak the seeds in warm water at 50-55°C, maintaining the water temperature while stirring for 15-20 minutes, then remove them. Next, soak the seeds in a 10% trisodium phosphate solution or a 0.3% potassium permanganate solution for 20 minutes, remove and wash off the solution, then wrap them in clean white gauze and sprout them at 25-30°C. When 80% of the seeds have sprouted white, they are ready for sowing. Low plastic tunnels are mostly used for seedling raising; where conditions allow, greenhouse seedling raising can be used. The seedbed should be a loose, fertile plot that has never grown chili peppers. When tilling the soil, apply 200 kg of high-quality decomposed farmyard manure, 0.5 kg of urea, and 0.1 kg of monopotassium phosphate per 10 sq m, and treat the soil with 100 g of 50% carbendazim wettable powder. The sowing time is early to mid-March. On the day before sowing, irrigate sufficiently to build up bottom moisture. After sowing, evenly cover with 0.5-0.8 cm of nutrient soil, then cover with the tunnel and press it down tightly.

3. Cultivating Strong Seedlings

The key to cultivating strong seedlings is to strengthen seedbed management and carry out hardening to strengthen the roots. Thick, sturdy pepper seedlings with well-developed root systems are the foundation for high and stable yields of cayenne pepper. In the early and middle stages of seedling raising, focus on promoting growth: in the early stage, do a good job of keeping warm and preventing freezing to promote early and complete emergence; in the middle stage, reasonably regulate temperature and humidity to prevent seedling scorching and promote seedling growth; in the late stage, ventilate to harden the seedlings, control the amount of irrigation, prevent spindly growth, improve seedling adaptability, and promote flower bud differentiation. When 2-3 true leaves have unfolded, thin the seedlings. Be sure to thin out crowded areas. If there are too many seedlings and they grow crowded, the unused seedlings, if not thinned, are just like weeds, so thinning is essential. When thinning, also pull out weeds, taking care to protect the root system and avoid excessive root damage.

4. Fertilizing and Land Preparation, Reasonable Close Planting

Before transplanting cayenne pepper, do a good job of fertilizing and land preparation. Apply plenty of farmyard manure in the field as base fertilizer to increase soil organic matter content. For peppers intercropped with wheat, before transplanting, spread 500 kg of high-quality dry chicken manure per 667 sq m on the ridges. Cayenne pepper varieties generally have a compact plant shape and are suitable for close planting. Within a certain range, close planting can not only increase the number of plants and raise yield per unit area, but also prevent lodging. About 11,000 plants can be transplanted per 667 sq m. A transplanting depth of about 4 cm is more suitable. After transplanting, water with transplanting water, and after 7-10 days, water lightly to help the seedlings recover.

5. Scientific Management of Fertilizer and Water, Improving Pepper Fruit Quality

Along with watering to help seedlings recover, apply an early, light seedling-promoting fertilizer. Apply 10 kg of urea per 667 sq m, then cultivate and check seedling growth. Cayenne pepper is grown for harvesting mature fruits, so in addition to nitrogen fertilizer, attention should also be paid to the application of phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrient fertilizers. Special attention should be paid to foliar spraying of compound micronutrient fertilizers such as boron, manganese, and zinc, which can make leaves dark green and plants sturdy, and prevent flower and fruit drop. For peppers intercropped with wheat, after the wheat harvest, promptly apply 40-50 kg of potassium sulfate compound fertilizer per 667 sq m. After the pepper fruits begin to turn red, control watering to promote fruit ripening. In case of heavy rain, control excessive growth; otherwise, the plants will stay green and grow wildly, reducing fruit quality.

6. Harvesting

The fruits of colorful peppers grown in open fields generally begin to mature one after another from mid to late August. They should be picked and cut promptly to promote [growth], improving economic returns. The cut mature peppers can be sold on the market or strung up and hung in a ventilated, dry place to dry into dried peppers, to be kept for eating or sold as commercial peppers. Disease occurs, and the stem base rots, constricts, and the plant dies. In the early stage of disease, spray 72.2% Previcur AS at 400 times dilution, or 15% hymexazol (soil fungicide) at 450 times dilution for control.