Orange Habanero Chilli Pepper – 20 Seeds

The orange habanero chilli pepper is the most common of all habaneros used in cooking and salsas.

Similar to the Red Habanero the Orange Habanero Chilli pepper is the fully mature and ripe version of the Green Habanero and botanically part of Capsicum chinense.  When fully mature Habanero peppers will be either red or orange in color, with orange being the most common and preferred cultivator. The orange Habanero is also one of the hottest varieties of Habanero peppers.

It ripens from green to a bright orange hue. Its skin is thin and waxy with slight exterior wrinkling. Their pods have a distinctive lantern-like shape and are petite measuring typically no bigger than two inches in length and one to two inches in width. A close relative of the Scotch bonnet pepper, Habanero has a similar shape, flavor and heat as the Scotch bonnet. It is an aromatic chili pepper that has a subtle apricot aroma and offers an intense and pungent heat.

Plants are easy to grow and when mature get filled with beautiful bright orange pepper pods. Scoville heat units 150 000 to 350 000 units. When handling these chillis, especially the seeds, protect your skin and especially your eyes.

Growing Orange Habanero Chilli Pepper

Indoor Sowing: Mid Winter, Late Winter and Early Spring.

Direct Sowing: Not Recommended.

• Peppers take a long time to grow large enough from seeds to produce mature fruit, and they require a fairly long growing season.
• The best way to get a good crop is by planting the seeds indoors 8-12 weeks before your average last frost date.
• Soak your seeds overnight in warm water to help them germinate faster.
• Sow the Pepper Seeds about 1/4-inch deep in a moist sterile potting mixture.
• Mist the potting mix with water daily so it stays moist, or seal the pots in plastic bags so they don’t dry out.
• For best germination, keep the soil between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius.
• The pots won’t require light until the seeds sprout.
• Peppers typically require 14 days to germinate, but they may take as few as seven or as many as 30 days or longer to sprout.
• After the seeds have germinated, place the pot on a light windowsill or in a heated greenhouse.
• When they are 2.5cm tall prick out seedlings, moving each into their own 10cm pot. Make sure the roots are well covered and the leaves are just above the surface of the compost.
• Water and place in a light spot indoors.
• While plants are still growing indoors, move into 13cm pots filled with general purpose compost when roots begin to show through the drainage holes in the base.
• When plants are about 20cm tall, or before if they start to lean, stake with a stick.
• Pinch out the tops of peppers when they are about 30cm tall to encourage lots of branches.
• Plants are ready to go when all danger of frost has passed.
• Either plant directly into the ground, spacing them 45cm apart or transfer them to 22cm pots to give them plenty of space to grow.
• Make sure you water regularly, especially in hot weather and feed every two weeks with a general purpose liquid fertilizer. Feeding should start when the flowers first appear and should continue until the fruit have been harvested.