Chilli Habanero Orange
Chilli Habanero Orange is probably the most commonly grown Habanero and one of the easiest to grow. Fruits are up to 2.5cm x 4cm and are produced on a shrubby bush to 70cm tall approx. The fruits are ready to pick and the plant will continue cropping as long as suitable conditions are maintained (Still alive in mid winter in a Tasmanian hothouse). This is probably the most prolific Habanero variety I have grown. The fruits are hot – up to 350,000 Scoville units.
Give a cut back in July in a cool climate and the plant should get a second wind the following season (in a hothouse that is). If grown outside, black plastic on the ground will help keep the soil warmer and thus more productive.
Sow – Start on a heat mat or indoors in August, plant out after risk of frost and soils warmed (early November in cool climate). Can start earlier if planting in a hot house. Lay black plastic on ground and plant into an X cut-out if planting outside. They need consistent warmth in Tasmania.
Spacing – 50cm.
Capsicum fruits have been a part of human diets since about 7,500 BC, and are one of the oldest cultivated crops in the Americas, as origins of cultivating chili peppers are traced to east-central Mexico some 6,000 years ago. They were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America.
