Growing Chili Peppers

The database covers the capsicum genus mild and hot, domesticated and wild. There are gaps in our knowledge, and we are still adding new varieties. Please let us know if you have a variety we have not listed.

The image above shows the heat distribution of the five main domesticated species: Ann. = Annuum. Bac. = Baccatum. Chi. = Chinense. Fru. = Futescens. Pub. = Pubescens. Obviously peppers do not fall into clear groups as their heat level, measured in SHU or Scoville Units, range from zero to perhaps a million. However, our database does categorise by heat and the nine groups we have chosen (clockwise from the top) are: Very Sweet, Sweet, Mild, Medium, Hot, Very Hot, Extremely Hot, Outrageously Hot and Nuclear. The size of the circle represents the number of varieties by species. So from the diagram you can see that the majority of capsicum varieties fall into the sweet and medium categories and are of the Annuum species. You can also say that while mild and even sweet varieties of Chinense peppers do exist, it does tend to be a species dominated by very hot peppers. Please note that although we do not currently have heat data for about almost half of the varieties in our database, we believe the general pattern will remain roughly the same. We will keep the diagram updated as we expand our knowledge.

The image above shows the distribution of pepper species in the database. There are thirty three species in total, with the five domestic species making up the majority of varieties. Some liberties have been taken with the visual representation, as many of the rarer species (such as Anomalum) only represent a single variety, where Annuum accounts for more than one thousand five hundred varieties - almost half our the entire database. We do not currently know the species for roughly a fifth of the varieties in the database.

You can now tranlate the database into Simplified Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portugese, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romainan, Russian and Swedish by clicking on the flags on the results page.


- The database recognises partial names. This is useful if the variety your looking for has either a long name or is difficult to spell. For example Choc or hab can be used if searching for Chocolate habanero. The more accurate you are of course, the more refined your search will be.

- You can use more than one drop down to refine your search. Did you come across a very hot fruity flavoured pepper on a recent holiday to Jamaica? Try selecting very hot, chinense species and Jamaica from the three drop downs.

- Reading the 'Chile Species Guide' and 'Pod Types Guide' will also help improve your chances of finding what your looking for in the database.

Feedback
Have we missed a chile variety? Have we classed a chile as originating in Botswana when in fact it is native to neighbouring Zimbabwe? The chileman welcomes feedback. Please email: with any comments or image contributions that help to make the database more complete. All images used are credited to the photographer. We thank you for your continued support with this project.

 

Growing Updates

Social Network | Facebook
We have had a sort of growing blog here on the website in the past, but now that we have a Facebook page with lots of lovely Facebook friends, it is easier to publish all of our current news updates over there. So if you want to keep up with what we are growing this year...

AISPES

Associations | Capsicum
A great project from this exciting new international association, based in Italy, dedicated to Capsicum and Solanaceae research. They have some great information about wild chilli peppers in particular...

Seed Exchange

Seeds | Capsicum
Imagine the following scenario. At the end of the year, your peppers have matured and you have saved a bag full of seeds so that you can grow them again next year. You only plan to grow three or four plants but that didn't stop you saving more like 200 seeds...

Creating new varieties

Breeding | Varieties
Peppers have two sets of chromosomes. Being self-fertile, a plant that pollinates itself will produce peppers containing seeds that will grow a very similar replica of the original plant. But what happens when you want to create a new variety?...

Species Guide

Guides | Capsicums
The botantical 'genus' to which all chiles belong is Capsicum. There are five domesticated species (Annuum, Baccatum, Chinense, Frutescens and Pubescens) and many more wild species...

Suggest Varieties

Varieties | Database
We get asked about varieties people cannot find in the database all the time. Sometimes they are under a different name, sometimes we just aren't aware of them. Tell us what we have missed and we will get them loaded...

Photograph Donations

Varieties | Database
A big thank you to everyone who has sent us photographs recently. It is easy to find photographs online, but finding people who are willing to let us use their images is more difficult. Please keep them coming...

World's hottest chilli

Hot Peppers | Naga Morich
One of the questions we hear most often is, which is the hottest pepper? There are a few possible contenders, we take a closer look at the hottest of the hot...

Germinating Seeds

Growing | Germinating
Sometimes you drop your seeds into the dirt and they will pop up in less than a week. Other times you may have to wait several weeks. And sometimes nothing happens at all. Here is our guide to getting good germination rates for your peppers...

Avoid disease

Growing | Disease
So, you've bought (or saved) your seeds, carefully planted them and provided the optimum growing conditions. However danger lurks in every corner of the garden bringing death and destruction to your beloved chile plants. Learn to read the danger signs...