Your 2026 Garden

[CatInTheHenHouse]

How did they produce? Did you get lots? I grow poblanos that usually get 4 to 5 feet tall, can't imagine more than 1 to a square foot, they get really bushy and loaded. Are cayenne peppers a much smaller bush? Sorry for so many questions, I use a lot of cayenne in cooking and have thought of growing them.

The first year yes, I got enough to make cayenne powder for myself for a year. Last year no, but none of my warm weather crops did well last year - too cold all summer.

My cayenne got to be about a foot tall, maybe a bit more, but nowhere near 3-4 feet. I will note that my hanging basket is very airy:

I have it lined with some old screen and newspaper (it came with a coco coir mat but that has since disintegrated). I suspect this kept the roots warmer in year 1 (which I gather peppers like) because they’d done way better than the same variety in other planters the same year.

I do want to note that I have gotten suspicious that the tight quarters are why they never survive overwintering; I have a different variety in a 12” pot by itself that has survived so far and is trying to make peppers under the grow light. This is the first time I’ve had any peppers survive this long so I need to test that this year.