Planting windows, heat class, and species names below come from UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, Ask IFAS TR010 and HS732, and Penn State Extension. Where hosts disagree, both are named. Harvest days and Scoville bands stay on those pages.

What the Central Florida bulletin actually dates

Ask IFAS HS732 (Pepper Production, publication CV130) prints a planting-date table by Florida region. For Central Florida the table lists August to September and January to March. North Florida is listed as July to August and February to March. South Florida as August to February. Those are the bulletin's commercial planting windows, not a pick day on this site.

Worked example: Central Florida window. HS732's Central Florida row is two slots: a late-summer set (Aug to Sept) and a late-winter / early-spring set (Jan to Mar). UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions (Peppers) independently says to start seed indoors in late winter for planting after the last spring frost, and to start again in midsummer for an early-fall planting in August and September. The two hosts line up on the August to September slot. Use the bulletin dates. Do not treat this hub as a frost almanac.

Seed, not a garden sprinkle

UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions (Peppers) says you can buy transplants or start seed. Start indoors: the page warns that small seed is easily washed away if sown in the garden. Indoor starts in late winter go out after the last spring frost. A second start in midsummer supports the August to September planting. Harvest on that page is given as about 60 to 80 days after transplanting (80 to 100 after planting seed) once fruits are firm and crisp. That is their published range, not a count from this garden. Indoor light vs a sill is a separate IFAS page. See grow light vs windowsill. First tray: seed-starting kit.

HS732's planting-information table lists 65 to 75 days to maturity from transplant for pepper. Read that as the production handbook's figure, not a promise for every cultivar on a patio. Spacing on the Peppers page depends on variety. Staking can help once fruit weighs the plant down.

Sun, with one Florida exception

UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions (Hot Peppers) says hot peppers keep producing when Florida temperatures and humidity climb, need full sun, and should wait until after the last frost in spring. Sandy soil wants organic matter. Containers should use well-drained potting media. Fertilize at planting and again two to three times during the season, or use a controlled-release fertilizer. The page calls hot peppers relatively drought tolerant, then says to water regularly to keep them productive.

The Peppers page adds soil pH around 6.5, moist but not wet soil, and mulch to hold moisture as temperatures rise. Once plants begin to fruit, it says to reduce nitrogen. Too much nitrogen can mean fewer fruits.

Datil is the named exception on the IFAS datil page: it prefers 60% to 70% shade and well-drained soil, and may go in a raised bed or a pot. Do not copy a "full sun for every hot pepper" rule onto datil. Cite that page.

Worked example: two IFAS sun rules. A jalapeno or cayenne in Central Florida follows the Hot Peppers page (full sun, plant after last frost). A datil follows the Datil Peppers page (60 to 70% shade, plant after last frost in February or March, IFAS harvest window July to November). Same genus, two public pages, two light recipes. See the datil card and the heat and sun note.

Species the hosts name

Ask IFAS HS732 treats bell pepper as Capsicum annuum and habanero and bird's-eye as Capsicum chinense. Penn State Extension's Growing Hot Peppers notes 26 wild species and five domesticated Capsicum species. UF/IFAS Datil Peppers names datil as Capsicum chinense.

Cayenne is the disagreement to keep on the record. Ask IFAS TR010 calls cayenne a cultivar of Capsicum annuum (pungency 25,000 to 50,000 Scoville units). Penn State lists Capsicum frutescens 'Cayenne' in the same 25,000 to 50,000 band. This hub reports both names. It does not pick a winner.

Heat class from the pages, not a table we invented

UF/IFAS Peppers groups milder garden peppers such as Anaheims or jalapenos at 1,000 to 10,000 Scoville units, and says cayenne or habanero can check in at 50,000 or 250,000. Ask IFAS TR010, written for Miami-Dade production, gives jalapeno as a common type about 2 to 3 inches long, averaging about 5,000 Scoville units with a 2,000 to 8,000 range. Habanero 100,000 to 350,000. Cayenne 25,000 to 50,000. Serrano 10,000 to 25,000. Penn State groups commercial heat as mild through extremely hot and publishes cultivar ranges including jalapeno 2,500 to 10,000, serrano 10,000 to 25,000, and habanero 100,000 to 350,000. UF/IFAS Datil Peppers cites 100,000 to 300,000 Scoville units, similar in range to habanero.

Penn State is explicit that heat is a range: genetics and environment both matter, and fruits on one plant can differ. Ripeness plays a role. A pepper gets hotter closer to fully ripe. None of those numbers is a lab test from this site.

Worked example: reading three jalapeno ranges. TR010: 2,000 to 8,000 (average about 5,000). UF/IFAS Peppers (milder group): 1,000 to 10,000. Penn State 'Jalapeno': 2,500 to 10,000. The overlap is the story. This hub will not flatten them into one house number. Cards: jalapeno, habanero, cayenne, serrano.

Florida heat, as the bulletins state it

Ask IFAS TR010 says peppers are relatively adaptable to heat, and that some chili peppers can grow through the hot, humid Miami-Dade summer. That page calls the same season fallow for most vegetable crops. Serrano, on that page, grows well above 75°F and in hot, humid climates, which TR010 says makes it a fit for Miami-Dade. Habanero "thrives in areas with hot weather such as Miami-Dade county and south Florida." Cayenne "adapt well to the hot and humid weather conditions in Miami-Dade County." Those are South Florida production notes. They are not a Central Florida weather log from this publisher.

UF/IFAS Hot Peppers, aimed at gardeners statewide, is the matching garden sentence: hot peppers keep producing when Florida temperatures and humidity climb.

Can you make them hotter?

Penn State Extension's Growing Hot Peppers asks that question in the title. When a chili pepper plant is stressed, the plant may create more capsaicin, within limits: a jalapeno cannot be made as hot as a habanero, but it can be nudged into an upper range for a jalapeno. The page names high temperatures and drought as the most influential stressors, then says that for predictable heat you grow in moderately rich soil with even watering. Peppers, on that page, are a warm-season crop that languish in cool weather, prefer well-drained soil of moderate fertility, are not picky about pH, and must be grown in full sun. This hub does not run a stress trial. Read the Penn State page before treating drought as a heat recipe.

Pot or bed

Hot Peppers: well-drained potting media in containers. Sandy soil wants organic matter. Datil Peppers: raised beds or a pot work, 60 to 70% shade. TR010 describes commercial raised beds with plastic mulch in Miami-Dade. That is a production system, not a backyard spec. Gardeners here should stay with the Gardening Solutions container and soil sentences unless they are actually farming that bulletin. See pot or bed.

Varieties this hub keeps on the cards

Cards on this site stay with jalapeno, habanero, datil, cayenne, and serrano because those names appear on the public pages above. UF/IFAS Peppers lists 'Early Jalapeno' and 'Jalapeno M' among hot peppers for Florida gardens. UF/IFAS Hot Peppers lists 'Long Cayenne', 'Habanero', and 'Caribbean Red Habanero' among suggestions. Datil is the named Florida pepper on its own IFAS page, associated there with Northeast Florida and St. Augustine since the 1700s, and stated as growable throughout the state from seed or transplant.

HS732's habanero type note: 100,000 to 350,000 SHU and 90 to 100 days from transplant on that page. That is their published type note, not our harvest date.

Sources

Updated 2026-08-31. Variety cards: /varieties/. Seed, sun, pot: /grow/.