Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Chili Pepper

Brand:  PanAmerican Seed

Description:

This sweet pepper variety has unique variegated foliage and fruit that ripens from green striped to brilliant red; sweet flavor, thin walls with a crispy texture make it perfect for fresh eating; great addition to the garden or containers

Edible Qualities

Candy Cane Red Sweet Pepper is an annual vegetable plant that is typically grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. It produces green peppers (which are technically 'berries') with tomato-orange stripes which can be harvested at any point. The fruit will often fade to cherry red over time. The peppers have a sweet taste with a crisp texture and a spicy fragrance.

The peppers are most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Cooking
• Seasoning
• Sauces

Planting & Growing

Candy Cane Red Sweet Pepper will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 15 inches apart. This vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.

This plant is quite ornamental as well as edible, and is as much at home in a landscape or flower garden as it is in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Candy Cane Red Sweet Pepper is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor containers and hanging baskets. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.