Days to Maturity: 100 direct sow; 70 transplant
All-America Selections (AAS) Winner 2022
Buffy, an F1 hybrid hot pepper, is a fruit vegetable attractive enough for an edible landscape. The plant sets small star-shaped "perfect" flowers followed by attractive, approximately 1½ inches long, slightly triangular, green to red peppers with thick, juicy walls and an excellent smoky flavor having an underlying sweetness. Extremely hot, these fiery fruits have a rating of 500,000 units on the Scoville scale. Use fresh or dried and ground as a spice. Hot peppers are a good source of vitamins A and C.
Typically grown as an annual, this herbaceous, frost-tender, short-lived evergreen perennial is a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). A Capsicum frutescens, also known as cayenne pepper, tabasco pepper, and red pepper, Buffy grows rapidly, forming a strong, compact, upright plant with slender branches of smooth, dark green leaves and erect pepper pods. The shrubby, multi-branched plant produces good yields all season, typically 250 to 280 peppers per plant, and may require staking or caging for support. The peppers are held high on the plant and are very ornamental. Buffy can also be grown in a large container and brought indoors for winter.
Buffy is easy to grow from seed. It prefers full sun and fertile, organically rich, moist, well-drained soil but is adaptable to a wide range of soils, including clay, loam, and sand. The plant prefers an acidic pH but tolerates a pH range of 4.3 to 8.3. Although it is low maintenance, pinching back young plants encourages stronger root growth and a bushier plant. Buffy is deer, pest, and disease resistant as well as heat tolerant.
A warm-season vegetable, sensitive to cold temperatures and frost, habanero pepper seeds can be direct sown into warm spring soil after all threat of frost has passed. For an earlier harvest, seeds can be started indoors 6 to 8 weeks before transplanting. Removing all the leaves and side shoots below the second branch around day 20 after transplanting will increase flowering and fruiting. Flowers begin to set fruit with night temperatures between 55 and 75°F. Protect plants with row covers if temperatures are expected to dip below 50°F. Mulching helps to moderate soil temperature as well as to maintain soil moisture and control weeds.
If you plan to start your seeds indoors, be sure to check out our Bio Dome Seed Starter Kit. With the Bio Dome, you can control the temperature, light, and soil mix to ensure your seeds become strong for transplant.
