Growing Anaheim Peppers: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · September 30, 2026
Anaheim is the long, mild green chile that gets roasted, peeled and stuffed or chopped into green chile stew. It is part of the same New Mexican chile group sold as Big Jim, NuMex and, when grown in New Mexico’s Hatch Valley, Hatch chile. Hatch is a growing region, not a variety.
Mild, long fruit
Bonnie Plants rates Anaheim at 500 to 2,500 Scoville units with fruit around 8 inches. Its New Mexico Big Jim, with the same heat rating, runs 10 to 12 inches. Burpee lists Anaheim at 80 days and Bonnie at 74 to 80 days from transplant. Pick green for roasting or let them turn red for drying.
A short plant for its fruit size
Bonnie lists Anaheim and Big Jim as short plants, under 24 inches, and Burpee gives 24 inches. Long fruit on a short plant can touch the soil, so a light stake helps keep it clean.
Start seed indoors about eight weeks before your last frost. One plant per square foot in the Garden Designer. The Bell Pepper profile covers shared care, and the companion guide lists neighbors.
Hot nights and dropped flowers
Pepper flowers fall off without setting fruit when nights stay above about 75°F, per the University of Delaware’s Weekly Crop Update. In zones 9 and up, expect a midsummer gap in fruiting; our zone pages flag it.
Growing it next to other peppers
Different pepper varieties cross-pollinate easily, hot ones included. NC State Extension notes that when hot and sweet peppers cross, the heat shows up in later generations grown from saved seed, and suggests keeping varieties 20 to 30 feet apart if you plan to save your own. Baker Creek, which grows seed for sale, isolates varieties by at least 500 feet. If you buy fresh seed each year, you can plant sweet and hot peppers side by side.
Sources: Bonnie Plants, Anaheim; Bonnie Plants, New Mexico Big Jim; Burpee, Anaheim; NC State Extension, Saving Your Own Seed; University of Delaware Weekly Crop Update.
Companion planting guide for Anaheim Pepper (New Mexico, Hatch) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 3-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1.5-2 ft
Method: Start indoors: Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside. It needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.
When to plant Anaheim pepper (New Mexico, Hatch), by zone
Every zone Anaheim pepper (New Mexico, Hatch) grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3a & 3b | Apr 4–Apr 11 | Jun 13–Jun 20 | Aug 30–Sep 6 |
| 4a & 4b | Mar 20–Mar 27 | May 29–Jun 5 | Aug 15–Aug 22 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 15–Mar 22 | May 24–May 31 | Aug 10–Aug 17 |
| 6a & 6b | Feb 28–Mar 7 | May 9–May 16 | Jul 26–Aug 2 |
| 7a & 7b | Feb 13–Feb 20 | Apr 24–May 1 | Jul 11–Jul 18 |
| 8a & 8b | Jan 28–Feb 4 | Apr 8–Apr 15 | Jun 25–Jul 2 |
| 9a & 9b | Dec 21–Dec 28 | Mar 1–Mar 8 | May 18–May 25 |
| 10a & 10bSpring window | Dec–Feb | Feb–Apr | ~78 days after transplanting |
| Summer window | May–Jul | Jul–Sep | ~78 days after transplanting |
| 11a & 11bSummer window | Jun–Dec | Aug–Feb | ~78 days after transplanting |
Harvest dates are about 78 days after the sow or plant-out date, not after starting seeds indoors.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Anaheim Pepper (New Mexico, Hatch) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1.5-2 ft.
Soil & water: pH 6-6.5. Needs well-drained soil. Amend with lime if soil pH falls below 6.
Good companions for Anaheim pepper (New Mexico, Hatch)
- Basil: Reputed to repel aphids and improve pepper growth nearby, but a controlled garden trial testing this same claim on a related crop found no pest-reduction benefit from basil, and found higher pest counts on the basil-companioned plants. Treat this pairing as unproven, not as a working pest deterrent.
- Onion: Reputed to deter many common pepper pests, though this specific pairing hasn't been tested the way onion/carrot pest-masking has. Treat it as garden tradition.
Full companion guide, including what to keep away from Anaheim pepper (New Mexico, Hatch) →
Varieties worth considering
- NuMex Joe E. Parker (best for: mild roasting chiles): Released by New Mexico State University in 1990 as a mild New Mexican-type chile, about 900 Scoville units. NMSU's cultivar circular reports better green and red chile yields and thicker fruit walls than the older 'New Mexico 6-4' standard, plus resistance to tobacco mosaic virus. Most pods have two locules, which NMSU notes makes them good for canning whole. (source) Buy seeds: Botanical Interests
- NuMex Big Jim (best for: big pods for chiles rellenos): A 1975 NMSU release with long, thick, fleshy green pods, averaging about 7.7 by 1.9 inches in NMSU's records, and hotter than Joe E. Parker at about 6,500 Scoville units. NMSU notes it's popular for chiles rellenos. Strictly it's a New Mexican chile rather than an Anaheim: NMSU describes Anaheim as New Mexico seed that became its own variety after years of growing in California. (source) Buy seeds: True Leaf Market
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy Anaheim pepper seeds
True Leaf Market · Burpee · High Mowing Organic Seeds (each supplier's Anaheim pepper seeds)
The varieties we recommend above each have their own buy links, for the suppliers that sell that exact variety.
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing Anaheim pepper (New Mexico, Hatch)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Anaheim Pepper (New Mexico, Hatch): Long, mild green chiles for roasting, from the same family as New Mexico and Hatch chiles.
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