Growing Padrón Peppers: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · September 30, 2026
Padrón peppers come from Galicia in northwest Spain, where Baker Creek notes they are sautéed in olive oil, salted and served in tapas bars. The well-known catch is that most are mild and an unpredictable few are hot.
Size decides the heat
Botanical Interests rates Padrón at 500 to 2,500 Scoville units, and notes the peppers get hotter once they pass 2 to 3 inches and as they turn red. It estimates that 5 to 10 percent can be hot even when picked small. Baker Creek says the same: heat increases as they ripen. Pick them at 1 to 2 inches for the classic dish.
Fast to the first picking
Botanical Interests and Baker Creek both list 60 days from transplanting, and Pepper Joe’s 60 to 69. Pepper Joe’s gives a plant height of about 3 feet, and Botanical Interests lists it as tall, over 24 inches.
Start seed indoors about eight weeks before your last frost. Frequent picking keeps the plant producing. One 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: Botanical Interests, Padrón; Baker Creek, Pimiento de Padrón; Pepper Joe’s, Padrón; NC State Extension, Saving Your Own Seed; University of Delaware Weekly Crop Update.
Companion planting guide for Padrón Pepper · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 3-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 2-3 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 padrón pepper, by zone
Every zone padrón pepper 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 12–Aug 19 |
| 4a & 4b | Mar 20–Mar 27 | May 29–Jun 5 | Jul 28–Aug 4 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 15–Mar 22 | May 24–May 31 | Jul 23–Jul 30 |
| 6a & 6b | Feb 28–Mar 7 | May 9–May 16 | Jul 8–Jul 15 |
| 7a & 7b | Feb 13–Feb 20 | Apr 24–May 1 | Jun 23–Jun 30 |
| 8a & 8b | Jan 28–Feb 4 | Apr 8–Apr 15 | Jun 7–Jun 14 |
| 9a & 9b | Dec 21–Dec 28 | Mar 1–Mar 8 | Apr 30–May 7 |
| 10a & 10bSpring window | Dec–Feb | Feb–Apr | ~60 days after transplanting |
| Summer window | May–Jul | Jul–Sep | ~60 days after transplanting |
| 11a & 11bSummer window | Jun–Dec | Aug–Feb | ~60 days after transplanting |
Harvest dates are about 60 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 Padrón Pepper plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 2-3 ft.
Soil & water: pH 6-6.5. Needs well-drained soil. Amend with lime if soil pH falls below 6.
Good companions for padrón pepper
- 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 padrón pepper →
Where to buy padrón pepper seeds
Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market (padrón pepper seeds)
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing padrón pepper" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Padrón Pepper: Spain's tapas pepper from Galicia: mostly mild when small, with the odd hot one.
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