Growing Pasilla Peppers: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · September 30, 2026
Pasilla is the name for the dried form of the chilaca chile, a long, narrow, very dark pepper. Fresh, it is chilaca; dried to a wrinkled near-black pod, it is pasilla, used in mole and other sauces. To add confusion, some stores in California label fresh poblanos as “pasilla.”
Mild, slow to ripen fully
Botanical Interests rates Pasilla Bajio at 1,000 to 2,000 Scoville units, so it is mild. It lists 80 days from transplanting, with narrow pods up to 10 inches long and about 1 inch wide that ripen from dark green to dark brown. Pick at the brown stage if you want to dry them.
A tall plant
Botanical Interests lists the plant as tall, over 24 inches. With pods that long, plan to stake it.
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 pepper 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, Pasilla Bajio; NC State Extension, Saving Your Own Seed; University of Delaware Weekly Crop Update.
Companion planting guide for Pasilla Pepper (Chilaca) · 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 pasilla pepper (chilaca), by zone
Every zone pasilla pepper (chilaca) 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 | Sep 1–Sep 8 |
| 4a & 4b | Mar 20–Mar 27 | May 29–Jun 5 | Aug 17–Aug 24 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 15–Mar 22 | May 24–May 31 | Aug 12–Aug 19 |
| 6a & 6b | Feb 28–Mar 7 | May 9–May 16 | Jul 28–Aug 4 |
| 7a & 7b | Feb 13–Feb 20 | Apr 24–May 1 | Jul 13–Jul 20 |
| 8a & 8b | Jan 28–Feb 4 | Apr 8–Apr 15 | Jun 27–Jul 4 |
| 9a & 9b | Dec 21–Dec 28 | Mar 1–Mar 8 | May 20–May 27 |
| 10a & 10bSpring window | Dec–Feb | Feb–Apr | ~80 days after transplanting |
| Summer window | May–Jul | Jul–Sep | ~80 days after transplanting |
| 11a & 11bSummer window | Jun–Dec | Aug–Feb | ~80 days after transplanting |
Harvest dates are about 80 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 Pasilla Pepper (Chilaca) 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 pasilla pepper (chilaca)
- 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 pasilla pepper (chilaca) →
Where to buy pasilla pepper seeds
Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market (pasilla pepper seeds)
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing pasilla pepper (chilaca)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Pasilla Pepper (Chilaca): Chilaca fresh and pasilla dried: a long, mild, dark chile for Mexican sauces.
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