Growing Tabasco Peppers: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · September 30, 2026
Tabasco is the pepper behind the Louisiana hot sauce of the same name. Botanically it is Capsicum frutescens, a different species from bells and jalapeños, and it grows into a bigger, bushier plant with small upright fruit.
Heat and harvest
Bonnie Plants rates it at 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville units. The fruit is small, about 2 inches, and held upright on the plant. Burpee lists 80 days and Baker Creek 90 days from transplant, so it is slower than most annuum peppers.
A larger plant with a longer season
Baker Creek says plants grow up to 4 feet and are covered with small peppers; Burpee gives 30 inches. Give it the back of the bed or a large pot.
Start seed indoors earlier than a bell. We schedule it at ten weeks before your last frost, inside the 8 to 12 week range Baker Creek gives. One plant per square foot in the Garden Designer. The Bell Pepper profile covers shared care, and the companion guide lists neighbors.
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: Baker Creek, Tabasco; Burpee, Tabasco; Bonnie Plants, Tabasco; NC State Extension, Saving Your Own Seed.
Companion planting guide for Tabasco Pepper · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 3-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 2.5-4 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 Tabasco pepper, by zone
Every zone Tabasco 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 | Mar 21–Mar 28 | Jun 13–Jun 20 | Sep 6–Sep 13 |
| 4a & 4b | Mar 6–Mar 13 | May 29–Jun 5 | Aug 22–Aug 29 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 1–Mar 8 | May 24–May 31 | Aug 17–Aug 24 |
| 6a & 6b | Feb 14–Feb 21 | May 9–May 16 | Aug 2–Aug 9 |
| 7a & 7b | Jan 30–Feb 6 | Apr 24–May 1 | Jul 18–Jul 25 |
| 8a & 8b | Jan 14–Jan 21 | Apr 8–Apr 15 | Jul 2–Jul 9 |
| 9a & 9b | Dec 7–Dec 14 | Mar 1–Mar 8 | May 25–Jun 1 |
| 10a & 10b | Nov 21–Nov 28 | Feb 13–Feb 20 | May 9–May 16 |
| 11a & 11bSummer window | May–Nov | Aug–Feb | ~85 days after transplanting |
Harvest dates are about 85 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 Tabasco Pepper plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 2.5-4 ft.
Soil & water: pH 6-6.5. Needs well-drained soil. Amend with lime if soil pH falls below 6.
Good companions for Tabasco 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 Tabasco pepper →
Where to buy Tabasco pepper seeds
True Leaf Market · Burpee (Tabasco pepper seeds)
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing Tabasco pepper" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Tabasco Pepper: The small upright chile behind the famous Louisiana sauce, and a different species from most peppers.
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