How long do Habanero Plants Live

Habanero plants can live for many years if protected from cold temperatures and given adequate light and water. Habanero plants are actually perennials in growing regions without frost, so they can live for many years in tropical gardens in USDA Zones 9 and above. Most of us in Zones 8 and below, however, grow Habanero plants as annuals. Here in the US West, we start Habanero seeds 6-8 weeks before the last frost, then transplant them outdoors when the temperatures have warmed up to over 50-60˚ F and all chance of frost has past. 

Habaneros are part of the Capsicum chinense family, which live 3-5 years if grown in warm conditions, with some growers reporting them to live even longer. This family includes the hottest peppers in the world, Habaneros, Scotch Bonnets, Trinidad Scorpions, the Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers, and the Carolina Reaper. These peppers can live between 3-5 years. Some pepper growers growing in regions with cold winter weather bring their super hot pepper plants indoors to overwinter them to have a huge head start on the next season.

One way to grow Habanero plants longer in the growing zones with winter freezes is to grow them in a pot, and bring them indoors or into a heated greenhouse for the winter months. Keeping Habanero plants warm and over 50-60˚F is ideal, and they can happily grow inside your home with supplemental light.

Or, to keep pests at bay, you can also clone your outdoor-grown Habanero plants by taking a cutting of a young stem and putting it into water or a hydroponic setup so that it will grow roots and then plant it in a pot or grow it in your hydroponic system.

This is what we did last winter with our Aerogarden – we clipped some young branches off to root in the grow sponges (see above), and had some Habanero and Carolina Reaper plants growing happily indoors over the winter. We didn't find that they rooted in just a glass of water... but it is possible. The aerated water going through the sponges of the Aerogarden definietely did the trick, though. 




They produced less pods and they were smaller pods, but they did produce and lived through the winter to be brought back outside to the garden the following season. We transplanted the clones back outdoors in the late spring, and they were our most productive plants as they were multi-branched and had a nice big root system.



Note: As seen above, often when you bring them outdoors for the summer (or  indoors for the winter,) they may lose leaves initially, but usually they will regrow new ones as they "change their outfit" for the new conditions. :) 



So if you want to have Habaneros growing year-round, you can! Whether you live in a tropical zone 9+ region where you can grow them as perennials, or if you live in Zones 8 and lower and bring them indoors during the winter months, you can enjoy your Habanero plants for many years. 

But, you don't have to worry if you live with winters and you don't want to grow them indoors, you can also always start Habanero seeds in late winter/early spring (6-8 weeks before last frost) and grow nice sized productive plants in just one season. They take about 90 days from starting seed to maturing and producing Habaneros. 

Do habanero plants come back every year?
If they freeze, Habanero plants will not return the next season, but they are perennial if they are not exposed to frosts or winter temperatures. In growing zones 9 and up, they can overwinter and keep growing for several years.

Of course, with nature, there are no hard rules.
We've heard from people in Texas that their Chiltepins (Capsicum annuum)
have lived 35-50 years when not exposed to a hard frost... so who knows? if you keep a pepper plant happy it may reward you with many years of productive service. That said, we've found that New Mexico Chile plants usually produce best in the first year and usually trickle off after that, so they are worth growing from seed each season!