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Capsicum
tepin, a species originally cultivated in Mexico, is used
worldwide as a food and spice. Commonly called Gringo
Killer for its taste or Bird Pepper for its size, this
plant grows no taller than 90 cm high and 60 cm wide.
It is in leaf all year, simple oval, lance-shaped leaves.
Bell-shaped, white to green flowers appear in spring and
summer, and are followed by the fruits. The fruits are
very small in size and round, no longer than 2 inches.
They turn from green to red as they mature. The tepin
pepper is one of the smallest, being only 1 cm long. It
is rated up to 64,000 on the Scoville scale, making it
one of the world's hottest peppers, but the dried pepper
flakes are the hottest part of all peppers. Plants are
late maturing, usually requiring 120 days for green fruit
and 200 days from the setting out of plants to mature red
ripe fruit.
Hardiness zones 9 -11, (-5°C/25°F, 4°C/40°F) in
winter. Tepin thrives in hot weather. As with all peppers,
the tepin does well in an area with good morning sun, in
soil with an acidity level around 5-6 pH. It should be
watered only when dry. Overly moist soil and roots will
produce bitter-tasting peppers. Peppers are not heavy
feeder. Once flowering begins, fertilizer should be
withheld; otherwise, flowers may drop without setting
fruit.
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