🌶️ Chili Pepper
The longest challenge crop — it demands sustained warmth.
What the numbers mean
These are the actual parameters this game runs on. Growth is driven by growing degree days: each day contributes max(0, min(mean temp, 33) − 10), and Chili Pepper is ready when that total reaches 1450. That is why the same seed takes a very different number of days in Dublin and in Guangzhou.
| Base temperature | 10°CBelow this, the plant accumulates no growing degree days at all. |
|---|---|
| Degree days to maturity | 1450 °C·dThe heat budget it must accumulate before it is ready to pick. |
| Comfortable range | 18–32°CWhere it grows without stress. |
| Frost damage below | 2°CLeaves start taking frost damage below this low. |
| Killed below | 0°CBelow this it does not come back. |
| Heat stress above | 34°CAbove this the plant slows down and stops setting fruit well. |
| Typical time to harvest | 85–110 days |
| Yield per bed | 18 peppers |
Things worth knowing
- Birds can't taste capsaicin: chilies evolved heat against mammals while birds spread the seeds.
- The hottest part isn't the seeds but the white pith that holds them.
Where and when to sow Chili Pepper
Pick your city to see the months when Chili Pepper scores well against that city's real climate records: