How to Grow Scotch Habaneros

Spread a 2-inch layer of compost and 2 cups of 10-10-10 fertilizer over every 50 square feet of garden bed. Dig the compost and fertilizer into the top 6 inches of soil with a spade. Smooth the soil surface with a hoe or rake after digging.

Dig a planting hole for each Scotch bonnet plant. Make the holes the same depth as the seedling pots and space them 24 inches apart in each row. Set the rows 36 inches apart. Remove the seedlings from the pots and plant them in the prepared holes, firming the soil gently around the base of each pepper plant.

Water the peppers immediately after planting so the top 6 inches of soil is moist. Spread 2 inches of straw mulch over the soil, pulling it back so it doesn't rest against the pepper stems. Continue to water the peppers about once a week, supplying enough moisture to dampen the top 6 inches of soil each time. Keep the soil evenly moist at all times to minimize fruit development problems.

Sprinkle 1/4 tablespoon of 21-0-0 fertilizer around each Scotch pepper plant four weeks after transplanting and again eight weeks after planting. Water the fertilizer into the soil so it can leach into the root zone.

Pull any weeds that grow in the pepper bed immediately so they don't establish. Weeds rob nutrients from the developing peppers, and they may also spread pests and diseases to the plants.

Monitor the peppers for aphids, mites and other insect pests that typically feed on the undersides of the foliage. Rinse these pests off the plants with a sharp spray of water. Alternatively, spray the foliage with a ready-to-use insecticidal soap product, coating the affected leaves thoroughly. Reapply the soap at three- to five-day intervals until the pests are gone.

Harvest Scotch peppers when the fruits become bright red or an orange-red, and have reached full size. Cut each pepper from the plant, leaving 1/2 inch of stem attached. Frequent harvesting allows the plants to produce new flowers and more fruit.