• To not miss anything and get all the information to succeed in your pepper planting can be found in our Ultimate Pepper Growing Guide

The Lanterna de Foc pepper originates from Kosovo, in Romanian, its name means "fire lantern" and we quickly understand why when seeing its beautiful orange color once ripe! These can reach 7 cm in length once mature, the heat level of this pepper is rather medium and you will need to germinate the seeds between the months of January and March ideally. The plant can reach 60 to 70cm, is sensitive to frost, and must therefore remain in a pot indoors until all risk is eliminated.

• heat level: 40,000 on the Scoville scale.
• plant size approximately 60 cm.
• medium-sized fruit, approximately 7cm long.
• fruit color: Green during growth, Orange at maturity.
• genus: Capsicum Annuum.
• ideal germination: between January and March.
• harvest: between September and November.

What Equipment for growing my peppers?

To optimize your results we recommend you equip yourself with:

Lanterna de Foc Pepper Seeds.
An enclosed growing area such as a mini greenhouse.
Coco pellets, peat or cotton (to germinate the seeds).
Labels (to avoid mixing your seedlings).
Potting soil (ideally a mixture of 50% black peat and 50% blonde peat) or special flowering soil which will also do the job.
Pepper fertilizer or Tomato fertilizer, or 5 5 10 fertilizer for connoisseurs.
A water sprayer or watering can.
Gloves (if you don't like the feel of soil).
Pots with a diameter of 7 or 8 cm at the beginning before using 10 liter pots or more depending on the pepper for repotting

To make your life easier we offer our mini greenhouse for growing your peppers.

How to Germinate my Pepper Seeds?

Planting Pepper is a process that requires patience and some knowledge, but don't panic, to germinate your pepper seeds we explain everything!

Pepper seedlings are made at the beginning of the year generally between January at the earliest and March for the beginning of spring, to do this you will need the equipment listed above.

You then have 2 options:
Plant your seed directly in a pot full of potting soil at half a cm depth
Place a seed on a coco pellet or on a piece of cotton.

in both cases, once the seed is in place you will need to spray enough water to moisten the soil or cotton without wetting it, then place your coco pellet or cotton in a container like a mini greenhouse which will then keep the heat and humidity thus providing oxygen, if you use a flower pot you can simply stretch film over it and make small holes with a toothpick to oxygenate the plant.

The ideal being to maintain a constant temperature of 28 degrees, you can store your container behind a sunny window, on or near a radiator or on a heating mat or heating pad designed for this purpose.

OUR TIP:

Place your mini greenhouse on your internet box!

remember to ventilate your growing area from time to time to avoid the appearance of fungi while keeping the soil moist, once the first leaves have appeared you will need to be careful to give your shoots enough sun for 12 to 14 hours per day, once the second set of leaves is well developed you can then repot them.

once potted keep your plant near a heat source and exposed to the sun (ideally try to filter the light to avoid heat stress)

after the Ice Saints around mid-May you can move your plant outside and plant your pepper in the ground if you wish or leave it in a pot and display it on a balcony, a window sill or even along a wall, on the south side preferably.

How to water my Lanterna de Foc Pepper?

For watering your Lanterna de Foc pepper be careful of over-watering, too much water can drown the plant and lead to its demise, you will simply need to let the soil dry between each watering to avoid insect proliferation and drowning of the plant.

Once the plant is well developed (once your plant reaches about thirty centimeters) you can cause water stress by stopping watering the plant for several days before resuming watering (be careful however not to abuse this technique, it would be a shame to let your pepper plant die).

How to properly prepare my harvest?

Once your pepper plant is in place, here are our tips to optimize your future harvest:

When your pepper plant reaches the size of 15 to 20 cm you can pinch the top of the stem (without breaking it) which should allow the plant to grow bushier and produce a little more.

If flowering is early for one of your plants, remove the first flowers to prevent them from demanding too much energy from the plant.

If your pepper plant is outdoors, insects will take care of pollinating the plant which will then produce peppers, if your plant is indoors, you will need to do this manually, take your clean finger and rub it lightly against each of the flowers from one to the other.

Don't hesitate to use a bamboo stake or rod to support your plant.

When to harvest my Lanterna de Foc Pepper?

For harvesting your Lanterna de Foc pepper, as with the others you will need to look at its color! This pepper is harvested once Orange.