Banana Pepper is grown for its fruit, ready to harvest about 72 days after planting. It's hardy across USDA zones 3 through 11 and stands up to deer. Its flowers are a modest draw for honeybees and native bees, even though the fruit is the prize. As a nightshade, give it a fresh bed each year — away from where its relatives just grew — so the soil-borne pests and diseases of the family never get a foothold.
Banana Pepper — the short answer
Banana Pepper: grown in zones 3–11, full sun, pH 4.5–7, about 72 days to maturity.
- USDA zones
- Grown as an annual — see the growing season
- Growing season, not a hardiness zone
- Soil pH
- 4.5–7
- We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
- Sun
- Full Sun
- We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
- Days to Maturity
- 72 days
- We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — each tile names its own row's source, because per-field provenance varies.
Score Banana Pepper on your exact land.
Zone averages can't see the slope, soil, frost, and sun that decide whether banana pepper actually takes — and those shift from one yard to the next. Enter your address and we'll score banana pepper against your land's real conditions.
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What Banana Pepper is
Banana Pepper reaches around two feet at maturity. It's also deer-resistant.
Mature height and deer resistance: We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
How to grow Banana Pepper
Banana Pepper grows in USDA zones 3 through 11 and is ready to harvest about 72 days after planting. Banana Pepper does best in full sun — at least 6 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 4.5 to 7, on well-drained ground. It needs around 1,800 growing degree days to mature and a growing season of at least 60 frost-free days, which is why climate matters as much as soil.
USDA Zones
Grown as an annual — see the growing season
Soil pH
4.5 - 7
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Sun
Full Sun
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Drainage
well (dry spells)
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Minimum Growing Temperature
46.4°F
Below this it stops growing rather than dies — a pace limit, not a survival limit.
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Days to Maturity
72 days
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
GDD Required
1800+
Growing degree-days of accumulated warmth it needs to mature — humid summers reach this faster than cool coastal ones.
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Mature Height
2 ft
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Frost-Free Days
60+
The frost-free stretch it needs start to finish — short-season areas may need an indoor head start.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Start the season right
Plant banana pepper in full sun with at least 6 hours of direct sun, once the soil has warmed and frost risk has passed. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Match the soil
Banana Pepper prefers pH 4.5 to 7. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. A quick soil test from your local Extension lab tells you whether to add lime or sulfur to land in band.
Water steadily
Keep the root zone evenly moist through establishment. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. A 2–3 inch mulch layer holds moisture without waterlogging.
Harvest at maturity
Banana Pepper is ready about 72 days after planting. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. Pick when the fruit is full-colored and parts easily from the stem.
Where Banana Pepper thrives
On hardiness alone, banana pepper grows across most of the country — its range (USDA zones 3 through 11) is unusually wide. Zone is only the starting point, though: the soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific land decide how well it actually does.
A USDA zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme winter minimum, so zones 3–11 spans average winter lows from -40°F to 50°F (USDA PHZM 2023). Across the 50 states and DC, that band covers 48 outright and splits 3 more down the middle — and which side of that line your land sits on changes the answer.
Zones 3–11·Where Banana Pepper growsOpen map →
This map is derived from the USDA ARS / PRISM Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2023) and is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Where Banana Pepper stands, state by state
Banana Pepper is rated for zones 3–11 — a cold floor USDA puts at -40 to -30°F. Across the 50 states and DC, 48 sit fully inside that band, the line runs through 3 more, and 0 sit outside it — and inside every split state, the same line runs on at county grain.
Fully inside zones 3–11
48 states
3 of 48 shown
State zone extents: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023. A zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme minimum temperature, so a state that splits the band contains the boundary — its own page draws the county line, and a parcel report resolves which side your land sits on.
What grows around Banana Pepper
Growing guides for banana pepper
In rotation planning, banana pepper counts as a Nightshade — beds recover best when nightshade crops don’t follow each other in the same spot year over year. (Growable Ground derivation — crop-rotation group from botanical family)
Related plants in vegetable
Good to know
Banana Pepper offers low value to bees and other pollinators. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Before you harvest banana pepper, know your soil
Anything you grow to eat takes up what's in the ground it grows in, so it's worth knowing what's documented near you before you plant banana pepper for food. Our free screen reads 8 federal source types across roughly 950K indexed sites and shows which sit near your address and which way they drain. It's a screening estimate from public records and proximity — not a soil test — so a nearby record means a soil test is worth it, not that your soil is unsafe.
Your land is one point inside Banana Pepper's range
This page resolves to the species. Your state page draws the county line, and a report reads the parcel — the soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost dates on your exact ground, which no species average can see.
See if Banana Pepper will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether banana pepper actually takes. We score it against the mapped and modelled conditions at your address.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources analyzed in seconds
How we know this about Banana Pepper
The figures above are cited per row, not per site: the pH band names this plant’s own source column, the three temperature figures each carry their own, and days-to-maturity cites the publication that actually lists it. All of it comes from the Growable Ground Plant Database — a compilation over FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources, published openly with per-field provenance.
Grounded inUSDA PLANTS Database
Frequently asked questions
Can I grow Banana Pepper in my zone?
Banana Pepper is grown as an annual, so a hardiness zone does not decide it — its growing season follows your last and first frost dates. Soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
How long does Banana Pepper take to grow?
Banana Pepper is ready to harvest about 72 days after planting. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. Your local frost dates and soil temperature move that window earlier or later.
When should you plant Banana Pepper?
Most growers plant banana pepper after the last spring frost, once the soil has warmed, leaving enough of the season for its 60-day frost-free need. Your local frost dates set the exact window — a Growable Ground report reads them for your address.
How much sun does Banana Pepper need?
Banana Pepper needs full sun — a spot that catches at least 6 hours of direct summer sun a day. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. In more shade it still grows, but usually gives a smaller, later crop. The catch is that a yard rarely gets even light everywhere — a fence, the house, or one tall tree can quietly take those hours. A Growable Ground report reads the real sun-hours across your land, canopy and buildings included, so you can pick the brightest bed before you plant.
What soil does Banana Pepper need?
Banana Pepper prefers soil pH 4.5 to 7, on well-drained ground. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. Your report scores your parcel's mapped soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Banana Pepper attract pollinators?
Yes — banana pepper's flowers are a modest nectar source for honeybees and native bees. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Keep exploring Banana Pepper
Banana Pepper state by state
Every state banana pepper's zone reaches — 34 link straight to that state's banana pepper growing page; the rest open the state's full growing guide.