Poblano
Capsicum annuum
Also known as: Ancho (dried form), Chile poblano, Pasilla (mislabeled, especially in California)
Quick facts
- Category
- fruiting
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Days to harvest
- 75 to 90 days
- Harvest type
- continuous production over weeks or months
- Spacing
- 60 cm between plants
Environment
- Temperature
- 18–30°C
- pH
- 6 to 6.8
- EC (hydroponic)
- 1.8 to 2.6 mS/cm
- Daily light
- 20 to 28 mol/m²/day (strict, will fail outside this range)
Climate and zones
- USDA zones
- 5 to 12 (winter low around -29°C or warmer)
- Frost tolerance
- frost sensitive (dies at first frost)
- Season
- warm (summer crops, frost-sensitive)
Viable growing environments:
- outdoor in growing season (annual)
- unheated greenhouse / hoop house
- heated greenhouse
- indoor (heated home)
- indoor hydroponics under grow lights
USDA zone bounds reflect outdoor year-round survival. Anywhere outside the bounded zone range, this crop still grows as an annual in the warm months (outdoor_seasonal), under cover (greenhouse), or indoors under lights.
Growing systems
Poblano works in:
- drip / Dutch buckets
- media bed (ebb and flow)
- soil bed
Growing media
The substrate the roots sit in. Choice depends on the system (clay pebbles don't fit NFT channels; rockwool isn't used in media beds) and the crop (poblano works in the media listed below).
| Medium | pH effect | Water retention | Bacterial surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expanded clay pebbles (LECA) | neutral / inert | low | high |
| Coco coir (Coconut coir) | slightly acidic | high | moderate |
| Perlite (Expanded volcanic glass) | neutral / inert | very low | low |
| Rockwool (Mineral wool) | alkaline until pre-soaked | very high | low |
| Soil-based mix (Potting soil) | varies by source | high | high |
Bacterial surface area matters for aquaponics: clay pebbles, lava rock, and pumice double as biofilter substrate. Low-surface media (rockwool, perlite, pea gravel) work in hydroponics but need a separate biofilter in aquaponics.
Nutrient demand by stage
NPK ratios are relative weights at each growth stage; the nutrient mix calculator scales them to absolute grams or ml. EC targets shift through the plant's life: seedlings need a much lighter solution than fruiting adults.
| Stage | N | P | K | EC target (mS/cm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| seedling | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.2 |
| vegetative | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1.8 |
| flowering | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2.2 |
| fruiting | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2.4 |
Companion-growing notes
- Heavy uptake of potassium, calcium. Co-grown crops with the same demand will end up deficient even at "correct" EC. Plan around this in shared reservoirs.
Aquaponics suitability
Compatible with typical aquaponics nutrient profiles. Fish waste provides enough nitrogen for healthy growth; supplemental potassium, calcium, and iron may still be needed depending on fish stocking density.
Care notes
A productive hydroponic pepper for Mexican cooking. EC 2.0-3.0 mS/cm. pH 5.8-6.5. Temperature: 20–28°C. High light (DLI 18-25 mol/m2/day). Plants are medium to large (60–90 cm) and benefit from staking because the large, heavy fruits pull branches down. Dutch bucket, DWC, or drip systems. From transplant to green harvest: 65-80 days. Red-ripe (for drying into ancho): 85-100 days. Each plant produces 8-15 large peppers. For chiles rellenos: roast whole peppers on a grill or under a broiler until skin is charred, steam in a covered bowl, peel, make a small slit, remove seeds, stuff with cheese or picadillo, batter and fry. For ancho production: let peppers ripen fully red on the plant, then dehydrate whole at 55–60°C until leathery and deeply wrinkled. The dried ancho should be flexible, very dark red-brown, and have a sweet, pruney aroma.
Notable varieties
A starting shortlist of cultivars worth knowing about. Not exhaustive: the seed catalogs list hundreds of named varieties. These are the ones home growers commonly choose between.
| Cultivar | Type | Days | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancho 211 | open-pollinated | 80 | Standard commercial variety, large 10-15 cm fruit, the typical supermarket poblano. |
| Ancho San Luis | open-pollinated | 80 | Slightly hotter (closer to 2,500 Scoville), thinner walls, better for drying into ancho. Mexican commercial variety. |
| Mulato Isleño | open-pollinated | 85 | Closely related to ancho but darker (almost black) when ripe and dried, with a chocolate-tobacco note. The mulato is one of the three moles peppers alongside ancho and pasilla. |
| Tiburón F1 | hybrid | 75 | Hybrid with better disease resistance and more uniform fruit. The variety most US commercial poblano farms use. |
Verified against: chile-pepper-institute-nmsu, u-of-arizona-cooperative-extension, rhs-uk. Last reviewed 2026-05-15.