Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Pimento Pepper (Capsicum annuum 'Pimento')cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called pimento pepper, pimiento, cherry pepper.

More about pimento pepper

About Pimento Pepper

Capsicum annuum 'Pimento' · also called pimento pepper, pimiento · edible

The pimento is a sweet (essentially no-heat) heart-shaped pepper with thick, juicy walls, ripening green to deep red. The aromatic red flesh flavours pimento cheese and stuffs olives. Compact 50-75 cm plants crop over a warm 75-85 day season, needing full sun, fertile soil and even watering to fill their meaty 7-10 cm pods.

Cold limit: USDA Warm-season annual; perennial only in frost-free zones 9-11 · RHS H1c (21-29°C)

What pimento pepper's hardiness rating actually means

Pimento Pepper is not cold hardy. It is a tropical houseplant that dies if it is left out through frost — there is no zone where it overwinters outdoors in a UK or cold-US climate. Its RHS rating of H1c means: Warm-temperate — can summer outdoors but must come in well before the first frost. On the US scale that maps to USDA Warm-season annual; perennial only in frost-free zones 9-11 — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about 5 °C (and never frost). Pimento Pepper has no frost tolerance at all — it is an indoor plant in any climate with a real winter.

Concretely, for pimento pepper as it gets too cold:

Below about about 5 °C, growth stalls and the leaves start to show cold stress — dark, water-soaked, or yellowing patches.
A single light frost blackens the foliage; a hard freeze kills the whole plant, roots included, and it does not recover.
Even a cold, draughty windowsill or an unheated porch in winter can be enough to damage it permanently.

Can pimento pepper go outside or overwinter — and where?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 5 °C, in shade or dappled light, hardened off gradually.
Bring it back indoors well before the first autumn frost — do not wait for a frost warning, move it when nights drop toward 10-12 °C.
It will never overwinter outside in a temperate climate; the indoors is its winter home, full stop.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when pimento pepper can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H1c figure above.

Pimento Pepper hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is pimento pepper cold hardy?

Pimento Pepper is not cold hardy. It is a tropical houseplant that dies if it is left out through frost — there is no zone where it overwinters outdoors in a UK or cold-US climate. Indoor-only in almost every home. Pimento Pepper can only live outside year-round in genuinely frost-free climates (roughly USDA Warm-season annual; perennial only in frost-free zones 9-11); everywhere else it is a houseplant that summers out at most.

What is the minimum temperature pimento pepper can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about 5 °C (and never frost). Pimento Pepper has no frost tolerance at all — it is an indoor plant in any climate with a real winter.

What hardiness zone is pimento pepper?

Pimento Pepper is rated USDA Warm-season annual; perennial only in frost-free zones 9-11 and RHS H1c — Warm-temperate — can summer outdoors but must come in well before the first frost.

Can pimento pepper survive winter outside?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 5 °C, in shade or dappled light, hardened off gradually. Bring it back indoors well before the first autumn frost — do not wait for a frost warning, move it when nights drop toward 10-12 °C. It will never overwinter outside in a temperate climate; the indoors is its winter home, full stop.

What happens to pimento pepper below its minimum temperature?

Below about about 5 °C, growth stalls and the leaves start to show cold stress — dark, water-soaked, or yellowing patches. A single light frost blackens the foliage; a hard freeze kills the whole plant, roots included, and it does not recover. Even a cold, draughty windowsill or an unheated porch in winter can be enough to damage it permanently.