How long to peppers last on the plant before rotting?

[UltraZelda64]

It's all in the subject, really. I have a ton of peppers on almost all of my plants that have started ripening since the beginning of this month. Problem is, I haven't had the time to cook with them (therefore pick them) and have put off mass harvesting until I get freezer bags. Then the whole moving thing happened, and I put it off just a bit longer, knowing that it's definitely not good to pick the peppers, freeze 'em, and then they go through a cycle of thawing out some while out of the freezer, only to be re-frozen once they get back into the freezer at the next place...

So how long do peppers last on the plant before starting to go bad? I honestly have no idea, which why I'm asking, but if I had to guess, I assumed it might be 2-3 weeks. Is this accurate?

Either way, I will probably be picking a bunch by the first of the month, whether the freezer is moved yet or not, because I do realize the keeping them on the plant for too long will keep the plant from producing more, which I don't want (especially since I'll be bringing many of the plants indoors for at least the beginning and middle of fall). I'll just have to see if I can time it, or at least minimize the thawing if I have to put them in the freezer before moving.

 

[smokemaster]

Depends on what kind of pepper and the weather.
Thin skinned stuff just dehydrates and some thicker skinned stuff molds inside as it dries.
I'm sure it depends on how hot it is.
Not picking most peppers hasn't seemed to slow down budding as far as I can tell,as long as the plant is healthy.
heat sure does though.

 

[Kendog]

With our weather its kinda tricky. I end of picking most of mine in October, sometimes late September. It really depends on what the weather is like as smokemaster stated as well. You know on even late October it could be 75 and sunny or 35 and freezing. Just follow the weather and keep and eye on it. If it gets really cold or I start to notice the peppers on the plant started to soften up I end of picking them off. I pick on an as need basis throughout the season.

 

[UltraZelda64]

Good point on the temp/skin dry/mold connection. I would assume humidity would play a key role here as well, and it's typically very humid here during the summer. High humidity means less evaporation, meaning slower drying, meaning mold growth. Damn.

I have noticed tabasco peppers don't seem to last long at all once they turn red before going mushy. This year though, all I'm growing is primarily C. chinenses (large pepper varieties, not small) and two jalapeno plants.

I could mention the Rocoto Red (second-year plant) and the Rocoto Yellow, but of course they're both showing no signs of mature fruit (they're both pretty much mirroring the Rocoto Red last year: start setting fruit near near fall). So no problem there. My problem with the Rocoto Red will instead be around frost time: how the hell am I gonna get that monster in the house?! But I guess that's something to figure out when the time comes.

 

[Justaguy]

If you have ripe pods as you stated above, pick them. Put them in a big ziploc bag with 1 or 2 paper towels and in the fridge. The towels help hold moisture back some and you have 1-2 weeks tops in my experience. Time depends on how ripe they were at picking. So the question is....How long until you move and have the freezer going??