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Ripen on or off plant

C

Carito

:P Hello. New here. Well I planted my first garden (raised bed) this year and several varieties of peppers which I will list. I'm just starting to get into this and have found a lot of useful info here. One of my main questions though is ripening and what all of you recommend since you have way more experience than I. I have several hot pepper plants that are producing very little now because they are still loaded with peppers that are still ripening. So I'm just waiting for them to turn red. My question is would there be anything wrong with picking the fruit once it's achieved full size and ripening off the plant so that it can start to produce more??? If no, what's the best way? In a bag in the dark, do I need to add something like a tomato or apple piece like I've read with other things because helps it to ripen faster???

I would like to eventually have enough where I can use the peppers fresh or experiment with drying them out and crushing to make sauces etc but they take so long to turn colors on the plant.

Here is what I have planted right now pepper wise:
Giant Marconi's, 5 Color Marbles, Firecracker Chili's, Sweet Crimsons, Peter Peppers, Thai Hot Sun's, Hungarian Hot Wax, and Several Aji Amarillo pepper plants from trip to Peru. They are all doing great, but am really curious on this ripening part and look forward to trying some different varieties next. Thanks
Carito
 
imaguitargod said:
Best bet for flavor, heat, and freshness (and for seed saving) is to have them ripen ON the vine.
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The exception would be at the end of the growing season if you decide not to overwinter them in the house, then you would pull up the whole plant and hang it upside down to dry. Whatever unripe peppers are remaining on the plant should slowly finsh ripening.
 
Well thanks for the help. I definitely want them to come out the best. When you say overwinter them and you pull them out, dont they die?? So you pull them out, and then replant them in the spring and they come back???
 
RedThumb said:
The exception would be at the end of the growing season if you decide not to overwinter them in the house, then you would pull up the whole plant and hang it upside down to dry. Whatever unripe peppers are remaining on the plant should slowly finsh ripening.
Click to expand...

Im asking sa same question..LOL
 
Carito said:
Well thanks for the help. I definitely want them to come out the best. When you say overwinter them and you pull them out, dont they die?? So you pull them out, and then replant them in the spring and they come back???
Click to expand...

When we talk about overwintering them, we're talking about doing what you did, keeping them in a pot.

Usually when the first frost or freeze of the season comes along, there are lots and lots of unripe peppers on the plants. Some people believe that if you pull up the plant, put it some where protected like a garage, and hang it upside down, the nutrients that remain in the plant with run down to the unripe peppers still on the vine and help them ripen.

I'm not one of those people, but that's an argument for another time.
 
Carito said:
Well thanks for the help. I definitely want them to come out the best. When you say overwinter them and you pull them out, dont they die?? So you pull them out, and then replant them in the spring and they come back???
Click to expand...

Overwintering is if you bring the plants (in pots) into the house to keep them alive until you can take them outside again the next summer.

If you choose not to take them in (and you are in a cold weather area) then the plants will die when it gets too cold. If it is already getting too cold and you have lots of unripe peppers on the plant then you would dig it up (this will kill the plant but it would have died in the cold anyway) and hang it upside down to get the remaining peppers to ripen.
 
The important thing to note is that all chiles are perennial.

Most don't keep them for more than a season and let them die in cold weather. Where chiles are native, thsy grow quite old and large.
 
some can't ripen off the vine

Some of my peppers simply would not ripen off the vine. Thai for example. What exactly is the technique used for off-vine ripening?
 
lgreen said:
Some of my peppers simply would not ripen off the vine. Thai for example. What exactly is the technique used for off-vine ripening?
Click to expand...

wait for the colour change to start before picking the fruit. then leave (out of the fridge) in a bright, airy location and allow to reach the mature colour. for seed harvesting it is best to allow the pods to ripen as long as possible on the plant.

allowing to ripen 'off the vine' may encourage greater bud/pod production providing the weather hasn't cooled too much.
 
For small amounts of peppers, put them in a paper bag possibly with tomatoes or other veggies which produce ethylene gas. The gas makes them ripen quickly.
 
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