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If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.
When to pick
- Thread starter zappa883
- Start date
It really depends. If they are going to be for you, and you are going to use them right away, I would wait until they are just perfectly ripe. That will give you a few days on the counter. When I send a box out, I usually pick when they have a little color on them, so they can fully ripen in the box on the way. That, or when they are a light shade of the final color. That gives me some extra time. Some thin skinned peppers can go bad pretty quick, so I especially like to pull them early to have a little time before they go bad.
Once I start seeing peppers ripen to their final color, I harvest them and then check about once a week for others and harvest them then.
+1 on MGold. It really does depend on how you plan to use them.
As for heat, I have heard that they peak as they turn their final color. You can leave them on too long as they can start to soften as if they were off the plant. Not sure how long that exactly that would be compared to off the plant but you can always freeze or dry before they go entirely bad. Also, the more often you pick, the more energy the plant can put into producing more pods.
+1 on MGold. It really does depend on how you plan to use them.
As for heat, I have heard that they peak as they turn their final color. You can leave them on too long as they can start to soften as if they were off the plant. Not sure how long that exactly that would be compared to off the plant but you can always freeze or dry before they go entirely bad. Also, the more often you pick, the more energy the plant can put into producing more pods.
Yes you can leave them too long. They will get a very deep color and start to soften. They way they ripen is when they turn color and are there final color, then they are good. As long as you aren't growing any white or peach varieties it shouldn't be tough to tell.
When they are almost perfect then pull them. They will last a few days on the counter before they start dropping heat. Thinner pods go faster so keep that in mind.
When they are almost perfect then pull them. They will last a few days on the counter before they start dropping heat. Thinner pods go faster so keep that in mind.
So what it sounds like to me is that you don't feel your pods are as hot as they should be. First off, what variety are you growing? It could be that you don't truly have the species that you think you have. So perhaps you can post a picture of what you have and tell us what you think it's supposed to be.