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Kung Paos

Pepperhead

Pepperhead

So my Kung paos have had fruit since the end of June. Some have gotten a darker green but nothing has gone even close to red yet. Anyone have experience with these?

I have two cayenne pepper plants and one has had a few ripen but the other one has had one, and everything else stays green.

Thoughts? Anything I can do to soil wise, less sun, human sacrifice?
 
Funny as I was about to post a week or so ago with the same question. Though I have Facing heaven peppers I brought back from china which is the traditional pepper in Kung Pao dishes. They set a while ago and they just started changing this past week. I have zero patience I guess. If I could just take a vacation away from my plants every now and again it wouldn't seem like a snail race!
 
Emeoba69: I would love to try those traditional KP peppers. I think the Kung Pao hybrid is a much milder pepper than you have.
I actually went away for 4 days last week and came back to noticeable progress. As much as it pained me to be away from my plants, I was able to see a lot of ripening and plant growth. It's hard to notice change when I check on my plants at least 3 times a day and usually once in the late night :shh:
 
PEPPERMEISTER1 said:
Emeoba69: I would love to try those traditional KP peppers. I think the Kung Pao hybrid is a much milder pepper than you have.
I actually went away for 4 days last week and came back to noticeable progress. As much as it pained me to be away from my plants, I was able to see a lot of ripening and plant growth. It's hard to notice change when I check on my plants at least 3 times a day and usually once in the late night :shh:
Click to expand...


Actually the Facing Heaven peppers are really mild. The thai chilis that look similar that are popular are much much hotter, which this Kung Pao seems to be a derivative of.
 
I grow them every year and find them among the quickest to ripen, though what I grow is significantly larger diameter than what Peppermeister linked, those as well as the plant pictured in the link look a lot more like the Cayennes I've grown. If I had to guess, I'd guess my Kung Paos are taking roughly two to two and a half weeks from full sized green pods to completely red ripe, though it has been abnormally warm here this summer which seems to speed up the ripening.

Edit: [add Kung Pao pic]

kungpaoe.jpg
 
Dave2000: Yeah My Kung Pao Hybrid grows much thinner and more prolific than what I'm seeing in your pic. That's a good looking plant. Do you save the seeds from pods or use the same purchased seeds year after year?
 
A few years back I bought new seed and saved a vial full from the first season's pods that I've been reusing for maybe 5 years. I'll probably buy more seed in a year or two again just to keep germination expectations high while lowering the risk of getting crossed seed since I grow several other peppers near my KPs now. That's a pic towards the bottom of the plant where I've already picked off quite a few ripe ones, but generally I do get fewer pods in total than from the same sized Cayenne plant which is good as I don't like to eat seeds and cayenne's smaller diameter makes them not as easy to de-seed.

They were open pollinated so every year I get an occasional cross in addition to pure plants. For example next to that plant is a cross between a Kung Pao and a Jalapeno which looks very similar but both longer and larger diameter. Can't say much for the flavor of that cross, it is good but not as good as the unique taste of a jalapeno or the sweeter taste of the Kung Pao, and closer in heat level to the jalapeno than to my KP's which are around 40-50K SHU.
 
I was gonna post some pics, but I guess Photobucket is down. Look up my glog and there are a few pics of my Cayennes and Kung Paos there http://thehotpepper.com/topic/29201-pepperheads-super-glog-o-rama-now-with-pics/. It would almost be interesting to see what happens next year as the two are right next to each other, and while the pods are similar looking, the plants are definately different. The KP is more "leggy" and the Cayenne more "bushy".
On a positive note my Cayenne that hasn't ripened anything now has two that are ripening right now. Woo Hoo!
KPs still green though. Nights are cooling off (mid to low 60s F). Would that affect them somehow?
 
Dave2000 said:
I grow them every year and find them among the quickest to ripen, though what I grow is significantly larger diameter than what Peppermeister linked, those as well as the plant pictured in the link look a lot more like the Cayennes I've grown. If I had to guess, I'd guess my Kung Paos are taking roughly two to two and a half weeks from full sized green pods to completely red ripe, though it has been abnormally warm here this summer which seems to speed up the ripening.

Edit: [add Kung Pao pic]

kungpaoe.jpg
Click to expand...

Those aren't Kung Pao's..........the leaf and pod shapes are different. Traditional Kung Pao has narrower leaf sets, and thinner pods which are normally 4/5" long...





IMG_4070-1-1.jpg


Here's the Pao's that I grow every year......
 
I still think that's not a Kung Pao but rather another Cayenne, though we might be splitting hairs on this as there are so many different peppers that end up with these kinds of labels and when all else fails people just call something a chile pepper. I'm also content to call mine a chile pepper instead but what you've pictured does not look different enough from a Cayenne to be called anything else.
 
Dave2000 said:
I still think that's not a Kung Pao but rather another Cayenne, though we might be splitting hairs on this as there are so many different peppers that end up with these kinds of labels and when all else fails people just call something a chile pepper. I'm also content to call mine a chile pepper instead but what you've pictured does not look different enough from a Cayenne to be called anything else.
Click to expand...

Ha...................seriously,........The one's that I'm growing are Kung Pao's......which are Hybrids and have been around for yrs. Take a look at the calyx in my photo, it wraps around the top of the chili......very common with Asian varieties. Cayennes, which grow prolific inthe Mexican region have broader shoulders, flatter calyx.
I grow 5 different types of Cayennes... no discredit to what you're growing, the chili's you've displayed have a smooth appearence. You did say you grow these every year, do you reseed from seed packets, if so which company?
If not is it possible they could have wandered into a cross of some type.
For alittle more assurance try a google image search.

..Kung Pao dishes down in our Chinatown use short dryed finger (Bird) peppers.......Sorry for the rant, dude............no hairs split here...

Greg
 
Dave2000: Actually, It's way more likely that saving seeds from a hybrid chile (the way you stated) is what caused the variation in pod shape that you have there. Hybrid seeds will never produce the same fruit as the parent (not until they are stabilized for several generations) Either that or you are growing a plant also called "kung pao" that is just not the same Kung Pao that anyone else seems to be growing. Both are possible.

Here's a pic of some Kung Pao Peppers which I bought as a plant from Cross Country Nurseries
kungpao2.jpg
 
Now you guys got me hungry............. :drooling: ..............I'm heading down to "Chinatown" (5 min on expw) to pick me up some..............

Well its not Kung Pao Chicken...............I've had enough of that right now, but I'm ordering some "Mogolian Beef"............XXX HOT

Greg
 
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