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yield-harvest Ripen in bag or leave on plant?

C

cmwr

I know you should remove peppers from a plant to encourage them to produce more. I live in Iowa so my growing season is over about early October sometimes a couple weeks later. I have several plants that are loaded with full-size green pods and they are taking forever. I know they will be ripe probably by the end of this month or early September. Could I increase my yield if I picked full size green fruit and ripened in a paper bag with a banana, or should I just leave on the vine until ripe? For the record the only time I’ve ever done the bag is at last pick of the season before pulling plants. I’m just trying to increase my yield. At the rate habaneros and datils grow, I basically get one good picking per plant each year and a bunch of green smaller fruit towards the end of each season. My habaneros are loaded with a mix of green fruit in various sizes currently and my BC Datils are loaded with lots of full size green pods.

This is why I am on the fence about wasting my garden space next year with true Datils from St Augustine, which I have seeds for, because I hear they take even longer than habaneros and I only have a window from May to October. I start my seeds in early January each year.

Last year I tried overwintering and it worked for one BC Datil and one orange habanero, but the other half of each, which was grown from seeds, are taking off faster than the over wintered plants so I’m not sure I’ll waste my time with that again.
 
Solution
CaneDog
Perhaps it's a "your mileage may vary" situation, but peppers are classified as a non-climacteric fruit. Unlike climacteric fruits (like tomatoes and bananas), peppers generally don't produce enough of the ripening hormone ethylene after being picked in order to properly continue ripening and, from what I've read, supplementing externally - like with the banana-bag treatment - isn't supposed to work. This all suggests they won't ripen properly off the plant and that the color changes and softening seen are typically - or predominantly - signs of decomposition, not true ripening. My take-away is I let them ripen on the plant as much as possible.

I definitely agree that with most peppers removing ripe/ripening peppers will accelerate...
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cmwr said:
I know you should remove peppers from a plant to encourage them to produce more. I live in Iowa so my growing season is over about early October sometimes a couple weeks later. I have several plants that are loaded with full-size green pods and they are taking forever. I know they will be ripe probably by the end of this month or early September. Could I increase my yield if I picked full size green fruit and ripened in a paper bag with a banana, or should I just leave on the vine until ripe? For the record the only time I’ve ever done the bag is at last pick of the season before pulling plants. I’m just trying to increase my yield. At the rate habaneros and datils grow, I basically get one good picking per plant each year and a bunch of green smaller fruit towards the end of each season. My habaneros are loaded with a mix of green fruit in various sizes currently and my BC Datils are loaded with lots of full size green pods.

This is why I am on the fence about wasting my garden space next year with true Datils from St Augustine, which I have seeds for, because I hear they take even longer than habaneros and I only have a window from May to October. I start my seeds in early January each year.

Last year I tried overwintering and it worked for one BC Datil and one orange habanero, but the other half of each, which was grown from seeds, are taking off faster than the over wintered plants so I’m not sure I’ll waste my time with that again.
Click to expand...

I just pick the full size green pods, spread them out inside where it's warm, & most color up nicely for freezing or drying.
 
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Perhaps it's a "your mileage may vary" situation, but peppers are classified as a non-climacteric fruit. Unlike climacteric fruits (like tomatoes and bananas), peppers generally don't produce enough of the ripening hormone ethylene after being picked in order to properly continue ripening and, from what I've read, supplementing externally - like with the banana-bag treatment - isn't supposed to work. This all suggests they won't ripen properly off the plant and that the color changes and softening seen are typically - or predominantly - signs of decomposition, not true ripening. My take-away is I let them ripen on the plant as much as possible.

I definitely agree that with most peppers removing ripe/ripening peppers will accelerate production of others. I expect this is a main reason peppers like jalapeno and serrano are harvested green. I've also seen peppers, sometimes even totally green ones, color up off the plant, though the less ripe they are when they come off the less likely the have been to color completely - or at all. Usually, unless they're already close to ripe, they've just softened and decayed in my experience. I suppose I'd suggest trying out how well it seems to work for you with just one or a couple peppers before counting on it to work with a greater number.
 
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Solution
CaneDog said:
This all suggests they won't ripen properly off the plant and that the color changes and softening seen are typically - or predominantly - signs of decomposition, not true ripening. My take-away is I let them ripen on the plant as much as possible.
Click to expand...

@cmwr this is the answer. They will not ripen properly off the plant. For best flavor and best results, leave them on until fully ripe (unless you are expecting damage to the fruit from a hard frost or freeze, that's the only time I'll voluntarily pick them green).
 
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Interesting - several years ago I read that peppers were one of the few fruit that would ripen off the plant even if picked unripe. Based on my experience that appears to be the case to a degree - it was always a race between ripe and unusable ("getting soft"). But I "ripened" a lot of them in buckets.

Now I'm seeing you guys say otherwise.
 
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Purchase fruit at Walmart to get your answer.😁

Pods will have to reach maturity on the plant if you want them to ripen somewhat properly off the plant or ripen due to decomposition like @CaneDog said. That is a shot in the dark to figure out and will change due to a ton of factors. You will see smaller ripe fruits late in the year when sunlight hours lessen.

I really don’t have a good answer here. You let these ripen fully and pick the next batch immature or you pick two immature batches. Are you just looking to heat things up or for flavor also. Volume it seems?

I honestly feel as though your indoor practices are where you can make up the time you need during the summer months. Much easier to control than Mother Nature. I am in a very similar zone. Sowing habanero seeds in January this far north will equal two things…giant,fruiting plants by our late May plant outs, or stunted plants from running out of room,container/root space,lighting,mineral neglect,etc.

This kind of goes hand in hand with your overwintering issue. Overwintering is necessary with some species but not C.chinense. You are better off starting new plants and pushing growth rather than holding a plant back that was already established. Not to mention pest and disease issues.

Check out the Glog section on this forum and look for people in a similar zone who are kicking ass and PM them or follow them to an extent. I feel if you focuses on tightening up your indoor grow, you will maximize your production. You will be able to start atleast a month and a half later and get similar or better results.
 
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HellfireFarm said:
Interesting - several years ago I read that peppers were one of the few fruit that would ripen off the plant even if picked unripe. Based on my experience that appears to be the case to a degree - it was always a race between ripe and unusable ("getting soft"). But I "ripened" a lot of them in buckets.

Now I'm seeing you guys say otherwise.
Click to expand...
It all depends on how you define 'ripe', from what I read these are all based on defined agricultural standards for harvest. The pepper may have changed colour and even have the correct flavour but the composition of the fruit will have begun to break down. So when it ripens off plant it's not something you can store on a shelf for sale, that's something very important to define in agriculture.
 
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Pr0digal_son said:
Purchase fruit at Walmart to get your answer.😁

Pods will have to reach maturity on the plant if you want them to ripen somewhat properly off the plant or ripen due to decomposition like @CaneDog said. That is a shot in the dark to figure out and will change due to a ton of factors. You will see smaller ripe fruits late in the year when sunlight hours lessen.

I really don’t have a good answer here. You let these ripen fully and pick the next batch immature or you pick two immature batches. Are you just looking to heat things up or for flavor also. Volume it seems?

I honestly feel as though your indoor practices are where you can make up the time you need during the summer months. Much easier to control than Mother Nature. I am in a very similar zone. Sowing habanero seeds in January this far north will equal two things…giant,fruiting plants by our late May plant outs, or stunted plants from running out of room,container/root space,lighting,mineral neglect,etc.

This kind of goes hand in hand with your overwintering issue. Overwintering is necessary with some species but not C.chinense. You are better off starting new plants and pushing growth rather than holding a plant back that was already established. Not to mention pest and disease issues.

Check out the Glog section on this forum and look for people in a similar zone who are kicking ass and PM them or follow them to an extent. I feel if you focuses on tightening up your indoor grow, you will maximize your production. You will be able to start atleast a month and a half later and get similar or better results.
Click to expand...
I just like to have enough frozen and dried peppers to get me through the winter into next summer when I get new. It’s early here and the coffee has yet to kick in so forgive me if I misread, but if I understand correctly you are saying I need to get my plants in larger containers indoors to maximize their growth potential prior to putting them out. That would make good sense. I usually have 6”-8” plants in red solo cups that get transplanted come May. I keep things under a grow light during this time and start setting them out on the back deck to harden in April.

I agree to the overwintering. Several years ago I dug up and potted several of my habaneros for the winter. I kept getting fruit throughout the winter under my grow light although runted fruit. Come spring they went back into my garden and did well. Last year I tried to overwinter.. I lost a few and had issues with aphids even though I treated them well after cutting and prior to bringing indoors. I must have missed a spot. Anyways two survived, my BC Datil and my orange habanero. I also planted another of each grown from seeds from each and the new plants tower above my overwintered plants even though all are producing. That has made me feel that overwintering wasn’t worth it.

Maybe I need to take my seedlings each February and put them into one gallon pots for a few months instead of red solo cups to encourage them to grow even bigger prior to transplanting?
 
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cmwr said:
I just like to have enough frozen and dried peppers to get me through the winter into next summer when I get new. It’s early here and the coffee has yet to kick in so forgive me if I misread, but if I understand correctly you are saying I need to get my plants in larger containers indoors to maximize their growth potential prior to putting them out. That would make good sense. I usually have 6”-8” plants in red solo cups that get transplanted come May. I keep things under a grow light during this time and start setting them out on the back deck to harden in April.



Maybe I need to take my seedlings each February and put them into one gallon pots for a few months instead of red solo cups to encourage them to grow even bigger prior to transplanting?
Click to expand...

cmwr said:
I just like to have enough frozen and dried peppers to get me through the winter into next summer when I get new. It’s early here and the coffee has yet to kick in so forgive me if I misread, but if I understand correctly you are saying I need to get my plants in larger containers indoors to maximize their growth potential prior to putting them out. That would make good sense. I usually have 6”-8” plants in red solo cups that get transplanted come May. I keep things under a grow light during this time and start setting them out on the back deck to harden in April.

I agree to the overwintering. Several years ago I dug up and potted several of my habaneros for the winter. I kept getting fruit throughout the winter under my grow light although runted fruit. Come spring they went back into my garden and did well. Last year I tried to overwinter.. I lost a few and had issues with aphids even though I treated them well after cutting and prior to bringing indoors. I must have missed a spot. Anyways two survived, my BC Datil and my orange habanero. I also planted another of each grown from seeds from each and the new plants tower above my overwintered plants even though all are producing. That has made me feel that overwintering wasn’t worth it.

Maybe I need to take my seedlings each February and put them into one gallon pots for a few months instead of red solo cups to encourage them to grow even bigger prior to transplanting?
Click to expand...

I am not sure what you have room for or your lighting ,etc. I can’t make any suggestions there. If you are starting in January for May plant out, you will have to hold those plants back in some sort of way,like the solo cup. Unless you want to go up in container size a couple times. You could have some seriously large plants in 5 months. That depends on what you have room for.

You can start a couple months later and push the plants instead of limiting them and get better results I feel. It’s similar to the overwintering thing we talked about. Keep them vigorous until plant out and beyond. You will have a cheaper utility bill also.

Look through the Glog section for growers with similar climates and results that you want. It will help seeing processes unfold. I feel confident your issue will be freezer space next year.
 
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