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harvesting Datil Harvest

elnewt

elnewt

Hello everyone!

In early May, I took a trip to St. Augustine, where I'd lived for a few years and fell in love with datil peppers. Sentiment got the better of me and even though I didn't have a good sunny spot, I bought 3 datil pepper plants on my way out of town. I put them in 5 gallon pots, got some lights, and put 2 under the lights and 1 in the sunniest spot I could find in my yard. All started producing flowers, but nothing ever set. Fortunately, I have a friend who loves gardening, so I moved my plants to her place about a month or so ago. Other than possibly killing off my biggest plant by putting it in the sunniest spot (the leaves are pretty badly wilted but not dried, and it's been watered and moved to a much shadier area to give it some time to recover). Last week, we saw fruits starting to set!

So after all that, my question is - how long does it take to a fruit to reach full maturity, from the point that it sets? I realize that peppers can be harvested at various times - do you recommend leaving everything to reach full maturity, or are there some interesting flavor variations that can be had by harvesting earlier?
 
Thanks!
 
Yeah, my understanding is that they go from green, to green with a purple stripe, to yellow, and finally to yellow orange. I think I've heard that you can harvest them at any stage, but I don't want to harvest early if the flavor isn't as good. I will definitely grow some to maturity so I can have some seeds. These are young plants so I think they will produce well again next year, maybe a 3rd. That's depending on if I can keep them alive over winter, but I have more sun and the lamps that produced great growth, just no successful flowers.

What do you mean by "weather holds?" I assume you mean as long as it doesn't get too cold, which shouldn't be a problem, as I live in Atlanta. Not as warm as St. Aug, but I feel like it's almost Thanksgiving before I have to turn my heat on (I'm on the stingy side when using heat, though). If you mean something else, though, please clarify, as this is my first time gardening as an adult without my expert dad in the house. :)
 
elnewt said:
Yeah, my understanding is that they go from green, to green with a purple stripe, to yellow, and finally to yellow orange. I think I've heard that you can harvest them at any stage, but I don't want to harvest early if the flavor isn't as good. I will definitely grow some to maturity so I can have some seeds. These are young plants so I think they will produce well again next year, maybe a 3rd. That's depending on if I can keep them alive over winter, but I have more sun and the lamps that produced great growth, just no successful flowers.

What do you mean by "weather holds?" I assume you mean as long as it doesn't get too cold, which shouldn't be a problem, as I live in Atlanta. Not as warm as St. Aug, but I feel like it's almost Thanksgiving before I have to turn my heat on (I'm on the stingy side when using heat, though). If you mean something else, though, please clarify, as this is my first time gardening as an adult without my expert dad in the house. :)
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Most peppers have a distinct flavor profile when ripe.
 My experience is maturity slows when temps reach around 50-60°F..
 
I've grown them from seeds for the past few years with 5 going right now. I usually pick them as soon as they turn yellow. Let a few go to a slightly orangish-yellow before but I didn't notice a difference taste-wise. Never really paid attention to how long it takes to go from green to yellow. I Just know that they produce like crazy, even when the heat index hits over 110 here in Birmingham. Each plant has at least 100 pods at various stages of ripeness and I can easily pick a dozen or so off of each one every couple of days.
 
 
 
NE Chili Man - good to know! I haven't grown peppers in a few decades (and then only Cayennes and Thai Hots from Burpee) so I really don't remember anything about them. :)

Crazy Monkey - glad to hear the heat index isn't a problem! I was really worried this week, as ours was in the 100s (I'm sure yours was, too) and I thought I'd lose all the recent buds for sure. But I'm guessing I've got 20ish fruits on one plant and 30-40 on the other, with many more buds on both, so they seem to be OK! Glad to know you don't notice a difference in taste, as I'll probably let a few mature fully but then start picking the others
 
I grow one Datil plant per year in the Ozarks, start from seed indoors, transplant outside in direct sun end of April first of May..
 
Been pulling ripe peppers for several weeks now and will continue to do so until frost.
 
They're hardy and produce well but to me hold a waaaaaaaaay distant second to the Fatalii both in flavor and production.
 
I've been hearing about the Fataliis since I've been looking up datils on here. Definitely curious about them. Not sure if I will try to grow them in the future - maybe if I move to a new place where I can grow them on my own and not have to beg a friend to give them a spot. :) But I'll have to taste them someday.
 
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Here are a few I picked this weekend. About twice as many green ones still on the plants..
 
Datil's, when picked slightly under ripe and left on the kitchen counter will continue to ripen to full color.  Even the deeper orangish color if left for a few days.  It's probably not a good practice but I've done it a lot this year and haven't noticed any difference in flavor.  (I went for a while with something eating holes in my peppers and didn't want to leave any close to being ripe for the culprits to ruin)
I have heard so many good things about the Fatalii that I have already acquired seeds to start this winter for next year's grow.  I really like Datil's so I'm looking forward to seeing if the Fatalii beats it!
 
Tybo, glad to hear you haven't had problems picking a little early. We got a "cold snap" this week, with lows in the upper 60s and highs in the low 80s, and it makes me a little nervous, though we're heading back into the 90s in another day or so. It's been such a hassle getting these guys going (really, my own fault), I want something to show for it! 
 
The pics below show my largest pepper and how my best looking plant looks right now. Sad that they are so far behind where they should be, but at the same time, I'm impressed I didn't kill them! I bought 2, being convinced I'd kill one, then picked up a 3rd because I thought I might kill 2, but certainly couldn't kill 3. And all 3 are still going, though the third that I nearly killed hasn't set fruit yet.
 

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No, I haven't. My understanding was that this sort of curliness was typical of datil peppers. I'm guessing your datils aren't this curly?
 
elnewt said:
No, I haven't. My understanding was that this sort of curliness was typical of datil peppers. I'm guessing your datils aren't this curly?
Click to expand...
 
Some curliness not a problem - major curl on multiple leafs along with the big time wrinkling indicative of a problem. 
 
So if mine are too curly, what could be the culprit? Pests? What other signs should I look for? (I don't see obvious bugs, but I'm not hunting for them specifically when I'm doing inspections) Or does figuring out which pest even matter? I've seen some people recommend neem oil - is that a good idea or is there a better idea?
 
I am no expert by any means and have had my struggles this year so hopefully someone else will chime in.
A google search for "curly leaves on pepper plants" turns up a lot.  Some of the "bugs" are not too obvious.  Aphids blend in real well.  I found them after looking real close at the newest growth and right at the stem area.
I use 100% cold pressed neem oil with azadirachtin.  I purchased mine off the internet.  It's instructions say to mix 1-2 tablespoons with 1-3 teaspoons of soap in water per gallon.  I mixed mine in a 1 quart spray bottle and diluted accordingly.
It's important to use pure soap, not detergent.  I used Dr. Bronners with peppermint since I heard that peppermint was a deterrent.
 
Hope this helps.  Good luck with the Datil's.  We just made 2 more pints of sauce yesterday.  Good stuff.
 
 
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