Do Bushy Plants Retard Pepper Maturity?

Derelict

Derelict

Newb here still asking dumb questions.  Thanks for your patience.
 
My megahots (Ghost Peppers, Reapers, Chocolate and Red Habaneros, Scotch Bonnet) were planted in mid-April and are close to harvest.  The plants themselves are very bushy and doing well after a rough start.
 
My question is, do the fruits need sunlight themselves to turn color?  I ask because I see a large number of full sized peppers underneath the "canopy" of the plant and they have not turned their respective colors (red, white, brown, yellow) yet, they are still bright green.  Meaning, would I ever "thin out" the leaves so as to let sunlight filter down to the stalks in order to finish the ripening?
 
Thanks for any information you can provide, or any other perspective!
 
 
 
Super hots generally take awhile longer than others to change color. having said that, I've read many times that upper branches that shade the lower portion of the plant should be removed. I never have with my shorter growing season so with your longer season I wouldn't. 
 
I would say be careful with this idea, as I've had more problems with sun scald ruining peppers (especially large ones or ones that took a long time to ripen) than I have with peppers not ripening. Anecdotally, I have noticed that the peppers seem to start ripening on the side where they receive the most sun... I'm not sure if that's due to increased heat, UV, light, or some other phenomenon. That being said, I still wouldn't remove leaves for the purpose of accelerating ripening. 
 
Nope, i got lots of super pods turning that are shaded by the canopy. Jalapenos do seem to turn faster with more direct sun hitting the pods. Direct sun to pods will cause sun tan before they are ripe. Looks kinda crappy until they turn ripe.
 
Ask yourself the question in its most basic form: where are variety X found in nature, and does nature tamper with the plant to produce mature pods?
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I find this line of reasoning to be the most helpful, more times than not.
 
solid7 said:
Ask yourself the question in its most basic form: where are variety X found in nature, and does nature tamper with the plant to produce mature pods?
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I find this line of reasoning to be the most helpful, more times than not.
Click to expand...
 

Yes, while I don't disagree, nature does not apply fertilizer that turns what would otherwise be a scraggly natural plant into a blossoming, bushy one.
 
badmoon692004 said:
Anecdotally, I have noticed that the peppers seem to start ripening on the side where they receive the most sun... I'm not sure if that's due to increased heat, UV, light, or some other phenomenon.
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This is exactly what I'm noticing with my chocolate habaneros.  The brown color starts on the open side of the plant, the part without canopy. 
 
What does sun scald look like?  Not all my plants are bushy, some are still scraggly, and the larger peppers (Ethiopian Brown, Orozco) are taking a long time to ripen.
 
Derelict said:
 
Yes, while I don't disagree, nature does not apply fertilizer that turns what would otherwise be a scraggly natural plant into a blossoming, bushy one.
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Not to be obtuse here, but there are places where the soil grows better pepper plants than you and I could - with every bit of knowledge that we have between us - and it doesn't even need fertilizing.  Examples: Hawaii, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Kansas. (LOL - I had a garden at my old house that I didn't fertilizer ever, and I've yet to grow better plants in containers)
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Just putting fertilizer into a pot isn't what makes a great plant.
 
Don't forget,PHOTOSYNTHESIS, RESPIRATION & TRANSPIRATION are all part of what leaves do to grow a plant. Reducing their number cuts those important functions.
solid7 said:
Ask yourself the question in its most basic form: where are variety X found in nature, and does nature tamper with the plant to produce mature pods?
Click to expand...
74830BA0-D92C-4788-8D6C-7643575B3086-e1511277926243.jpeg
 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
Don't forget,PHOTOSYNTHESIS, RESPIRATION & TRANSPIRATION are all part of what leaves do to grow a plant. Reducing their number cuts those important functions.

 
Click to expand...
 
Not only that, but if the conditions aren't right to grow those leaves and/or retain them, it won't happen, in the first place.  So in general, I tend to err on the side of thought that says, "if the plant put the leaves on, don't tamper with them - it's gonna use them, as intended"
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The other side of this, is that I find (anecdotally) that I tend to get much bigger pods when they are under full canopy.  For me, pods that see sun have a tendency to abort, scald, ripen prematurely, or just not get as big.  I can't prove that, though.  It's just a casual observation.  But damn do I get some big pods under the leaves.  Bonnets and habaneros are the biggest winners, for me.
 
solid7 said:
 
Not only that, but if the conditions aren't right to grow those leaves and/or retain them, it won't happen, in the first place.  So in general, I tend to err on the side of thought that says, "if the plant put the leaves on, don't tamper with them - it's gonna use them, as intended"
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The other side of this, is that I find (anecdotally) that I tend to get much bigger pods when they are under full canopy.  For me, pods that see sun have a tendency to abort, scald, ripen prematurely, or just not get as big.  I can't prove that, though.  It's just a casual observation.  But damn do I get some big pods under the leaves.  Bonnets and habaneros are the biggest winners, for me.
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That's what I'm seeing now.  But do they ripen later than the others?  Just trying to understand the variables, not do something stupid.
 
I don't know.  The thing is, when you just let them do their thing, once they start doing it, it just happens, and you don't even notice how long it's taking, anymore.  The first ones take forever, after that, the novelty seems to wear off, and the floodgates open.
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I'm sure that at least one other person will vouch for me on this one.
 
They'll ripen when they're ready to be ripe. Give them time. I find ripe peppers in the bottom of this jungle every day.
 
IFsjeDI.jpg
 
DWB said:
They'll ripen when they're ready to be ripe. Give them time. I find ripe peppers in the bottom of this jungle every day.
 
IFsjeDI.jpg
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Wow.  Those are impressive looking plants.  I'd like to know some of your secrets.  Last year, my first, was a disaster, this year has been checkered but much better, but there are still perplexing things happening.
 
solid7 said:
Ask yourself the question in its most basic form: where are variety X found in nature, and does nature tamper with the plant to produce mature pods?
.
I find this line of reasoning to be the most helpful, more times than not.
Click to expand...
 
Superhots and plants with large fruit don't exist in nature, so it's completely irrelevant. 
 
Powelly said:
 
Superhots and plants with large fruit don't exist in nature, so it's completely irrelevant. 
Click to expand...
 
Yep, that's what everyone said before the bhut jolokia became popluar.  And then the landrace varieties from the Caribbean.  All grown in a lab.  Nope, not a single one of those ever grown in native soil.
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"In nature" refers to where these varieties come from.  Wherever they were first cultivated.  And it's not irrelevant, because not everyone who plants out, fertilizes out.  In many parts of the world where plants are popularly grown, they are also grown with nothing but nature.  
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Someone just recently posted about a pepper they found growing wild in Costa Rica. in nature. 
 
In the Bajío of México,  chiles are grown with hardly any human intervention (fertilization) at all.
 
The campesinos plant them and forget them til they pick the fruit for market. Seem to do pretty well.
 
IMG_2107 by Willard Bridgham, on Flickr
 
willard3 said:
In the Bajío of México,  chiles are grown with hardly any human intervention (fertilization) at all.
 
The campesinos plant them and forget them til they pick the fruit for market. Seem to do pretty well.
Click to expand...
 
Yes sir, that's what I was talking about.
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So the thought is still the same.  But I'll revise it, so that there's no more nit-picking at the details:  Think about where the pepper comes from, and how it grows when it's left to itself.
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Almost every trick or gimmick that we employ, we do so for OUR benefit, not for that of the plant, or of its natural processes.
 
willard3 said:
In the Bajío of México,  chiles are grown with hardly any human intervention (fertilization) at all.
 
The campesinos plant them and forget them til they pick the fruit for market. Seem to do pretty well.
Click to expand...
 
While I don't doubt you, why therefore do I have so much trouble with low yield, scraggly plants and hornworms?  I fertilize, spray for pests, protect from the wildlife, and more, yet I still have plants that hardly get to 12" in height.
 
This is more a rhetorical question than anything else, by the way.
 
 
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