So, we have the potential for frost tonight. I just got back from the Illinois/Ohio State game and its dark outside. I know that I still have some plants with quite a few ripe pods on them. I was planning on harvesting tomorrow and shutting down the chile growing. I have no desire to go out and try to cover them. Question - if it frosts will the pods that are ripe on the plants be usable? Thanks in advance.
-
Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.
Frost and Ripe Pods
- Thread starter buddy
- Start date
they will be soft because frezing pulls out the water content of the pepper. just like puting the pods in a freezer. you can still use them for sauces though.
Couldn't stand to think that these may get ruined. I had my daughter hold a flashlight while I picked these pods off of 3 plants . Still have a lot on the plants that are green or not yet nearly ripe enough. Some of these are still pretty orange but I think that they will turn red. Only picked the Red and Yellow 7 Pots plus the few Scorpions that I had. Hope that the frost bypasses us and I can get the rest off the balance of the plants.
Yeah it's quite cold out here in Ohio too. Brought 4 of my plants inside for the winter already. It was so windy that I just couldn't hold back anymore. With lows in the lower 50's-40's lately many of my ripe pods are a little softer than normal. Still good but.. Just not the same.
Hope the frost stays away from you!
PS: Sorry about Illinois. At least it was relatively close.
Hope the frost stays away from you!
PS: Sorry about Illinois. At least it was relatively close.
beautiful 7pods. i don't see why you couldn't dehydrate them. i understand where your comin from. i didn't drop seed till march. this year was the worst year of my adult life. financialy disastrous. i over wintered my red savina so that produced well but i have not gotten a crop off of my red 7s , yellow 7s , chocolate bhuts , naga morich and scorps yet. they are loaded with pods but the clock is ticking. fotunately i'm in georgia. i've got about 3 more weeks left. i'm hoping the massive loads of pods ripen quickly so i can get some to sicilianos resturaunt as well as get some pods to beaglestorm , hot pooper and a few other people who have done tremendous favours for me. i also want to overwinter all my plants so i can get massive crops early next season. i will drop seed in january this time. next year has to be better because this year for me was fueled by the kindness of other people such as you , micheal , sean , jacob , sheldon and silver surfer. all those tests i did were because of others. it's kind of a sucky feeling.
Plenty of frost here last night....going to go check on all the pods that are still on the plants in an hour or so. Not optimistic 
My plants are covered yet from 2 nights of frost. Partially ripe pods will ripen in a paper bag if they are far enough along. Good way to save them. I have super hots full of green pods and hoping a week of 70's will be enough to finish ripening them.
thanks. do they have to be single layered or can i heap a bunch of pods in the bag. any idea on how long the process may take? does temperature have an effect - should i keep them in the garage or in the house? thanks in advance.
What area are you in? I've started bringing my pots in at night - is that an option for you? Also, you might want to do ye-olde search on "overwinter".
Naga....seriously, dont even worry about it. You would do the same for anyone else if you had the pods. Im just glad you enjoyed them. Hell, I wish I had MORE to give! Are there any more peppers you have been wanting to try? One might be on one of my plants as we speak....lol. Hell, NEXT year I will be giving TONS away!!! lol
Buddy...pods look AWESOME man!!! Either way, a soft pod or not, they'll be DAMN good!!!
Sean
Buddy...pods look AWESOME man!!! Either way, a soft pod or not, they'll be DAMN good!!!
Sean
illinois - this will be the 3rd night of frost. i can't bring them inside as they're 5 - 6 feet high and planted in earthboxes. there are probably 50+ semi-ripe/green pods on my 3 remaining plants. i threw a bedsheet over them last night - seemed to help but portions of the plants look like they still got frosted. those that have color to them seem to be stalled and don't seem to be getting anymore color - maybe from not getting enough sun?. thanks.
My son did a mini bell a few years back, and although the leaves fell off with the frost, the plants kept ripening the pods until the snow hit. Our experience was snow = killer.
Frost on the pods won't harm them much and they'll be fine to processes however you chose, but a freeze will cause them to go soft. Frost is hell on the plants though, unless covered.
thanks - so far, so good. the bed sheet seemed to do the trick. no more frost in the forecast for the rest of the week.