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harvesting Ghost pepper: to harvest or not?

G

Ghostboo

Hi,
I'm a recent newbie asking for advice on ghost pepper. I bought a ghost pepper plant from our local nursery in mid May. In June it produced 3 pods...and dropped 1. These 2 pods have started to turn orange for the past 2 weeks. My questions are: 1) do I need to wait for them to ripen to red before harvest, or 2) if I harvest now will the plant focus its energy into putting out more pods? I also have one Trinidad and 3 habaneros growing. They are now just starting to flower. However the ghost has not produced anymore flowers. Thanks in advance for your help!
 
I will...as soon as I figure out how to. The search on "how to post a picture" pulled up pictures so far. So much to read through...I'll get there- hopefully before tomorrow
 
You can harvest and let them ripen as well. It depends how big your plant is and if you would like to get new flowers sooner  ;)
 
If its been that long to ripen i would say cut them off. Give the plant some energy to produce better quality pods.
 
Peppmang,
I filled out a form on the site requesting help on how to post pictures. I am waiting on their response. But I will go ahead and harvest the pods based on the recommendations of stankar and peppamang. I am still trying to navigate through this site- including why an ad pops up in my posted comments. If these ads are part of the site, that's fine. I just don't want anyone thinking that I posted them. Could someone direct me to the help section for newbies?
 
Ghostboo, try this thread on picture posting. Ads are part of the site. No one thinks you posted them.
 
Ghostboo said:
Peppmang,
I filled out a form on the site requesting help on how to post pictures. I am waiting on their response. But I will go ahead and harvest the pods based on the recommendations of stankar and peppamang. I am still trying to navigate through this site- including why an ad pops up in my posted comments. If these ads are part of the site, that's fine. I just don't want anyone thinking that I posted them. Could someone direct me to the help section for newbies?
Click to expand...
 
 
MidwestChilihead,
If I read through it correctly, I may post pictures through an upgrade in membership, or upload from a photo sharing website. Thanks, I'll look into those options.
 
I haven't grown but have seen some interweb pics of ghost peppers that end up more orange than red. You might have an interesting plant that ripens orange.

In my admittedly limited experience, most of the plants I've grown have gone pretty quick (week, maybe two) to go from first blush of color to fully ripened.

I think baccatums take longer but my only experience with them was an accidental bishops crown that was supposed to be a red hab. I didn't pay that much attention to its ripening pattern because I was pissed off when it wasn't the pepper I was most excited to grow last year. But I did feel it ripened slower than all my chinense and annums.
 
Yeah, if they've been orange for 2 weeks, I'm kinda worried you might just have some other kind of pepper growing. I just picked a few Bhut Jolokia today, and they might have taken about a week to get to red. Going from spots of orange, to orange-red, to red-orange, then red. They were never really very orange at any stage.

Are you sure you're not mixing it up with one of your habanero plants?

Check out http://imgur.com to upload pics.
 
Oh, and these were harvest as suggested to see if the plant produces more. Yes, I planted it without mixing it up...unless the tags were inadvertently switched at the nursery. This is my first year growing the hots, so I can't discern whether or not it is what the tag states. I do know that it took 3 weeks to turn orange. The tag says it ripens to red. So, I dunno...thanks for all the advices!!!
 
Maybe you have a peach ghost pepper there ??? I have never had a ghost pod transition from green to golden to red, they always go green to red to dark red.....
 
I'd harvest. Ideally fully ripe taste better. But in this case with no flowers, I'd harvest em to push the plant to make more babies.
If they're unripe but mature, they'll be some good heat.
Good Luck
Up here in zone 6, Ithe plants are in various stages with some having full size pods that are still green. Getting closer!
 
Sorry,
I'm still trying to "work the ropes" on the forum. I guess I should have added my reply within the same box when I clicked quote Any ways if I went with Ducman's observation that it a ghost pepper doesn't change color from orange to red, either 1) the labels were switched at the nursery bc the label that came with it stated that it is a ghost pepper that ripens to red, or 2) I have a peach ghost pepper. OR it might not even be a ghost pepper, but instead a habanero. I can't tell the difference bc it is my fist year growing these. Either way since I've already harvested it 2 days ago, the plant has started to put out blossom buds. I'll post more pics once I get pods. Argh! I do hope that these are ghost peppers
Valley man,
Since KS is also zone 6 like yours, do you think that the triple digits in temps could be the cause of slow ripening or the pepper dropping a pod?
Thanks all!!!
 
The pod  on the left looks like a Bhut, but the pod on the right does not. I once had a bhut plant that went from green to orange to red, but the transition from orange to red took about 2-3 weeks as I recall. I don't think outside temps have much to do with the ripening process. Temperatures over 90 F. will shut down flowering, but I haven't seen any literature that says temperature affects ripening time.
 
CTh6bEl.jpg
 
Epsom salt in your water helps to encourage more flowers. It is one of the few things I have learned about growing peppers so far, and one of my favorites. It doesn't take much and it works really well. There are lots of references to it here in the forum. I don't recall the amount that is technically correct. I don't really measure when doing it at home.
 
 
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