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I Need A Little Help

Z

Zeeky Banutski

I purchased a small pepper plant yesterday at my local nursery/produce vendor. They called it a "decorative pepper" plant, but looking at the small (maybe 1/2" to 3/4" long & not a "pointy" type), edible red peppers that are on the plant, it looks to me to be a Chile Pequin or maybe some sort of Thai pepper. These little boogers are good & hot too - hotter than a jalapeno, but not as hot as a habenero - just what the doctor ordered. I immediately picked about 50 of the little guys & made some awesome salsa (makes me sweat just thinking about it).

Where I need help is in drying the remainder of them out so that I can use them over the winter. How do I do that? Place them on a cookie sheet & stick them in the oven at (maybe) 200 degrees or so? If not, what temperature do I use & how long do I keep them in there?

Also, for those peppers on the palnt that have that "already dried out" kind of look - are they still usable or are they past that point & in need of being discarded (for obvious safety reasons)?

One other thing - how can I plant them next year? Can I just take some of the seeds & toss them in the ground when the time is right? Do I need to prepare the seeds in any particular way? Let them dry out naturally or what? (I'm not much of a gardenere, but I'll give it a try in this case).

Anyone got any advice? I figure I've got maybe 2-3 weeks before the frost hits & I lose the plant (the wife is afraid of bugs & won't let me bring it into the house - that's OK, I'll just get another next year).

Terry
 
:welcome:

Commercially, peppers used for powder are often left to dry on the plant (it's easier/cheaper to harvest) so they'll be fine to use (unless they're rotten of course).
As for the others, you could; ristra them (Thread them on string), sun dry them, oven dry them (probably not necessary unless you're in a rush), or dehydrate them.
One thing you may want to do if you choose to sun dry or ristra them up is cut a slit down the length of the pepper so there's no chance of them getting funky.
 
Hello and :welcome: to THP

150 will do the trick for dehydration, be aware the fumes may chase you out of the house. Make sure you first de-seed some pods for next years growth as the heat will kill them. Dry your seeds in a cool dry area for at least 3 weeks and place them in a jar or bagie for later use. You can also de-seed and freeze the peppers for use throughout the year. Get as much air out as possible. This will make them a little mushy because the cells will rupture from freezing, or you could can them for later use, heck you can do that with your salsa too.

For next years growth you will want to germinate them with a heating pad, or a heated germination pad in a seed starting tray. Use a quality growing medium such as Promix BX. Some growers prefer to germinate on a plate inside a damp paper towel so they can see which seeds are viable, planting them once a little hook developes from the seed. They will need light once they sprout and nutrients after about a week. Pot them up as they get larger and harden them off to the sun by giving them exposure until they show signs of stress, then remove them to a shaded spot until they recover. If they are not hardened off the sun will crumple them up quickly. You wont want to place them in the ground until after last frost, some growers dont plant them at all they just use containers for the season. This is just the basics, check out some of the grow logs under the "growing hot peppers" section for pics and more details.

Chad
 
If you dry them in the oven at 200F, prepare to be choked to death by the fumes. Capsaicin vapors are nasty to breathe.
 
just go for it in the oven at the lowest temp or if they are a thin walled like they sounds set them on a counter or outside and they will naturally dry. Thick walled you want the oven or a dehydrator.
 
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