I'm Starting To Hate My Peppers....

O

obchili

So, I would like to know something about peppers.  So I came here, time and time again to read, learn, and ask questions.  So, without further ado, I would like to ask the following about mainly my super-hots.  Is it common for these things to throw out 1 or 2 pods at a very slow pace, then overnight find the switch and start shooting the damn things out like they are going out of style?  I am very curious, and mainly as it is late August, I am in zone 3, southern Manitoba, and am worried that the darn things will not have a chance to fully grow and ripen before the inevitable frost comes.  I have a few in pots, but may only be able to overwinter 1 or 2 if I ask nicely, and I mean NICE.  Thank you in advance for any help and insight towards these things.
 
Pepper varieties in question are 7 Pot Douglah, Brainstrain, Bhut Jolokia, Moruga Scorpion, Carolina Reaper, White Bhut Jolokia.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case. Sometimes, it'll get off to a slow start, especially if the temperatures aren't optimal, then once the temps get closer to what the peppers prefer for flowering/pollenation, then they'll blow up like you've described
 
Thank you.  I was reading that to bud/start growing there is an optimum temperature, and we have been in the 90 - 95 degree mark up until recently, and it is not as hot lately.  This may very well be the reason for my slow start.
 
OB, usually once temps start climbing into the 90s you will see a lot of flower drop. Last year the summer in Japan was brutal AND I had gotten started fairly late with my Jalapenos. Didn't see a single pod until mid-September. You should start seeing pods in a bit, whether they will ripen though is another story all together. Good luck mate!
 
how dare you talk bad about your peppers behind their back.
yeah your climate is kinda crappy for peppers. if you got a greenhouse i'm sure they'd love you.
 
Don't most chinense varieties take about 90 days or so to ripen?
 
Pods will also ripen off the plant once picked if you get them close enough to ripening naturally, sunlight speeds this up.
 
Good luck, ob
 
Most superhots are classified as "extremely late season" producers. I am in N.E. Ohio, so not as far North as you, but we also have short growing seasons - if I don't start plants in January/February and also overwinter, I probably wouldn't have any superhot pods. This is one reason why I grow all my chiles in pots. Hopefully you can figure out a way to bring more than one or two plants in or, as noted above, get/build some kind of greenhouse. 
 
geeme said:
Most superhots are classified as "extremely late season" producers. I am in N.E. Ohio, so not as far North as you, but we also have short growing seasons - if I don't start plants in January/February and also overwinter, I probably wouldn't have any superhot pods. This is one reason why I grow all my chiles in pots. Hopefully you can figure out a way to bring more than one or two plants in or, as noted above, get/build some kind of greenhouse. 
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I have one pod on my TS Moruga and 1 pod on my Bhut. I'm still waiting for pods from my 2 reapers, Butch T  and other moruga. They all have flowers but no pods yet. 
 
I have no congo trinidad pods yet, but 5 plants of that type. I guarantee all 5 will be coming indoors in the not-too-distant future. 
 
oboesushi said:
Don't most chinense varieties take about 90 days or so to ripen?
 
Pods will also ripen off the plant once picked if you get them close enough to ripening naturally, sunlight speeds this up.
 
Good luck, ob
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My one red scorp (originally a mystery) started podding probably about 2 or so weeks (memory might be off lol) before I left for the US back in July. I spent 3 weeks in the US and came back to all ripe pods. Granted it was only like 6 or so pods. So I don't think it takes 90 days.
 
Also I got started in January but my start was pretty rocky b/c I didn't know WTF I was doing with seed starting mix. I might as well have started in March lol.
 
so, to answer your questions, yes and yes and to add to your dilemma unless you are using a heated greenhouse you had better start liking container gardening. finding plants that produce in year one would help.
 
i have never had any red 7 pod produce in the first year. nor chocolate bhuts. nor any scorpion red or yellow - that should cover most of the supers.
 
here are some of the ones that have delivered in the first year for me: yellow 7 pot, dorset naga, orange habanero, caribbean red and they usually end up sitting in my living room or basement until the pods ripen....oh around november!
 
oh and you may wish to check the weather network, you have 1 week to decide how you are going to handle Sunday night/Monday morning.(i get hit this Friday night for 3 days but i have a small greenhouse).
 
come the first week of october my basement will be lined with about sixty plants and hopefully enough will die off by the end of december so i can start my new 2015 season(i like to start my plants christmas day).
 
good luck with your plants.
 
Great, thanks for the heads up.  It looks like my containers may spend the night in the garage, but I cannot unfortunately bring my raised garden indoors.  Them guys will have to toughen up a little.
 
       Yep,I think it is more punishing when you get the pods and them turning color seems to take forever. ;)
 
This is why you want to start your seedlings as early as you can, so they will be huge when they start producing and you can pick a decent number of pods before frost.
Hate, concern or worry doesn't solve anything. It won't help the plants nor you. Worst case you learn something and next year you can do it better.
 
Some pics of the plants might help.  I'm wondering if you had bud/bloom abortion or the plant just matured slowly, or a bit of both.
 
You can bring your raised garden indoors if you want it bad enough.  It requires a few pots, carefully digging up the plant with intact root ball, (ideally a couple of synchronized people and shovels if they are large) to lift them out and put them in the pots.  Some roots may be lost and the plant may respond by dropping a % of leaves it can't support.  
 
To anyone in a short season climate my best advice is grow more plants.  50 plants catch twice the sun that 25 plants do the first month, second, etc until they get crowded and shade each other.  If you have enough plants then the "letting go" at end of season isn't as hard to do because you have a pile of peppers and are tired of finding something to do with them.
 
Thank you all for your help and advice.  I will try to remember to get pictures of my plants tomorrow to show.  I also like the idea of more plants to help shade each other.  I am starting to believe that this may also be why production had increased as I have personally noticed that in the last month, my plants had grown a lot bushier and into each other.  As well, the pods I see starting are mainly near center at a lower level, away from most direct sun in a shadier and cooler area.
 
Ok, as promised, here are a couple of pictures of everything.  In case I forgot to add, the raised box is 20 feet long by 2 feet wide and has 28 peppers in it.  2 rows 14 plants wide.
 
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obchili said:
Thank you all for your help and advice.  I will try to remember to get pictures of my plants tomorrow to show.  I also like the idea of more plants to help shade each other.  I am starting to believe that this may also be why production had increased as I have personally noticed that in the last month, my plants had grown a lot bushier and into each other.  As well, the pods I see starting are mainly near center at a lower level, away from most direct sun in a shadier and cooler area.
Click to expand...
 
I meant the opposite of what you interpreted, that shading each other is a bad thing in that it slows growth and should be avoided if possible, given the same # of plants either way.  However many people are not # of plants limited but rather grow area limited so there a middle ground between trying to keep them distanced and trying to catch as much sun in the available area as possible for the first half of the season, without overcrowding so much that they put more of their energy into height to compete for light.
 
Right now the # of plants per area looks about right but if they had grown better it would be too many "in my opinion".  We all have differences in how we plan these things and some people instead seek to grow plants so close that you can't tell where one stops and the next starts.
 
One problem I see in that picture is that with the rows of fencing directly behind and to the right, they can't be getting nearly as many hours of direct sunlight a day that is optimal.  That far north you should try to keep them in the sun as long as possible.  If this is the area that must be used, I can only suggest to start them earlier in the year and accept that you will have limited yield growing in that spot.
 
What date did you start these plants, I mean buy them or the date they sprouted?  If it was only 3 months ago then they may have reached the expected size for your region - I don't know for sure since I don't live there.  If they are much more than 3 months old I suspect it was lack of sun holding them back.
 
Right now my patio is completely filled with potted plants while an area fenced off for a garden plot, full of rich composted soil (it's where I now put my raw material to compost) goes unused, I don't even try to grow anything there because it doesn't get enough direct sun.  Plants would only reach 1/5th the size and very little yield.
 
I cannot totally remember, but I would say that I had sowed these all around early to mid February this year.  Give or take a little, with the exception of the Caribbean reds, as they were started early January just to see if I could actually germinate something.  As for location, they start getting sun just before noon at the open edge by the hydrant, then continue throughout the day till later in the evening.  This plot is in the north-east corner of my yard facing directly south.  The 20' side is on the north side fence and the 2' section against the fence is on the east side.  If this makes sense or any difference.  Due to our overly long and cold winter, I did not have a chance to take them outside to harden off till early May.  Thank you.
 
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