• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

Ripe pods on plant

depends, sometimes they'll actually dry on the plant! (depending on the variety)... Most will just fall off / rot though so i'd give it between a week or two before you're risking damage to your pods.
 
I'm a new grower, but with my experience with other people's crops, take the peppers off right as they start to turn colors from that unripe green. If you pick a ripe pepper off your plant in the hopes of leaving it out or preserving it, chance are the pod will get moldy on the inside.
 
 
Moldy pods have to be one of the worst smells ever.  :sick:  :sick:  :sick:
 
 
Let the pod ripen over time in your kitchen.
 
obeychase said:
I'm a new grower, but with my experience with other people's crops, take the peppers off right as they start to turn colors from that unripe green. If you pick a ripe pepper off your plant in the hopes of leaving it out or preserving it, chance are the pod will get moldy on the inside.
 
 
Moldy pods have to be one of the worst smells ever.  :sick:  :sick:  :sick:
 
 
Let the pod ripen over time in your kitchen.
Click to expand...
Really ? So I should pick these ? Won't they taste better if I leave them on until they turn all orange ?
 

Attachments

  • ripe.jpg
    ripe.jpg
    96.9 KB · Views: 65
Perfect time to pick those.

SavinaRed said:
Really ? So I should pick these ? Won't they taste better if I leave them on until they turn all orange ?
Click to expand...
 
Pick em. They will ripen up when you leave them out. You wouldn't want to leave them all on there until they ripen because they'll get moldy after you pick them off. I'm betting you don't want a fresh picked habanero at this very second.
 
 
 
The longer that habanero stays orange on the stem, the less shelf time you get. That's why you can pick them now, and have perfectly ripened habs in the next few days.
 
SavinaRed said:
there will be no flavor difference if they vine ripen or ripen off the plant ?
Click to expand...
 
If you were to eat a pod now, yes there would be a flavor difference. But, picking them now will increase your overall yield this year (as another habanero will grow back quicker), and picking them at this half-ripe stage is critical to avoiding a spoiled crop.
 
 
When I went to my buddies house a few days back, he gave me one of his fresh picked orange habs. The flavor was great until I really bit it. Immediate scent of sweat/mold, and the pod was black on the inside. I later ate one of his pods that look like yours now, flavor was great and no mold. They later came to ripen in a bowl in his kitchen as well.
 
 
You can leave them on there a bit longer if you're really that concerned, but I'd say pick em now and put em in a dish.
When you do harvest, make sure you don't pull the fruit off the plant. I know it seems really dumb, but snip the pepper off the halfway mark where the stem of the pepper meets the stem of the plant. You drastically reduce the amount of stress you put on the plant as well as avoiding damage.
 
 
 
EDIT: you can leave a pod on there to fully mature until orange. If you do though, I'd say the day it fully ripens, use it ASAP.
 
obeychase said:
 
If you were to eat a pod now, yes there would be a flavor difference. But, picking them now will increase your overall yield this year (as another habanero will grow back quicker), and picking them at this half-ripe stage is critical to avoiding a spoiled crop.
 
 
When I went to my buddies house a few days back, he gave me one of his fresh picked orange habs. The flavor was great until I really bit it. Immediate scent of sweat/mold, and the pod was black on the inside. I later ate one of his pods that look like yours now, flavor was great and no mold. They later came to ripen in a bowl in his kitchen as well.
 
 
You can leave them on there a bit longer if you're really that concerned, but I'd say pick em now and put em in a dish.
When you do harvest, make sure you don't pull the fruit off the plant. I know it seems really dumb, but snip the pepper off the halfway mark where the stem of the pepper meets the stem of the plant. You drastically reduce the amount of stress you put on the plant as well as avoiding damage.
Click to expand...
ok great ill pick them tonight when I get home and place them in a bowl. I just might make some salsa with them tomorrow.
 
SavinaRed said:
ok great ill pick them tonight when I get home and place them in a bowl. I just might make some salsa with them tomorrow.
Click to expand...
 
Nice! You can make that salsa, but I recommend using the most ripened ones if you do.
 
Only one problem there, the longer they stay on the vine the better the flavor is, the more natural sugars they develope. While yes they can rot if you leave them on too long, if you are able to check them everyday let them finish then pick them!
 
Leave them on the plant as long as your patience allows.  At the first sign of changing color it will be well over a month before they go bad, except in the last days of the season if it's cool and damp.
 
The longer they stay on the plant the longer they stay hydrated.  This makes for the best flavor if eating or cooking them soon.  However if you want to dehydrate them whole and/or make powder, you may as well go ahead and do that instead, but do wait for the whole color change before doing anything aggressive like subjecting them to the heat of an oven or food dehydrator.
 
If you pick a ripe pepper off your plant in the hopes of leaving it out or preserving it, chance are the pod will get moldy on the inside.
Click to expand...
 
Better throw away these moldy things, then.
 
t7igyp.jpg

Photo: US National Park Service
 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top