harvesting Tabasco harvest questions

mudsta · Mar 10, 2013

Hello hello all,

I have a couple of questions regarding my new tabasco plant (1st season)...but cant seem to find my answer doing the usual forum searches.

It's my second season of growing our firey little friends and I currently have the following with pods:

Serrano
Thai
Bhut Jolokia
Trindad Scorpion (Butch T)
Fataili
Orange Hab
Red Savina
Long red cayenne
And Tabasco...

Now when I normally pick all my other varieties I pull the pod upwards which then normally snaps the pod stem off at the main branch junction. Thus leaving the pod and pod stem attached.
However I notice that tabasco pods when ripe are very soft at the pod stem/pod junction. And rather tough at the pod stem/main stem junction.... See photo

This is todays tabasco harvest

I have two questions.... Should I pick tabascos with or without the stem?
(They go into the freezer for sauce so bacteria/rot etc is not a problem)

2nd question...If I pick only the pod with out the stem, is there any chance that pod could regrow??
Plant flowing basics tells me no, but I though I would throw it to you growing gurus.

Oh here are a couple pics of the plant in question.

Its the first season and it is 1.4m tall and still growing!!!! One hell of a freak plant! :party:

Any reply would be fantastic,
Cheers and beers,

Mudsta :dance:

harry · Mar 10, 2013

Pods keep better in storage if you leave the calyx attached to the base. I use scissors where I find a plant with pods that are difficult to separate from the plant intact. The ease of detachment from the calyx is a trait of the variety.

The plant will not grow another pod from the calyx that is left attached to the plant.

ajijoe · Mar 10, 2013

harry said:
Pods keep better in storage if you leave the calyx attached to the base. I use scissors where I find a plant with pods that are difficult to separate from the plant intact. The ease of detachment from the calyx is a trait of the variety.

The plant will not grow another pod from the calyx that is left attached to the plant.

yes its better to clip off the calyx as they "auto-pick" this way it helps the plant to put its energy into producing more pods and not discarding the dieing calyx after the pods have been detached, i noticed this with my PIRI PIRI which are very similar to Tabasco, the more you pick with these species the more they produce
because of the way the pods detach its best not to wait until there over-ripe to the point where they fall off as Harry was saying

hope this helps
thanks your friend Joe

PepperWhisperer · Mar 10, 2013

I always just let the pods pull off in my hand however they like to do. If I am going to use a bunch for hot sauce I actually find it quite convenient the way peppers like tabasco and chiltepin come off the plant, saves me a step!

That is one fat looking plant. I have a 3rd year tabasco in my yard that is just starting to wake up from its winter nap. Last year it was almost 6' tall and produced at least 200 pods. I don't know what your climate is like there, but tabasco is a champion variety for very hot areas. 2 years ago we had a real scorcher of a summer with temps 95 to 105 for 2 straight months. All my other peppers were in shut-down mode, not even bothering to produce flowers, but the tabasco kept on trucking, setting fruit daily. I like to pick them when they are a medium orange color, they have the best fruity taste and make a great vinegar sauce.

Anyhoo, nice plants

Vegas_Chili · Mar 10, 2013

I don't really have nothing to add.... All I wanted to say is you have one beast plant there sir. Good day.

,Vegas

Dulac · Mar 10, 2013

Good luck trying to pick them with the calyx on. They will just fall off while putting them in a bag or whatever you use to harvest. I say pick them without it. It's faster and the calyx will fall off anyway.

ajijoe · Mar 10, 2013

Dulac said:
Good luck trying to pick them with the calyx on. They will just fall off while putting them in a bag or whatever you use to harvest. I say pick them without it. It's faster and the calyx will fall off anyway.

yeah i came to the same conclusion, it seems as soon as there ripe there ready to fall off

mudsta · Mar 18, 2013

harry said:
Pods keep better in storage if you leave the calyx attached to the base. I use scissors where I find a plant with pods that are difficult to separate from the plant intact. The ease of detachment from the calyx is a trait of the variety.

The plant will not grow another pod from the calyx that is left attached to the plant.

When you mentioned better in storage do you mean in the fridge to use fresh or when drying? Thanks for that harry, good to know it's a trait of Tabasco's.
And cheers for answering my hypothetical question...would be sweet if they could regrow from the calyx!

ajijoe said:
yes its better to clip off the calyx as they "auto-pick" this way it helps the plant to put its energy into producing more pods and not discarding the dieing calyx after the pods have been detached, i noticed this with my PIRI PIRI which are very similar to Tabasco, the more you pick with these species the more they produce
because of the way the pods detach its best not to wait until there over-ripe to the point where they fall off as Harry was saying

hope this helps
thanks your friend Joe

Joe,

I am now picking them by removing the calyx from the plant, thanks for your feedback. Makes sense to have another free branch junction earlier so more pods can grow.

PepperWhisperer said:
I always just let the pods pull off in my hand however they like to do. If I am going to use a bunch for hot sauce I actually find it quite convenient the way peppers like tabasco and chiltepin come off the plant, saves me a step!

That is one fat looking plant. I have a 3rd year tabasco in my yard that is just starting to wake up from its winter nap. Last year it was almost 6' tall and produced at least 200 pods. I don't know what your climate is like there, but tabasco is a champion variety for very hot areas. 2 years ago we had a real scorcher of a summer with temps 95 to 105 for 2 straight months. All my other peppers were in shut-down mode, not even bothering to produce flowers, but the tabasco kept on trucking, setting fruit daily. I like to pick them when they are a medium orange color, they have the best fruity taste and make a great vinegar sauce.

Anyhoo, nice plants

Pepper Whisperer,

Seeing I'm making sauce I will now remove the calyx before going into the freezer. I remember my last batch of sauce using thai and serrano's and hated that I didnt do them before freezing.

Great to hear that tabascos love hot climates! :party:

I live in rural South Australia and its a very hot/dry climate, we have just finished 2 straight weeks of 35'c+ temps. The upside of being here is no frosts.
I do however find my pods on different plants get sun burnt very easily. To counteract this I have half my plants in shade in the afternoon to see how they compare. So far the ones in half shade are much better vegetation and pod yield wise (my tabasco) is also in the shaded group.

Vegas_Chili said:
I don't really have nothing to add.... All I wanted to say is you have one beast plant there sir. Good day.

,Vegas

Thanks Vegas!

PepperWhisperer · Mar 19, 2013

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]To counteract this I have half my plants in shade in the afternoon to see how they compare.[/background]

In low humidity conditions afternoon or mid-day shading works great. I don't have to worry about that as much here since it is like a wet sauna in the summer, but when I lived in the desert we tried to arrange our beds so that fences/trees/whatever would provide late afternoon shading. If your the leaves droop or fold up in the afternoon even when the soil still has moisture, you need shade.