Peppers spotted.

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Sounds great! I am a huge pepper lover myself, and grow them and eat them continuously. I get peppers shortly after the first warming in spring when the bees can do their thing. I had 35 mature Cayennes hanging off of one twiggy plant 6 weeks ago.

Just before first frost I dig some of my best plants out, and put them in pots for the winter. Come spring time I will set the pots outside in direct sun, the plants will bloom, and the insects will come. I will get one early pepper crop then transplant to the garden after final frost, and trim heavily after the plants start growing fast. Pepper plants will grow into a 4 to 5 foot hedge when mixed with seedings.

Did I say I love peppers? I have maintained some plants for over 5 years. Each plant will make its own variety of pepper from a taste and color (related) standpoint. I keep the productive ones that suit my taste. Enjoy your harvest!
 
Jalepeno and Anaheims hanging....no cayenne or yellows spotted yet. Hot dog. Ah, the benefits of global warming. Peppers used to be near impossible here. Now just pick the hottest spot in the yard (yes in the rose garden)....
 
Yes I dry some.

Wow - Rod GREAT ideas.....! I'll say - I know you guys are warmer than us in the summer, but wholly early start batman!

Pots - yes I will do this.

Thanks!
 
The freshness of chile peppers makes a real difference in the chili, pinto beans, and other recipes I use them for.

And the local high end groceries charge a premium for them. The Mexican grocieries (several chains and independents) have decent, but not high quality.
 
Store peppers are no worse than any other tasteless, waxy, unhealthy, unripe, unfresh produce at the supermarket. A necessary evil in the winter.....sometimes there aren't any in the organic section.

Sure some will have some residual heat, but no flavor or vibrancy.
 
I ate my first pepper. It was a yellow banana - no heat at all - wasn't fully ripe.

Funny thing is the jalapeno I first spotted is still not ripe. However - all the plants are loaded and ripening with the recent death heat. I'll post some picts if I want.
 
Wait till the banana's yellow and fully ripe. Then it'll be hot. We've grown them for years and its as hot as we want in a pepper. We always grow peppers in our Montana garden and they do quite well. My wife starts the plants from seed in late winter. A few years ago we had 7 types of peppers in the garden, of various degrees of hotness, from green bell peppers to jalapenos. They all did well.
 
Thanks jmac - first time I've grown bananas. Store bought yellows have a zip sometimes. I usually grow pepperoncini but decided to do banana.

I just had my first "Jalapa" jalapeno with my dang quesadilla at lunch. REALLY GOOD FLAVOR.
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Hot but fruity good.
 
Pablo if it's on a supermarket shelf it isn't worth buying. You know if people boycotted their local supermarket they would be forced to offer 'real food'. Ain't gonna happen though is it? Good one with the chillies. My wife grows some but I don't know what they are.
 
Picking peppers in their prime is very difficult without some experience with the particular pepper variety. A common indication of ripeness that I see in all pepper varieties is an aged look where the stem canopy meets the pepper body.

The easiest to pick is the Jalapeno since age stripes are readily evident. Just pull on the Jalapeno and it will usually come off when it is ripe.

The Banana Pepper is one of the more difficult to pick since it will reach full size long before it is ripe. Adjust the water to make these Banana Peppers change color for a better taste in the hottest months.

My three rules for picking peppers:
1. Just because it has changed color doesn't mean it is ripe.
2. Just because it hasn't changed color doesn't mean it is not ripe.
3. Size is irrelevant.
 
I love it when you guys talk about peppers!
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Dr. Buckler - you know your peppers too. Funny I was just thinking the same in the pepper patch yesterday.

Anyone else done the epsom salt thing for extra Mg in the soil? Also, a tiny amount of lime for Ca?
 
quote:

Originally posted by Pablo:
Anyone else done the epsom salt thing for extra Mg in the soil? Also, a tiny amount of lime for Ca?

I've added lime in Virginia, but never in Texas (weathered limestone soil). Have you had any results with the epsom salts?

I use an organic fertilizer mixture similar to that prescribed in the "Square Foot Gardening" book my Mel Bartholomew. The peppers respond to it very quickly, and it adds to the soil.

It is by volume:
4 parts dried composted manure
3 parts wood stove ashes
2 parts bone meal
1 part blood meal

Pepper leaves turn the healthiest of green colors, and the plant will put on a lot of peppers since the fertilizer is not high nitrogen. Water heavily only after a plant has turned into a proven heavy pepper producer. The weather does the rest. Expect a "hedge." Watch for tobacco horn worms if you got 'em.
 
"I ate my first pepper. It was a yellow banana - no heat at all - wasn't fully ripe."

Do banana peppers get hot? I like hot peppers, but, never considered bananas one with very much heat. I guess its relative.
 
Our soils tend to be low in Mg and Ca. Mg stimulates flowering, and epsom salts seem to work on tomatoes and peppers. I didn't use it this year, as it's the first year in this soil. At my old place it worked great.

Your mix sounds pretty much like what I do - for woods ashes I use my smoker box ashes. I like to think it makes smoky peppers
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(not really)

Well I had a ripe yellow pepper today. Just the tiny amount of heat. I cooked it on my panini maker - nice grill marks - very tasty on a patty melt panini sandwich.
 
As far as peppers being noticably worse in the supermarket-doubt it. They are about the same as fresh grown. Maybe if you have some great original seed, because they tend not to make Jalepenos as hot as they used to, so they can sell more to your averedge mild mannered consumer. we get some rediculouse sales on fresh Anaheim peppers about this time of year( how about 50 cents a pound!)I just made a huge batch of Chile last night- I use a convection Microwave and Blender to expediate the process. I used 1 pound tomatillos, 1 pound Onion, 1 pound Chile Poblano, 3/4 pound cHILE jALAPENO- I roasted all ingredients in the Micro-convection (several batches), and then blended the ingredients in several batches into one large container.Added 6 tablespoons of Lemon Juice (bottled) as a preservative. Tonight I had a bowl of this salsa with fresh fried Tortilla chips --please people, do not buy those packaged horrid chips they sell for 500% mark-up-- buy some corn tortillas and fry your own! They are like fresh resteraunt chips, and pretty easy to do. One thing we have here in this brutal SO. Texas heat is a chile called " petin", or "pequin". They are tiny but have the very best flavor. They grow wild in places, but the stores sell them for about 6.00 a pound. They are extremely falvorfull (the pequins), and best eaten raw or perhaps pickled.They very very hot too. Many other peppers I use in bottled sauces from Mexico are Arbol, Ancho, Habenero( mainly South American I think, and hot!). Fresh peppers are most often eitherSerrano( a flavorful but more expensive jalapeno variant), and of course the mild store jalapenos.You Know, many people used to grow there own stuff here till the water rates went sky high. Now its cheaper to buy them at the market- probably even tomatoes. of course , we are in a produce rich area, and we get great deals on some delicious tomatos.
 
**** - maybe it's my taste buds but I think homegrown peppers are way better than old store peppers - now for you if you are getting day fresh organic grown farmer's market peppers they should be the same.

I grew Serrano last year. I don't think it's purely a Jalapeno variant. Different flavor. Check out the link above.
 
I add Epsom salts for the Mg and the Sulfur. Sulfur is almost a macronutrient next to N-P-K and sometimes lacking here in N Carolina.

Another add can be gypsum, Calcium sulfate (or sheetrock mud if you have some leftovers). This will help to prevent blossom end rot usually caused by calcium deificiency.
 
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