We planted two Bonnie pepper plants this year. One has a fairly large pepper on it and the otherr has none. How will we know when it is ready to be harvested.
www.bonnieplants.com
We got one three inch pepper off of one plant. Nothing from the other one.
It must be because of low phoserous I guess. I am going to try to make the area into a raised garden area and start it with all new soil next year.
tripplenickle
This message was edited Jul 26, 2010 9:53 AM
Peppers are pretty much usable at any stage; if you want a nice big thick-walled pepper, wait for it to feel "heavy". If you want a "ripe" pepper, leave it until it changes color, likely to red, or maybe yellow or orange or some other color. Do you know what variety it is? (I think Bonnies is the plant grower, isn't it?)
Peppers are pretty much usable at any stage; if you want a nice big thick-walled pepper, wait for it to feel "heavy". If you want a "ripe" pepper, leave it until it changes color, likely to red, or maybe yellow or orange or some other color. Do you know what variety it is? (I think Bonnies is the plant grower, isn't it?)
My advice would be, if you want to make something that needs a green pepper, go ahead and use them as you need them. For years I've waited and waited until things got "full size", thinking I would get the most production from my garden that way. Now I start harvesting "baby" everything and find it much more enjoyable and a better use of the garden. (after all, you can buy "regular" carrots at the store, but baby carrots - not where I live, at least)
15 Cents,
Keep your eyes out if you leave it on to ripen. No heartbreaker worse than it ripening to a beautiful red only to be blemished by a worm hole on the blind side! So, check it periodically for buggies.
Linda
Good advice Linda -- although I should add, there's probably *something* worse than finding a bug in a pepper, LOL
Sorry, couldn't resist...
Sandy
Yep. That would be finding HALF a bug in a pepper! ^^_^^
Supposedly bell peppers are usually commercially grown in warehouses in Mexico. Probably much nicer temperature range than the horrible heat here in Houston. Mine here at home only grow to 3 inch size at the most. I don't want to lose any to bugs, either, I guess.
I actually grew my first FULL sized sweet bell pepper this season. It was big as my hand.
Yep. That would be finding HALF a bug in a pepper! ^^_^^
Pretty good, Gymgirl!
I have only had so so success with sweet bell peppers , this year my first try at gardening. For the size of the plant, they don't give too many peppers.
I have a beautiful Jalapeno plant and 4 very nice Anaheim and serrano plants that give plenty of hot peppers.
Am starting fall seeds now. Will look for superhybrid sweet bell pepper seeds. Got 4 inch pepper Telica? (4 inch jalapeno seeds) from Harris seeds just this week.
Any recommendations?
I'm getting peppers (hooray!) and they are about the size of billiard balls right now. I'd pick them except they are supposed to be orange ones and I'd like to see the color change. Right now they are typical green.
A question -- one pepper has a light tan patch on it. Is it some sort of sun scald or scarred over injury or something? Can the rest of the pepper still be eaten? There is nothing similar on any of the other peppers so I don't think it is any sort of disease.
The only other issue with my peppers is drooping leaves, even in the morning. They have plenty of water (perhaps a little too much, thanks to two days of showers) and plenty of sun. The leaves are a dark green with no spots or streaks or signs of other damage. Maybe it's just too darned hot even in the morning here in San Antonio? Should I try shading them at all? I posted about this on another forum but since the topic is peppers here, I'll ask here as well for comments. Thanks.
We planted two Bonnie pepper plants this year. One has a fairly large pepper on it and the otherr has none. How will we know when it is ready to be harvested.
www.bonnieplants.com
We got one three inch pepper off of one plant. Nothing from the other one.
It must be because of low phoserous I guess. I am going to try to make the area into a raised garden area and start it with all new soil next year.
tripplenickle
This message was edited Jul 26, 2010 9:53 AM
Good to hear!
:-)
I planted in compost, used no fertilizer and I've been getting peppers for weeks (middle Tennessee). I either use them immediately or let them turn color then slow roast them in the oven and vacuum seal for the winter. Perfect for Italian recipes or when you need smoky flavors.
Lise - I haven't been ont he veggie forums in a while - lamenting the summer heat and yearning for fall - lol...
Your "spot" on your pepper is likely sunscald if they are not shaded. The pepper is perfectly edible - just cut out the bad part;o) If your summers are anything like mine, minimum of afternoon shade will help your plants tremendously. We have a shade structure that goes up in May and stays until fall. Even with that, my peppers will sometimes wilt during the day in the heat. As soon as the sun goes down they look normal again!
Kelly
I have a mystery pepper plant - bought this earlier in the summer and lost the tag that went with it. I've been waiting (impatiently!) for the peppers to grow bigger as they were awfully small, and today noticed that one has turned brown!
At first, I thought it had gone bad, like almost all of my zucchinis have, but after taking a closer look, this appears to be the natural colour. Now I'm wondering what the heck I have. I *think* it's either a sweet or mild pepper, but I could have had a moment of craziness and bought a hot pepper. I'd like to know what it is before I try to eat it or use it in a recipe.
There is a second pepper on the plant, it's still green and looks like a mini bell pepper. Photo attached...
And a photo of the still-green one:
Ah, silly me. After posting I thought of checking the website of the place where I got the plant...
I appear to have a Mini Chocolate Bell Pepper (sweet pepper). Mmmm... I think it's going in a salad tomorrow!
Ha ha! I was going to say it looks like a mini Sweet Chocolate pepper!
Well at least you guys are getting some peppers. I have 3 bells and 4 jalapenos. The pepper plants are probably seven feet tall and so far I've gotten one bell and 3 jalapenos. To rich? Egg plants in the same bed and only go 1. Anahiem in another bed made a ton. I'm leaving them in hope that cooler weather will bring on production.
Jim, I think hot weather (which I imagine you've been having your share of) can stop them from setting fruit. As conditions become more favorable you'll probably start seeing flowers and then peppers.
Jim, I definitely get the best production from my peppers and eggplant in the fall, although spring crop is decent if I get them in the ground early enough. Summer it's a few here and there depending on weather;o) There's still hope for your's...
Thanks for the encourgement. I pruned the anahiem back but left the others since they were so pretty. Waiting for cooler temps. This has been the hottest summer on record for us.
My bell peppers got sun scald big time. My purple peppers came out striped. My orange ones wilt before turning color. And my red ones are just...blotchy. Good thing the plants are looking strong so there's hope of more peppers in the future.
Yep - the heat will do that! Best production for me is in the fall...
My pepper plants are only up to up 18 inches - tallest. Have a couple sweets, one Nu Mex and couple each Anaheim and Ancho. More New Mexico chiles than others, but that not saying much. Heat was A big factor this week but rest of summer wasmilder than usual. Guess I will try the haircut/trim thing see what happens. Can't be worse.
