Show Me Your Pepper Plants

Well, I took a radical approach yesterday when I looked at those sad little pepper plants.

First, I removed all the lids from the eBuckets. Then, I mixed one Tbsp. Bloodmeal and one Tbsp. Epsom Salts into the top 3" of soil in each eBucket. Finally, I watered each eBucket with 1.5 gallons per Bucket of a weak solution of MG Liquid Plant Food (24-8-16). I mixed 2 capsful into 10 gallons of water.

Either I've killed them, or cured them....

I peeped out the window at them before I left, and they actually seem to be crisping up. But, it could've been from death in the night and what I saw was the skeletons of the plants just petrified in place, though. It was kinda dark...

We'll see when I get home today...

dum dee dum dum.....what happened?

OMG, my peppers are like 2" already !
I never had so many fruits starting so early in the season.

This is a little bit blurry picture, but you can see the size of the baby peppers compare to my fingers.

Here is my ornamental pepper that froze to the ground, in my herb bed. I saw a dead looking stick one day and wondered what the heck it was. Then the leaves started developing. I've learned not to give up too fast on dead looking plants!

Here's a red--can't remember it's name.

And one called Valencia Orange. I also have a yellow b.p. in there. I am not too fond of green peppers but I love the colored ones to eat, especially grilled or roasted.

Same here. Can't stand green bells except to cook with or raw in tuna/chicken salads. Ripe reds I can eat raw like apples!! SUH-weet!

My pepper plants are starting to make fruits already.
This is Quadrato D'asti Bell Pepper. Abou 4" already (my hand are small)

This is another Sweet Bell pepper

This pepper is funny to me.
It is the first year I am growing it and the fruits is going up ... instead to hang down ...
It is Shepard's Ram Horns

This should be Gian Marconi (a 10" long Italian style sweet pepper)

Nice peppers. I have one that grows up too, it's one of the chiltepins. Very hot, small and dries nicely.

This year I'm trying to grow green bell peppers, purple bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, orange bell peppers, and red bell peppers. Maybe one day I'll have pictures. Do bell peppers come in a color that I've missed?

huummm ... I think you have all the colors I know.
Just remember to be patience ... The majority of the peppers will start green and after they will turn their color ... but it will take time.
You can cut the peppers and freeze them directly in plastic bags. They will not need to be blanched.
I make a lot of Gumbo and Ettoufee (I took a class at the Central Market once and it was amazing - you should check for the upcoming classes)

My wife is giving me a cooking class at Central Market for my birthday. I just have to decide which one I want to take and I am having trouble narrowing my choice to just one.

You are very lucky.
I really really enjoyed all the classes I took there.
My favorite is the "Gumbo and Etoufee" and a class thought by Donatella Trotti, an Italian chef owner of Trattoria Tata in FtWorth.
I also loved the Souflee class.

Harvest time!

Congrats
I am waiting for my peppers to turn color. I have lots of green one ... my freezer is already full of green ones .. so now I am waiting the other to turn color.
Here is one of my red peppers, I think Corno di Toro Rosso

Wow, nice pepper. Do you use any other method of preservation besides the freezer? Do you just toss them in a ziploc or do you roast them first and remove the skins?

I will probably dry some of mine in the smoker and I found a recipe that says to pack a glass jar with them, pour in tequila, wait two months and use the liquid as a marinade for chicken then add some honey and mash the pulp for a basting sauce. Hmmmmmm.....

I just cut the peppers and trow them on a freezer bag. They will stay great for at least one year.

I actually have a question too, because my only hot pepper plants has 2 large peppers almost ready. I want to dry them and hang them in my kitchen.
How do I do that?

I usually just lay the peppers on the counter and turn them from time to time until dry, but mine are small. Or, here in Phoenix in the summer, place them between two screens in the hot sun. But just this morning I was reading the herbs section of the book "The Bountiful Contatiner" and this is what they said about drying herbs:

Find a spot indoors that is warm and has good air circulation. Anywhere near the ceiling is a bit warmer than the rest of the room. Top of the fridge is a good spot.

If you are drying a small amount you can simply lay the branches on a paper towel or paper plate. You can also hang them upside down from something, such as a curtain rod or wooden dowel temporarily hung from the ceiling, or high up on the wall spanning a corner. Even a broomstick laid across the backs of two chairs will work.

Good luck, hth.

Thanks
It is hot here in Dallas too.
Too early heat .... this weather is suppose to be in August.
I may going to start a thread on how to dry peppers.
My peppers are 5-6" long.

MaryMcP: Mine are doing better than ever this year! (see pic) I am getting bells that make the ones at the supermkt look anemic, I am giving them regular liquid seaweed treatments (about once a week) and mulched with straw. The pic is ~ a month or so old, and the plants are "breaking branches" because the fruit is so heavy EVEN in cages!

The plants look great and I like your setup.

My first year growing jalapeños and green bell peppers...I've only ever grown tomatoes. They are doing well, I have them in containers since I have lots of huge oaks and the sun moves as the season progresses. My bells produced four pretty good sized ones that I picked in May and I have a second flush now....but heat taking a toll. I'll be able to pick my first jalapeños this week.

One of my jalapeno container plants taken first of June

close up of the peppers first of June

Hahaha! Funny story. A LONG time ago, when we were first gardening, we planted bells next to jalapenos. We got some jalapenos with no heat at all. So my hubby had a friend over and told him to taste the jalapenos, they taste just like bell peppers. The guy took a bite and...it was hot as Hades!! Tee hee, I still laugh at that one! Janet

My first crop of bell peppers, they were about four inches and something started to eat holes and they were scorching in the sun so had to pick them. They had a good flavor, a bit chewier than I'd like but still tasted good.

I read that the peppers can cross pollinate like that, I don't have my bell near my jalapeños for that reason. But they are close to my tomatoes...hmmm....hot tomatoes....might be good.

bariolilo - Our admin Terry posted this on another thread..........

One year a while back, a friend of ours asked me for leftover pepper seedlings for his garden. Mine had gotten a little mixed up between the cat and a plant sale, but I warned him that there were habenero's in the mess of stuff I gave him.

He planted them, his wife picked one thinking it was a cute little mini bell. Popped it in her mouth while she was weeding the garden. I don't think she's forgiven me yet.

Ouch!

Here is my pepper harvests today.
The larger red one is ATRIS (10" - sweet), the other two smaller ones are CHILE NUMEX JOE PARKER (6" - hot)

I had a VERY bad habenero experience! On vacation, we stopped at some chain Mexican restaurant to eat. I dipped into the salsa they always bring to the table. I thought I was going to DIE!! My mouth was on fire for a good 20 min. after that. They should always warn people if they have really hot salsa! Ouch is right!

I tried a little piece of those hot peppers :CHILE NUMEX JOE PARKER .... OMG my mouth got on fire.
I gave one to my DH and he ate the all thing and said he loved it !
So I cooked some sausage with those peppers and onions and he thought it was amazing ... but I couldn't eat that ... OMG too hot.
Well ... I guess we are a match made in haven !
I like chocolate he loves candies ... so we never fight over sweets !
Now I love tomatoes , he loves hot peppers. Perfect !!!