serrano pepper picking question

i think these go from green to red to show ripeness, do you wait till they are really red before picking? thanks

What are you using them for? They can be picked when green and I think, but I might be wrong,that they get hotter when they turn red. Red is when they are fully ripe. Most peppers are red when ripe, when I save seeds I wait for them to turn red.

i am growing them for a friend, will have to ask her what she is going to use them for. i think to add a slight flavor kick to her food.
so green bell peppers also turn red? i didnt know that. sorry my first year and i have a lot to learn but i loved how they grew for me this year. had tons of calif wonder and now have tons of serranos but they are still green. i also picked the cawonder when green cause that was the color on the seed packet.

Serranos change heat and taste as they mature.
Not all bells turn red when ripe.
They used to , but now there are varieties that only turn red,orange or yellow when fully ripe.
It used to be growers grew green bells and picked them at different stages of ripeness.
They found there was a market for the other colors so seed companies developed peppers to grow peppers that matured to different colors-Red,Yellow,Orange,Chocolate,Purple etc.
Though some do end up red still if left to ripen,a lot of the peppers named by color was developed to ripen that color.
It saves the grower from having to pick their fields at different times-possibly several times a season for each color.
By making a color stable in a pepper a grower can harvest once and start the next crop earlier.
Not having to pick green ones then yellow ones or other color stages as the plants peppers ripen.

In my experience, peppers turn some shade of brown, red, orange or yellow when they ripen. Serranos turn a brilliant red, and they don't get hotter as they ripen - at least not the ones I've grown, and I've been growing them for many years - but they do develop a little background sweetness which actually seems to temper the heat a little.

Having said that, I should also be careful to qualify my statement by adding that if you allow the plants to be stressed as the peppers are ripening, the red ones may very well be hotter than the green, but it is the stress that increases the heat, not the color change. Very high growing temperatures or allowing plants to go slightly dry has raised the (subjective) heat level considerably in peppers I've grown.

I get a chuckle over the claims back and forth about the "hottest variety" of pepper. The genes (genotype) may provide the potential, but the expression (phenotype) is very dependent on the growing conditions.

-Richard

personally i dont like hot peppers, but grow them for my friends. maybe it is my age, but i would rather taste what i am eating then set my mouth on fire. lol dont mean to upset any hot pepper fans, i just dont get the attraction myself. i do enjoy getting them to grow, and have had really good luck with them this year, making me want to plant more different kinds of peppers next year. it seems that the more i plant the more i want to have rows and rows of different kinds of peppers and other veggies just for the sheer joy of growing and eating what i grow. learning about them is part of the fun. i would be lost without the members of this site.
kc

Rjogden-you are right about the growing conditions influencing the heat but the phenotype on some peppers is WAY too high for my taste. Lol

I like just about any pepper I've ever grown.
To me it's a matter of finding one with the taste/heat ballance you want and knowing when to pick it.
With so many strains,varieties and hybrids out there it's hard to tell what variety you'll like without first growing it.
To me,a lot of the more common varieties are now engeneered to be a certain way.Especially Poblano,Jalapeno,Habanero and Serrano varieties.
Some are bred to be hottests when green and build up sugars as they mature to the final color.
Others get hotter as they ripen.
It's getting harder to sift through some of the hybrids to find something to your tastes.
What sucks also is once you find the right one you like best,it ends up being a hybrid and the company stops selling it because the new hybrid sells better.
I do like the super hots.7 Pots are my favorite.
I don't like all the heat so I learned to temper them in mixes of other peppers and to let what I made with them blend before eating it so it isn't both flavorfull with the spiceyness I like.
I'd NEVER eat a whole super hot for any reason.(well maybe if the price was right...LOL).
I do like heat but not eating Lava.
Some superhots have a really great flavor that other peppers don't have.
You just have to use only enough to flavor the dish and then let the pepper blend so you get an even distribution of heat and flavor in whatever you used it in.
If it doesn't get let to blend you get a bite of lava and the rest is bland...

Different peppers have different heat and flavors.
For instance Frutescens in general are very short bursts of heat then a great flavor.
Chinense tend to be the opposite,Heat then taste.
Annuums are all over the place from sweet to hot and have a range of flavors.
Baccatums tend not to be as hot in general but have a very distinktive taste no other pepper has.Ranging from a Lemoney to soapy taste.
I like them dried for powders and rubs rather than fresh,except for some of them.

I don't like the current race for the hottest pepper in the world thats going on these days.
I DO like hot but the flavor has to be there too.

Super Hot doesn't impress me.
Hot and tastey does.

I don't have any interest in all the Dumb idiot Vs, Butch T (trinidad Scorpion Strain) videos on a lot of pepper sites.

Only thing those videos prove is a lack of brain matter in my opinion.

I've been growing Butch T since Butch sent me seeds in 2006.
But I use them in proportions that suit my tastes.
I do like them a lot.But not only for their heat.
1 pod goes a LONG way. :)