bell peppers

I have 2 bell pepper plants. 1 is normal with peppers hanging, the other has peppers growing straight up from stalk but the peppers are upside down. Why?

Its a different kind of pepper. Some grow down and some grow up. Are they bell pepper shaped? You can figure it out with shape and color when ripe (and the the growing upside down part). Pimentos grow upside down and look a lot like bell peppers.

Daisy

They are seeds that I started from a bell pepper and are from the same pepper. Ive added a photo.

Unless the seeds were from an Heirloom pepper, its hard to say what kind of pepper you are growing. Seeds can not be counted on to look like their parent anyway (that's where genetic diversity comes from). If the seed donor was a hybrid, its hard to say what you are growing.

It also looks like the fruits are being forced upside down by the branches.

Daisy

I think the photo makes it look like the branches are forcing them upside down but they are actually growing exactly upside down all over the plant! I never thought about the fact that the original pepper could be a hybrid! So you are right - I don't know exactly what I'm growing. It was just an experiment to see if I could actually grow peppers in our zone 3. Thanks for your info!

The best part about peppers is that they are perennials. If you pot them up and bring them in for the winter, they will be good to go next spring. I have a Thai chili and a pot of ghost peppers that I haul in every winter.

So do you cut them back or do they die back? I find this very interesting as I am always experimenting with things!

I usually start them in pots that I can move back and forth but I have dug a couple up and potted them in the fall. They stay green and sometimes produce peppers indoors, depending upon light and warmth. They don't go dormant and don't need a pollinator.

PS: If you keep them in a spot cold enough (near freezing) they will die back to the ground but come up again in the spring.

This message was edited Sep 4, 2015 6:10 PM

I grow almost all my peppers in containers bc, like Daisy said, they are perennials and I bring them inside when it gets cold.

I've never had any of my peppers that were planted in ground come back the next year except Chiltepins they are natives here. Peppers just can't take the cold.

It probably depends upon the pepper (coming back after freezing down). The peppers I had were some kind of Italian pepper grown only for pickling. The plants, when you could find them, were $5 each in a 2 inch pot. I kept them alive outside in the ground for 7 or 8 years before I moved and abandoned them to the new owners. That was in Zone 8.

Do you remember what they were called? Id love to give them a try. I've grown over 75 different varieties, that I've started myself and the only ones that came back were the Chiltepins. Peppers, in general, are considered tender perennials but many times they are discribed as annuals, which leaves people to believe that they can't be overwintered.

When I lived in SoCal they grew like any other perennial. I post mostly on the veggie forums and the majority of the people start new pepper and tomato plants every year.

They are called Marchant Peppers. I have never seen seeds for sale and the plants (when you can find them) are really expensive.

I did find them on the web they go by other names too. Thanks, I didn't mean to hijack the thread. They are Italian Wax peppers.

And that's the rub. People claim Marchant's are Italian Wax peppers but they aren't. If they aren't calling them Marchants, they are not the right pepper.

The only place I ever found that was selling plants is Morris Nursery in Riverbank, CA.

Daisy