Pepper Harvest

With fall frosts imminent, I thought I might report on how my peppers did this year. To make better use of my limited space, I planted most of my peppers in 1 to 3 gallon pots. The few I put directly in the ground seemed to bear more fruits per plant than the 1 gallon containers, but the ones in 3 gallon containers did well.

I grew two bell peppersl. Big Bertha had the largest yield as well as the largest fruit, allthough it took quite a while to turn red so I picked most of them green. Colossal did not live up to its name in either size or yield but I didn't plant it in the ground.

I grew many sweet peppers, but the sweetest (good raw in salads) were Gypsy, Carmen and Ljubov Dlan, roughly in that order. A Red Marconi plant (in the ground) out-produced all the others (in pots). Sweet Banana did not perform as well in pots as it did in the ground, and Buran also had smaller than expected fruit in my pots. Golden Treasure and Kurtovska Kapija succumbed to some sort of disease after producing only a few fruits. (The picture is Gypsy)

My wife doesn't like too much heat so I grew only a few mildly hot peppers. Early Jalepeno, Chimayo and Alma Paprika produced well in the ground but only had about two fruits in 1 gallon pots. I'll try the 3-gallon size next year. Alma Paprika ripened mid season, but the others were rather late.

I started Anaheim and Big Jim seeds, but for some reason, they failed to germinate although purchased only 2 years ago.

Needless to say, our freezer is well-stocked with peppers this year.

we had a good supply of Jimmy Nardello peppers this year, and bell peppers, all of mine were in ground though.

Hi DonShirer, you sent me some Bg Bertha seeds and I planted it in a 2 gallon pot and I already got a nice one and the plant is still producing peppers . I planted this pepper thinking that they were a pepper called Bird pepper but it look so much like a jalapeño but it is not very hot.Do you know what type of pepper it is.

Hi Cytf--glad your Big Bertha's are coming along.

Your picture looks something like one of the Serrano pepper varieties, maybe Serrano del Sol??
But if it is not very hot that's probably not it.

If it is about 3 inches long, it looks something like Burpees "Born to me Mild" variety, but there are quite a few other mildly hot peppers that are similar so that is just a guess.

Many times "Bird" pepper refers to a Wild type. Do you know where you got the seeds?

Hi 1lisac, a friend of mine gave me some seeds, will you like to have some.?If you do send me a DMail .Thank you Don I will look up in the Burpee Catolog.

Don you were correct , I saw it on Burpee it is "Born to be Mild ".Thank you pepper expert lol. It's nice to have garden buddies who are so helpful.

Here is one of my bell pepper late crop and I still have about five more on three plants .

I had an Ok harvest of peppers outside. My peppers that are growing inside, jalapeño, bell pepper and scorpion pepper are doing great. The inside peppers are growing hydroponically.

Hope it is okay to ask a question. Hey Weeding, what type of grow lights are you using for the peppers growing inside and do they get any sunlight at all?

Gazoodles:
     Questions are great. Answers are sometimes harder to come by. Be interesting to hear what lights weeding uses for hydroponic peppers and how they are supported. Mine are in ordinary starting mix and are (among other seedlings) under a pair of four-foot 2-bulb T12 or T8 fluorescents.

Hi Don, Thank you.
Have not been very successful growing peppers here in north Texas. When planted out in the garden the temperatures are just too hot by the time the plant is big enough to make many peppers. Maybe inside under grow lights it the way to do it.

What type of peppers are you trying to grow? That is one veggie that I can count on. Lol You may want to check out the Veggie forum and the Texas Forum, there is a lot of great advice there also. I grow most of my peppers in containers but they are outside.

Sorry this did not show under my info as new post. I used a hydrofarm jumpstart 4 foot grow system. The ballast has died and I am now using a metallux with T8 grow bulb.

Thanks weeding. 1lisac I would like to grow any kind of pepper. This year I have Pompeii, some kind of banana pepper, and Anahiem, and some hot peppers that somebody in Yuma, AZ gave me to try. I have had such horrible luck (lack of success I should say) growing them in the garden because the wind and heat literally kill them (plus we have had a severe shortage of rain in recent years so can't keep them watered enough even if I water them every day.)
Its been very frustrating.

The only pepper I don't recommend are bells but I've been able to grow everything else. When do you plant out? Most peppers are meant to grow in hot conditions. You might try growing them in containers in a protected area.

Yeah, this year I am going to plant in containers and either grow inside or in a protected area like you mention. May I ask, what kind of a protected area do you use? Do you have a privacy fence or big trees to block the wind and some of the sun?
And then I will quit asking questions and let you guys go back to the original conversation. Thanks

Gazoodies ask as many questions as you want. This is what this forum is about, sharing.

Weeding you beat me too it. Lol Gazoodies ask away....I live very rural so no privacy fence. Must of my container plants are on my back covered deck. They don't get much direct sun which really surprises me that they grow, but they do. They do get morning and afternoon sun but are shaded during the day due to the angle of the sun.

When do you plant your pepper plants?

My peppers outside do best in a 5 gallon E-bucket.

http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/3230/Make-an-eBucket/

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1179861/#b

Yeah, I also found that bells are difficult to grow (even when there is enough rain and when the wind doesn't break the branches.) But the bananas and the small peppers should be possible here (I know that some people do grow peppers in Texas!)
Your covered deck seems to be working good for you 1lisac, so maybe my back porch will work. What do you do about the sun heating up the containers/soil? Seems like more sun hits the container/pot than falls on the plant when it is under some structure. I have tried using a big piece of wood to give the container some shade.
I made two of those 5 gallon ebuckets a couple of years ago Weeding - they did good at first but as time went on the tomatoes in them didn't grow very fast and never made any fruit. But I think that is because I did not fertilize them properly and my soil may have been too heavy (I did put a little garden soil (clay) in with the soil mix. I will not do that again.

Bc of the angle of the sun the containers don't get much direct sun. I was surprised that peppers would grow and produce under these conditions but they do. I do grow in ground too. The wind can be very damaging but we get more wind during the spring. Also, I use EBs for tomatoes but just plain old nursery pots for (1-3 gal) for peppers. During the heat of the summer I put the containers in kiddie pools so they stay watered, but they stay on the covered deck.

Your idea of putting the pepper containers in the kiddie pools got me to thinking. : ) Maybe that's just what is needed to help pepper plants survive the hot dry summers here.
Thanks!

Great! I do let them dry out in between watering, but it does make maintaining them much easier.

I got "voluntold" to do a presentation at our bee club meeting tomorrow night so I've been busy getting ready for that. Thankfully my husband helped me with the PowerPoint slides.
Okay, will let the pool dry out between waterings so the soil doesn't stay soggy / get root rot or any of that business.
So what about when the temp is above 100 degrees, do you think it would help to bring the pepper plants in and put under the grow lights or is that unnecessary?

Last year I put the pots with peppers into ordinary 1020 trays with a half-inch of water (two pots to a tray). When the water disappeared (usually in about 3 days) I filled the trays again and put a splash into each pot. The plants did fine.

We usually don't get 100° temps so I can't comment on that except to suggest you take two otherwise identical plants, leave one out and bring one in on those hot days and see if there is any difference.

I agree with Don. I try to keep things simple. I grow peppers in the house ( during the winter) without lights just light from windows. Most peppers are from warm climates so they need protection from the cold not the heat.

Okay, will do; thank you both for the great ideas!