By gisette
Outdoor Peppers 2009
Submitted on Sat, 2009/03/21 - 10:29pm
Last updated on Sat, 2009/10/10 - 12:36pm
2009-03-17: My 10-week-old carmen pepper became my first outdoor container, though it can't live outside yet... I started this for the kozy coats experiment, target April 1, but decided it was really too advanced for that. Has flower buds. If it went outside, it would only lose the flowers and not get them back 'til May.
The peppers:
Carmen pepper, Park Seed.
Mariachi pepper, Park Seed.
Sweet banana pepper, Park Seed.
2009-03-24: Two pepper flowers opened. This was the second branching / set of buds. I pinched the first set off, a week or so before potting the plant.
2009-04-10: Have lost ~5 fruitlets - fruit set, but then dropped still pea-sized. There are a lot of possible reasons for this. I think the plant is suffering from 2-3 of them: 1) chilled, 2) not enough light, and possibly 3) calcium deficiency. Started putting the plant up on a table at night to cut the cold draft off the window, and gave it a lime+water slurry today. The light will gradually solve itself. Essentially, it got enough light sitting by the western window until dark rainy days set in. And it will get enough light when it can live outside. But if it goes outside now, all the fruit will fall off from the cold, so...
2009-04-19: Ate first carmen pepper green, at 4.5" long. Nice!
Harvest tallies (for however long I feel like it...)
Carmen pepper - total 44 - first 4/19 at 14 weeks (green), retired 8/22
Carmen pepper too - total 23 - first 6 on 8/1 (green)
Banana pepper - total 27 - first 1 on 7/29 (yellow green) (first red 8/28)
Mariachi pepper - total 12 - first 1 on 8/1 (yellow green) (first red 8/28) - removed 8/30
2009-04-25: Moved carmen pepper to a bigger pot.
2009-05-20: Top-pruned the tall side - still taller than its stake. Top-pruned the other side maybe a month ago, but cutting only half the meristem off seemed to simply encourage the other side. (Next day) Removed wall'o'water from the banana and mariachi peppers in the growbox.
2009-06-05: At long last, the biggest pepper started turning red! About 6 weeks from flower. Hopefully the rest will be quicker with more sun...
2009-06-08: The elder pepper is finally spending its first night outside. It's probably still cold enough that it will lose blossoms, but it has lots of little peppers on it at the moment, so hopefully I don't care. (Temps below 60 can happen all summer in Connecticut...)
2009-06-27/30: Growbox carmen, then mariachi pepper set first fruit. Banana pepper opened flowers last (6/30). Mariachi is supposed to harvest 10 days sooner (and was planted out several weeks sooner), but it appears less adaptable than the carmen.
2009-07-06: Banana pepper has set fruit - all outdoor peppers in production. 
Subsequent carmen fruit on this plant still have the weird bifurcated end instead of the classic horn point. Interesting.
2009-08-30: Removed mariachi pepper plant. Even fully ripe, the peppers were just too hot for us, not many uses. Was a very productive plant, if kinda slow. Threw out many peppers. I don't remember which day, but last week, also retired the eldest carmen pepper plant, which was diseased and no longer setting new fruit.
2009-10-04: Terminated last carmen and banana pepper plants. Total harvest over 100 outdoor peppers this summer.
Sat, 2009/03/28 - 11:36pm
#2
2009-03-28: By yesterday, the carmen pepper already set two fruit, and has more flowers open! Seems to be very happy by the window. Today it was even warm enough for it to play outside for a couple hours.
Sun, 2009/03/29 - 2:13am
#3
Nice! Sounds like you might have to put it on a leash any time now. 
Sat, 2009/04/04 - 1:10pm
#4
2009-04-04: 12-week carmen pepper still happy. Seems to be setting fruit rather than growing any of them at this phase. Has about 7 set so far, plus new flowers every day. A very few days it goes outside... Got pretty beat up Thursday, because a yellow jacket took residence and wouldn't let go. 
Ah, well.
Sat, 2009/04/11 - 1:05pm
#5
13 week carmen pepper: Mixed week. A few fruit are definitely growing, but it's dropped maybe a half dozen pea-sized fruitlets. Trying to keep it warmer, and fed it a lime+water slurry. But mostly, I think it needs more light than the grey rainy weather is providing. A few more weeks... It hasn't been warm enough for it to visit outdoors at all - it's catching a chill just sitting next to that window. 2-week forecast is still calling for overnight temps ~30, daytime temps below 55. Hopefully the rain will let up soon, at least...
Sat, 2009/04/11 - 1:13pm
#6
Yup... the weather definitely sucks right now. I havent even been able to keep my micro greens in the window. Its just too darn cold. This is sooo not spring!
Mon, 2009/04/13 - 12:42pm
#7
Nice pepper plant! The forcast looks much better for this weekend!
Beth
Mon, 2009/04/13 - 1:05pm
#8
Thanks, Beth. Yes, at last we break 60 again on Saturday! Is spring warming yet where you live?
Mr Pepper is much happier at the moment - it's been sunny the past two days. I broke out a cheap grow light to give it a little extra during the dark days, but it just isn't the same. 
Sat, 2009/04/18 - 9:27pm
#9
14 week carmen pepper: Growing happily, and the peppers are getting big! Has dropped a couple more fruitlets, but not as badly. This week, it's definitely getting more sun. Today it even played out on the deck a couple hours. But probably won't be warm enough to do that again for a while.
Getting tempted to pick the biggest pepper and eat it green!
Sun, 2009/04/19 - 9:54pm
#10
I succumbed to temptation. They're good! I think they'll get bigger, and the flavor even smoother. But already it's less bitter than a green bell pepper. Very thin-walled and supple. The description said it would have its full flavor green, without waiting for it to sweeten to red, but that seems hard to believe. Very nice!
Wish I'd succumbed earlier this evening - it would have been great with my eggplant on tonight's pizza! (Yes, the weird little eggplants are very good on pizza.)
Next one I let grow to red. Maybe. 
Fri, 2009/04/24 - 9:22pm
#11
15 weeks: carmen pepper doing OK, bearing fruit, still dropping some fruitlets, especially after a cold night. Debating whether / when to put it in a bigger pot... probably sooner is better than later.
Has maybe 7 fruit now beyond the droppable fruitlet size. The biggest is already as long as the one I ate the other day.
Sat, 2009/04/25 - 8:28pm
#12
Repotted carmen pepper. It looked perfectly happy 4 hours later, but I ate the 2 biggest peppers anyway. The downside of that huge pot is that I can't put it on a table anymore when there's a cold draft at night. (It went back to my room / balcony for now.)
So far the greatest success with the kozy coats experiment was this 'failure'. Three peppers harvested so far, and it's still a month too early to plant outside!
Mon, 2009/04/27 - 10:31am
#13
Hi Gisette,
The pepper looks great! Who needs an outside garden? Seriously, I didn't realize how tolerant pepper plants are - my work pepper plant has 5 peppers! I'll definitely do peppers under lights next fall. I'm still aiming to have a full salad next winter
Beth
Mon, 2009/04/27 - 10:44am
#14
Beth - thanks! Yes, definitely - peppers are the surprise easy plant of my AG/indoor experiments! But - they'll only work in my west-facing window in the brighter 6 mos of the year, I think. Tried to grow lettuce in that window last November. Not a success.
Mon, 2009/04/27 - 2:31pm
#15
Yes! I can't wait to see what happens with this one!
I'm definitely going to consider keeping peppers as houseplants from now on. the Pepper growbox I brought in last year did fairly well all winter and has really come to life in the past month. The biggest and healthiest plant is covered with cherry peppers now. I also had started some in pots last August, from a failed AG attempt. I kept them in tiny pots all winter... two survived and are thriving. I even have a pepper on one of them! I finally put them in bigger pots a week ago, poor things. I can't believe how easy they were to keep and how well they did. I really hope they do as well when they go to live outside full time, haha.
Mon, 2009/04/27 - 2:55pm
#16
Wow, Polar! Thanks for telling us! I didn't realize peppers were so long-lived... Huh. Maybe even if it won't thrive in the western window in winter, it might yet stay alive and resume bearing in spring...
Sat, 2009/05/02 - 6:09pm
#17
Happy pepper. Dropped some fruitlets after transplanting to bigger pot, but no more than it was in the habit of dropping anyway. I ate all the big peppers last weekend, and already have 3 more the same size. But I'm exercising restraint this time - trying to wait on them growing to full size and turning red.
Well... at least... one of them... 
Sun, 2009/05/10 - 12:25pm
#18
Waited on only one of the peppers. I think it's concentrating on expanding roots into the bigger container, and now putting out more branches. Still dropping fruitlets. But it was so dark and rainy this past week. I expect good things this week - weather good to go out in the sun most days.
Restructuring growlogs - also track my other outdoor peppers in here, which started in the Seed Starting Pageant and Kozy Coats Experiment logs.
Sun, 2009/05/10 - 12:56pm
#19
Your way ahead of the game, I'm still growing my seedlings (tomatoes & cukes) under the lights of one of the AG's. I'll plant these out when they are big enough. I can then free this AG up for the hydro cuke...
Sun, 2009/05/10 - 1:05pm
#20
Your transplants look like they're coming along nicely, Peat! How old are they?
That was kind of my theme this year, see how early I could push the main summer produce production. Was underwhelmed with how late the tomatoes delivered last year. Wasn't really expecting fruit from the pepper while still cooped up indoors...
Sun, 2009/05/10 - 1:47pm
#21
I think they are 2-3 weeks, didn't really take a note - I just plant out when they are big enough, however long it takes. 
Sat, 2009/05/16 - 10:24pm
#22
Sat, 2009/05/23 - 8:08pm
#23
Sat, 2009/05/30 - 3:28pm
#24
Really starting to wonder what it's going to take for that eldest carmen pepper to ripen...
Sat, 2009/06/06 - 9:20pm
#25
At long, long last, my first carmen pepper is turning red! (The first peppers I ate green.) This particular pepper was a flower about 6 weeks ago... It takes only 1-2 weeks for them to get from nubbin to 5" green fruit, but this particular pepper wanted to be big, and slow... Hopefully the rest won't take so long.
Once they start going red, I think they finish pretty quick. The first red bit was only 2 days ago. Hopefully it's contagious, I'd love to see the mid-big green ones go red now instead of a month from now.
Sat, 2009/06/13 - 8:26pm
#26
The giant potted pepper moved outdoors full time at last!!! It responded well, holding onto more of its many, many little peppers than it did when it was commuting in and out. There are two more big ones beside the finally-harvested red one. The ripening wasn't contagious. But hopefully, getting more light, they'll ripen faster... These are really good ripe! They're good green too, sweeter than a bell pepper, I think.
Sat, 2009/06/20 - 1:55pm
#27
Just moved biggest pepper down to driveway today. It'll get more light/heat there, and I'll have room to move on my balcony. It's sure a lot faster to eat these peppers green, but they're so good red...
Sat, 2009/06/27 - 2:11pm
#28
Sat, 2009/07/04 - 2:57pm
#29
Outdoor peppers doing well.
Sun, 2009/07/05 - 8:12pm
#30
How do you eat these? With what? Cooked or raw?
I ask because I eat lots of peppers & onions, lightly fried, and am looking for a substitute for bell peppers.
wow these look good!