By gisette
Outdoor Peppers 2010
Submitted on Mon, 2010/05/03 - 1:43pm
Last updated on Tue, 2010/11/23 - 12:58pm
Posted in
Transplated out my first peppers yesterday - 2 mini red stuffing peppers (I think), 6 weeks old. These were saved seeds from a variety that grew well in the Aerogarden Deluxe - I didn't want the seeds to get too old before saving them again.
I have 3 more pepper plants (mohawk, lipstick, and carmen) that just started hardening. The carmen might be a gift - undecided. This week is forecast to be great weather. Next week, rather colder, and these three are developing buds, so... may wait another couple weeks before transplanting out.
20100721: started another carmen pepper plant in AG - it will finish indoors. Tried one earlier, but the 2-year-old seeds just weren't viable anymore.
20100821: 4.5 weeks, baby carmen pepper transplanted to self-watering flowerpot
Harvests:
carmen pepper: 24 (first green at 14 weeks, with BER, first red at 19 weeks) - retired at 32 weeks
lipstick pepper: 4 (first green at 14 weeks, first red at 17.5 weeks) - plant removed at 18 weeks
2 mini stuffing peppers: 225 (first green at 14 weeks, not ready to eat; first red at 16.5 weeks) - retired at 32 weeks
mohawk: 9 (first green at 14 weeks, not ready to eat, first orange at 15.5 weeks) - removed at 18 weeks, yuck flavor
Sun, 2010/05/16 - 9:30pm
#2
Everybody survived the ultra cold snap. It was a hard frost - several nights running! - inland just a few miles, and down to 36°F here one night - coldest for that date since 1966. Anyway, the 2 already-transplanted peppers survived (though they haven't bloomed yet), and all are transplanted out as of yesterday.
Mon, 2010/05/24 - 5:31pm
#3
Growbox peppers enthusiastic, mini stuffing peppers in ground not as happy.
Sun, 2010/05/30 - 7:15pm
#4
Mini stuffing peppers still looking sad. Just opened first flowers. Growbox peppers ecstatic, and all have fruit set, though the carmen pepper is still lagging. (It lagged a week germinating - all carmen seeds germinated very slowly their second year.)
I hope I like the flavor of the mohawk peppers. I sure like the plant's attitude! 
Tue, 2010/06/08 - 12:22am
#5
Mini stuffing peppers now happy! Have several cute fruit. The carmen pepper no longer looks so backward. It's a much bigger plant than its neighbors.
Sun, 2010/06/13 - 5:07pm
#6
Sun, 2010/06/20 - 9:57pm
#7
The mohawk and lipstick peppers - only about 6" and 12" tall - don't seem to be flowering anymore. The mohawk has a brave load of peppers for such a tiny plant - 10? more? - but the lipstick has only 4. This could just be lack of light. They might have been better off with the taller carmen by the railing and tomato, with the little plants more towards noon. I wasn't expecting the lipstick to be quite so small. We'll see how they taste.
Mon, 2010/06/28 - 1:20pm
#8
On good news/bad news, harvested my first carmen pepper green. Because it had BER. 
But ate most of the pepper anyway. I've never seen BER in a carmen pepper before... the other two peppers in that growbox quit setting fruit, one of them with only 4 fruit on it... and the tomato in the growbox lost 6 more fruit to BER. Decided to try scraping some fertilizer out of that growbox. Not easy to do, since the water cloche is still on the tomato - it doesn't move well. 
But, we'll see. The plants look totally dark green and gorgeous. It's just their fruit that's getting BER.
I could probably eat any of the other peppers green by now, and probably will at some point this week.
Sun, 2010/07/04 - 2:39pm
#9
Tried the other peppers green. That was a mistake... The lipstick tasted pretty good, more bell pepperish than a carmen, and it had some streaks of red inside. One mohawk and one mini stuffing pepper were definitely not ready to eat - blech. Another mini stuffing pepper was OK, tasted like a not-great green bell pepper.
Scraping out fertilizer from the growbox definitely seemed to help the brandy boy tomato. It doesn't seem to have helped the peppers, though (and they lost more fertilizer than the tomato did). The carmen lost a bunch (6?) more fruit to probably-BER, with the fruits not even partially edible this time. 
The lipstick only has 3 fruits left. Only the carmen is still flowering. Not looking like a good pepper year...
Tue, 2010/07/06 - 6:38am
#10
Hi Gisette,
Funny, I'm having problems with BER on my peppers, too. I had zero problems last year. I figured it was related to the extreme heat we're having. But you have to be cooler up there than down here (another 100 F day today and hotter and more humid the rest of the week). My tomatoes got over the BER but have not been setting new tomatoes (lows in the high 70's at night).
Tue, 2010/07/06 - 11:51am
#11
Huh. Thanks for telling me, Beth. Well, then I have no idea what's ailing my poor carmen-with-BER. 
If it even is BER. The past few days have been brutally hot here, too - 97°F and humid right now, but this should be the pinnacle of bad. And the BER was before that. We had a gorgeous gift run of days last week - blue skies, highs in the 70's, some lows below 60. And it's been my experience that carmens are an unusually flexible plant. But... All I know is what seemed to cure the tomato in that pot - reducing the fertilizer - didn't help the carmen. Though, that may be a delayed reaction. Maybe it helped, but those fruit were already damaged?
Also had no BER problems with peppers last year. And you'd think they'd like the hotter brighter weather. The tomatoes and curcurbits and eggplant sure seem to.
My mohawk peppers started turning orange. One of the mini stuffing peppers started having sort of black smudges, and I threw it out, then later thought better of it... But it was very small, probably not ripening.
Wed, 2010/07/07 - 2:40pm
#12
I'll be interested in what you thinkof the mohawks. I'm growing a miniature bell pepper called mini apple. I wish I could find a fantastic mini bell called Jingle Bells that I grew until about 5 years ago (from Pinetree). True miniature bell, turned red early, very hardy, great taste. Thought I found seeds last year but it was not the right variety.
Beth
Wed, 2010/07/07 - 2:49pm
#13
Well... I ate two mohawks last night. They still had a bit of green to them - they're in an awkward spot, so hard to tell until I pick them.
They weren't very good. Certainly better flavored than they were when fully green. But - extreme bell pepper harsh aftertaste, that bell flavor that's missing from carmen peppers. If that made sense? And tiny. That description from Park that said "full sized bell peppers" - LOL!
I liked my mini red stuffing peppers the first time I grew them. If their flavor turns out OK this time, I'll mail you some seeds. Not as good as a carmen, but good for a bell, if I recall correctly. OP.
Sun, 2010/07/11 - 4:50pm
#14
Peppers still going slow. No more BER on the carmens... but not many peppers on the plant. Between all three pepper plants in the growbox, probably only ~12 fruit. Kept arguing with myself about planting another carmen at this point. But it's really too late.
First mostly-orange mohawks were... better than they were green. Not very good. Looking forward to the ripe mini stuffing peppers later this week. Couple more mohawks will leave on until thoroughly orange plus a day or three...
Sun, 2010/07/18 - 3:41pm
#15
The mini red stuffing peppers continue to do really well. Now starting to harvest ripe red ones, which taste quite good - red bell flavored. Still letting the mohawks turn deeper orange. The lipsticks are turning red, though not at great speed. Only the mini peppers are still flowering.
Fri, 2010/07/23 - 4:29pm
#16
Hi Gisette,
Hope the ripe mohawks taste better. My bell and carmen peppers are 6 feet tall and really starting to put out. The carmen was really late to set, but it is picking up now. Gotta go down and pick a few bells for dinner....
Beth
Fri, 2010/07/23 - 9:48pm
#17
Wow, Beth, on the 6' carmen pepper!
Now that the brandy boy tomato is outta there, I'm hoping my carmen will start flowering again. It isn't nearly as big as it should be - much smaller than the mini stuffing pepper plants, even. None red yet - it lost a lot of its first-biggest to BER.
I'm still letting the mohawks get deeper orange. But maybe it's about time to give up and declare them done.
I harvested all 3 red lipstick peppers this week, and removed the plant. If that's how unproductive it is, I'd rather give the carmen more space. They tasted good - better than a red bell, but not as good as a carmen.
I was just thinking this week of mailing you a red mini bell (in ethylene-absorbing bag). Interested? They're pretty good - taste like red bells. And they do grow and produce in an AG Deluxe, and rambunctiously outdoors.
Edit: Can mail you dried fresh seeds as well, but if I mail you the fruit, maybe you can taste it. 
Sun, 2010/07/25 - 9:41pm
#18
23 ripe peppers this week - 3 lipstick, 6 mohawk, 14 mini red bells. First carmen is starting to redden. Deleted the lipstick and mohawk peppers - lipstick because it was wildly unproductive, mohawk because I still didn't like them. At the moment, the carmen pepper has a whole growbox to itself, but I'll probably put a backup cucumber or two in there with it. But not another growbox fertlizer patch, maybe... Maybe just use Miracle Gro and a spare plastic mulch.
Beth, what do you think? Re putting in a new fertilizer strip? The small cucumbers bore well at first, suffered stiff competition from the tomande tomato, and there's not really enough season left to worry about the long run. And the pepper suffered extreme competition before - now it might or might not set more fruit no matter what I do with the fertilizer.
Tue, 2010/08/03 - 10:28pm
#19
Yay! Finally got a ripe carmen pepper! (Gave it to my father - I assume it was delicious, and he loves them.) The carmen seems to be getting a new lease on life - new leaves, a flower bud, ripening fruit, taller... Now sharing the growbox with 2 cucumber plants. Removed all remaining growbox nutes - just using Miracle Gro on them for now.
The seedling carmen will finish life indoors.
I was very impressed by how accurate that 2-year viable-life expectancy of pepper seeds turned out to be - that was why I was so keen to grow some more mini red stuffing peppers before the seeds went bad. This is the only sweet pepper that's grown well for me in the AG Deluxe. Grows even better outdoors - prolific little plants. 
Thu, 2010/08/05 - 9:49pm
#20
Hi Gisette,
Sorry, had nieces/nephews staying at the house (2 straight weeks!). Puppy is 5 months old and 44 lbs. She lost five puppy teeth in the last two days (one went patooie on my lap) so she is miserable.
Back to gardening. I don't replace the fert strip, just water with Miracle grow. I'm sorry the mohawk and lipstick didn't work out. Mohawk is prolific but pretty icky. I am growing the miniature red bells from Johnny's. Taste OK but spit out thick skin. How's your small bells? Carmen in the EB are just getting to eating size. Of course right before vacation. Gotta time this better!
Beth
Thu, 2010/08/05 - 10:14pm
#21
2 weeks of kids when you're not used to them sounds very energetic.
If the carmens are still green at eating size, and just reached that size, you've got weeks yet before they're red.
Agreed re the mohawk. The lipstick tasted good - might have just been too shaded / overcompetition. The small bells are very good when red, very prolific. I haven't noticed their skins being particularly thick.
Are you going to be around long enough for me to mail you a pepper, or should I try after you get back from vacation?
P.S. The miracle grow and more room seems to be working - my carmen just set a new baby pepper, and some new leaves are emerging. Maybe I should try that on my eggplant...
Sun, 2010/08/08 - 4:14pm
#22
Heavy pepper week, with 2 more ripe carmens, and 27 mini red stuffing peppers. They're very good chopped up into egg salad. Lazy, I know, but I'm getting kinda burnt out on cooking the harvests. Started germination test on my mini red pepper seeds a few days ago - no sprouts yet, but peppers seem to take ~8 days.
Sun, 2010/08/15 - 2:22pm
#23
Another week, another 30 mini red stuffing peppers - and I could easily pick another dozen today. Germination tests succeeded - I've renewed my seed supply. (The salmon profusion zinnia seeds worked, too.) I really wish I hadn't discarded my winter carmen pepper from indoors in June. The outdoor one is definitely getting a new lease on life now.
Sun, 2010/08/22 - 4:25pm
#24
Met a tomato hornworm for the first time - on a mini stuffing pepper plant. Read online that I should have left it there, to encourage the parasitic wasp population. But of course I'd already gotten rid of the thing before my research. For such a large creature, it doesn't seem to have done much damage. Haven't found any others.
Harvested 18 mini bells and 2 little red carmen peppers this week - 108 mini bells and 6 carmens so far this year. (Well, plus the 20-odd carmens from the winter plant, and a smattering of lipstick and mohawk peppers.)
Tue, 2010/08/31 - 2:09pm
#25
Hi Gisette,
The mini bell sounds like a winner! Where did you get it from? I think I need to grow that this fall/winter! My outdoor peppers are so-so. Nothing like last year. I guess they didn't like the hot humid weather either.
Beth
Tue, 2010/08/31 - 3:07pm
#26
Hi, Beth,
I think the original mini red stuffing pepper (mini bell) seeds were from Amishland seeds. But - I got two sets of mini red bell seeds, plus a mini yellow, in seed trades, and grew the three varieties together in an AG. The yellows were hot for some reason, and didn't do well, so culled that one. Then saved some seeds from both good-tasting red fruits - some from "mini red stuffing" and some from "mini red bell" (and I don't know where those came from), and my two plants outside came from those two saved-seed baggies.
Want some, now you're back? I can try sending a pepper along, too - and no harm done if the pepper itself doesn't travel well. Already tested for germination - not 100%, not bad.
They probably won't bear as heavily in an Aerogarden, of course. Not as big, for one thing.
Tue, 2010/08/31 - 8:22pm
#27
Hi Gisette,
I'd love some seeds of the best tasting thinest wall bell. I think I'll do it in MG pot mix next to the indoor cuc this fall. I'm going to wait until it gets cooler to start things inside just so I don't bring in bad buggies from outside. Want some more (hopefully) non self destructing monstruoso basil seeds? I'd like to send you some of the Cherokee Purple seeds, too. Selfish, they are getting old and I need someone who doesn't have squirrel problems to save some seeds next year. Those can wait but I didn't get many non gnawed fruit this year. I'm saving my pennies for a greenhouse this winter. Just a starter one that I can play with and protect my plants from fungi and critters. Let me know...
Thanks,
Beth
Tue, 2010/08/31 - 8:59pm
#28
Hi, Beth,
Sure! I'd been hoping to get some Cherokee Purple seeds off of you to try! And the monstruoso basil. Would you also like some tomande tomato seeds? That was my only new attempt this year that worked out well. Not an heirloom, though, and definitely not an indoor-sized plant. Five feet tall and eight feet wide...
Though the jet star mostly worked well. It's still bearing over Dad's, actually. I'll probably try that winter tomato again. If it still doesn't bear good fruit indoors next spring, at least it was lovely having all those ripe tomatoes in May once it moved outside. And if I'm going for fruit instead of scientific purity, it can have sun in April.
Anyway, let me know, and will send. I saved the seeds from bigger stuffing peppers than I have on hand now. None of them are thick-walled for a bell - not big enough to be. But at least you can maybe see whether you like them.
Wed, 2010/09/01 - 5:53pm
#29
Never posted this week's pictures. Adult peppers very happy, all blooming. Getting kinda late for that... probably. Got a few carmens this week. It has about 6 past-baby fruit left on it to ripen, plus babies if it can hold onto them. The young carmen pepper has buds - pretty nice plant for its age.
Sun, 2010/09/05 - 7:14pm
#30
Maybe I should pick off new flower buds on these guys. The carmen is anything but overladen. And the mini peppers are still going great guns, and their peppers ripen faster. Still... there's only 3-6 weeks left of growing weather. Thoughts?
The young carmen is to harvest indoors - too late for anything to ripen from that one.
Tonight and tomorrow night are forecast down into the 30's - hopefully for the very last time this year. So, the planted-out peppers will need a blanket, and I'm holding the rest of these plants another couple days. But they're ready to go out. And the weather should be ready, too, by Tuesday.
The mohawk pepper already has a bloom open. But - it won't hold onto set fruit at these temps. But then, peppers never do seem to hold onto first fruits.
I'm pleased and surprised the mini bells survived the winds last night - 50 mph gusts were forecast, and it sounded even worse. And yes, Beth, now the trees do have leaves!