Chuck - Hot Pepper questions

[The Zen Master]

Chuck,

Do hot peppers produce indefinitely (until a freeze) or do they produce on a cycle based on length of day? I've tried to google this but haven't been able to find anything definitive.

I ask for a number of reasons - a few hot pepper plants were purchased late in the spring, they were seriously root-bound and lanky - they are growing but have only one or two peppers each.

Also, I just ordered Carolina Reaper and Ghost pepper seeds from Pepper Joe's - do I need to wait till next spring to start them, and, if so, how should I store them until then.

Thanks again, sir!

PS. I kinda like Texas, a little, for those concerned

 

[DirtMechanic]

paging @Chuck

 

[Chuck]

Chuck,

Do hot peppers produce indefinitely (until a freeze) or do they produce on a cycle based on length of day? I've tried to google this but haven't been able to find anything definitive.

I ask for a number of reasons - a few hot pepper plants were purchased late in the spring, they were seriously root-bound and lanky - they are growing but have only one or two peppers each.

Also, I just ordered Carolina Reaper and Ghost pepper seeds from Pepper Joe's - do I need to wait till next spring to start them, and, if so, how should I store them until then.

Thanks again, sir!

PS. I kinda like Texas, a little, for those concerned

Peppers are sort of like trees. They go dormant and stop producing if the conditions are right. Most gardeners treat peppers as annuals but they are really perennials and some peppers like the Chilipetin will live and produce for years. Peppers grow and produce by light intensity not by length of day. Hot peppers need high light intensity so it would be better if you waited to plant the Reaper and Ghost seeds but not imperative that you wait if you can keep them from freezing. They will just go dormant like a tree does but this doesn't mean that you can forget about them. They must still be fed and watered and cared for. Reapers and Ghost peppers are about 150 day peppers so if you planted them now by November you should be getting a few peppers but the light intensity will be dropping so production will be limited but if proper care is maintained they will overwinter and begin flowering in the spring much earlier than if you planted seeds in the spring. As far as the lanky root bound peppers you can plant them deep just like you do tomatoes. Just repot them into a larger pot and fertilize them. As for storing seeds, all I do is put them in a paper envelope and keep them in a dry warm place.

 

[The Zen Master]

Thank you again, Chuck.

I never knew that tomatoes or peppers can be planted deep - maybe I will give that a try though the current levels of humidity have me hibernating in my air-conditioned cave.

What is your opinion of how well peppers tolerate the clay soil I have here in Cedar Creek? Would you plant in ground or stick to containers with potting soil and some sand mixed in?

 

[Chuck]

Thank you again, Chuck.

I never knew that tomatoes or peppers can be planted deep - maybe I will give that a try though the current levels of humidity have me hibernating in my air-conditioned cave.

What is your opinion of how well peppers tolerate the clay soil I have here in Cedar Creek? Would you plant in ground or stick to containers with potting soil and some sand mixed in?

My mom and dad had a truck/roadside stand garden between Austin and Manor Texas. Not all that far from you by Texas standards. Heavy black clay soils. We grew all kinds of peppers. The actual soil is difficult to manually work but it will grow anything. Way back then all we had was a tractor with different mold board plows and a cultivator, long before tillers were invented. As far as in the ground vs container gardening goes, I think that in the ground gardening is better production wise. Having said that when one reaches 70+ years old in the ground gardening becomes physically difficult. I have started transitioning to container gardening. Next year probably all I will grow in the ground are row crops. Tomatoes and peppers in containers of which I am scrounging around for now.
The soil I will use in the containers will be a mixture of my garden soil, good potting soil and homemade compost. I guess if you added sand to potting soil it would be ok but when you add sand to clay it makes bricks. Never add sand to clay soils. Add compost or fine mulch

 

[The Zen Master]

Thank you, Chuck, you are very generous with your knowledge. I wish I had some of that black clay soil here - this is brown mud-pie clay.

 

[Chuck]

Thank you, Chuck, you are very generous with your knowledge. I wish I had some of that black clay soil here - this is brown mud-pie clay.

It is basically the same soil. At Austin, the western most beginning of the black clay soil, the further east you go the lighter in color the soil becomes until in far east Texas is become a reddish color. That Austin soil is black mud-pie clay. When I was a little kid I would make mud and roll that mud into a round ball and let it dry. After drying it became a round rock, literally. I then used these round rocks in my slingshot to shoot Grackles that forever kept trying to eat our garden. I am still a good shot with a slingshot but haven't made any ammo for decades and decades. I still have a slingshot and shoot squirrels with it. It's called a WristRocket and is much better than my old homemade, red inner tube, forked stick slingshot.

 

[The Zen Master]

HAHAHAHAH I had a wrist rocket as a kid, back east! We used to shoot ball bearings with it - extremely dangerous "toy."

I will find some 5-gallon buckets and work up some soil per your specification and transplant the leggy peppers, as soon as I can work up the courage to face the humidity...

 

[Chuck]

HAHAHAHAH I had a wrist rocket as a kid, back east! We used to shoot ball bearings with it - extremely dangerous "toy."

I will find some 5-gallon buckets and work up some soil per your specification and transplant the leggy peppers, as soon as I can work up the courage to face the humidity...

Ah, the lovely Texas humidity. On the weather this morning it was at 74%. We are going to break 100F for the first time this year this week.

 

[headfullofbees]

My protected chillies fruit all year round, albeit much slower in winter.

 

[Chuck]

My protected chillies fruit all year round, albeit much slower in winter.

That's because of lower light intensity. Where I live it is the same as you in the winter, even in a heated greenhouse. But the summers here are perfect for peppers if one can keep them watered. This year was a pitiful year for tomatoes here but it will be an outstanding year for peppers. Many of my plants are already loaded and the best growing time is still yet to come.

 

[DirtMechanic]

To what zones are these peppers hardy? I am USDA 8a. I have a sunny bed my wife just evacuated, and I believe I will grow peppers there.

 

[Chuck]

To what zones are these peppers hardy? I am USDA 8a. I have a sunny bed my wife just evacuated, and I believe I will grow peppers there.

I am in 8b and the first freeze here is about the last of November on average.

 

[The Zen Master]

Chuck - I bought some 7-gallon fabric containers - I was thinking of 2-plants in each container though I know one each would be better. Do you have a brand of compost that might be available at Lowe's that you might recommend?

I got my seeds from Pepper Joe's too, and a free sample 2-small dried Carolina Reaper pods. I'm going to add them to my next batch of habanero hot sauce!

 

[The Zen Master]

Good hot sauce!