Peppers; frost tolerance, off-plant ripening?

[Vanisle_BC]

We're having a last(?) spell of sunny weather, dipping close to frost at nights. Peppers (Corno di Toro, Earlical, Ananheim) are colouring up but not yet properly ripe. I don't know if they will stand a little frost or should I pull them for safety - and will they ripen "off the vine" like tomatoes?

[applestar]

I find pepper leaves are very susceptible to frost just like tomatoes. Any tender tip growths — leaves, flower buds, blossoms, and little immature green fruits on the tender stems will all wilt immediately from frost.

Thicker-walled peppers are difficult to ripen when harvested/off the plant because they need the water supplies to them to keep their walls juicy. But if about 50%+ have turned color, then by harvesting with long stems by cutting rather than tearing, then keeping the stems wrapped in moist paper towel and maintaining some humidity, they will fully color up. Watch out that they don’t develop soft spots or mold.

Blushed Thin-walled peppers can turn color without too much effort, and I believe digging up and hanging the plant upside down like some tomatoes will also do the trick.

My favorite and effective method is to loosen the soil with garden fork, then pull up the entire plant and stuff in doubled or tripled plastic grocery bags, then line them up in the garage under a double -bulb fluorescent shop light 24/7. Any remaining fruits will do their best to mature. Keep the roots moistened but not flooded.

Any branches that had been supplied by long feeder roots that had been ripped out in the process will wilt in the next couple of days, so just harvest all fruits on those branches and prune off so the plant can concentrate on supporting the rest.

Some green fruits are just too immature to grow any further, so brush up on recipes that can use them — I tend to make pepper relishes and jellies, lacto-fermented pepper sauces, or just chop up and freeze.

[applestar]

After harvesting the fruits, I prune these to sticks, root prune them and pot them up (or sometimes just keep in their plastic bags) to overwinter them. They can be allowed to dry until barely damp and stay in low light condition if the garage until deep freeze brings down the temp down to 20’s. I bring the ones I really want to keep inside the house before garage temps fall to low 20’s since I have found they just can’t make it through the winter in my garage.

For peppers I really want to have keep producing through the winter, I pot up and bring inside ahead of first frost. They are comfortable in indoor temps down to upper 50’s and will repeat bloom and fruit as long as they are provided with supplemental light.

[Vanisle_BC]

Thanks, applestar; lots of good info there.

I won't try to go as far as you do, keeping pepper plants producing through winter; but may try to keep them alive, pruned, potted & dormant in my workshop. You say you have them in low light but can I assume they won't really need any?

[applestar]

They don’t need a lot once dormant, but they should get some I think. As mentioned, the ones in my unheated windowless garage stay all pushed together (shading each other) under the shoplight that is left on 24/7. But in their native Ecuador, etc. they probably have 12 hour days even in winter?

The ones that were dormant and pruned to sticks.... Sometime near late January to February —by which time the ones that are saved are in the house in the corner of the supplementally lighted plant spaces— they seem to sense the lengthening day’s and start to leaf out, and then they will need as much light as they can get to grow without getting spindly. They still don’t get the premium spots under my lights — only the end of the tube lights or supplemental CFL bulb lights. Usually by March, they will have started to bloom, and will be bearing fruits by the time the weather has settled enough for them to go outside with judicious acclimating.

I have to do it this way because my garage gets too cold. If you can keep them above mid-20’s, my understanding is that they do survive until natural thaw and spring, and will leaf out in their own time. Most people who do it this way seem to have a green house or a sunshed with windows, unseated porch, etc.

[jal_ut]

The peppers will freeze if the temperature goes to 32 degrees. You can go to your lumber yard and get a roll of 5 mil poly and cover them up with that to protect them. The other option is pick the fruit and bring it in the garage and eat it up a bit each day. You can eat the peppers green.

[Vanisle_BC]

They don’t need a lot once dormant, but they should get some I think.

Hmm.. applestar, maybe I wasn't clear, that I'm asking about the plants you said were dormant and pruned to sticks. I'm thinking in that condition they won't need any light, but are you saying you think they do need it? My workshop is where I'd put them. It's kept above freezing but has no windows and I'd rather not burn lights all winter.

[applestar]

I don’t know.... My feeling is that they still have chlorophyll in the stems and will take advantage of any wan wintry light especially when above freezing. I HAVE kept some of them in dim garage light where they hardly get any of the 16 hour timered plant light. They DO seem to wake up regardless as the calendar pass somewhen past midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox, and especially if the temperature starts hovering around high of 40’s, which can happen in milder winters in my garage in early March. I would have started cool-weather seeds under the garage plant lights by then.

Although I said I move all the peppers I intend to have survive into the house, I HAVE abandoned some in the garage over the winter, and occasionally some have held on to life to sprout new leaves. “What!? You are still alive?” And if given proper care as the new leaves grow, they soon catch up to the others.

...I realize you said you want to discuss the dormant plants, but just as a comparison, the ones in the house kept in 50’s-60’s will undergo an explosion of growth with multiple buds sprouting from practically every upper leaf node, and requiring judicious de-budding and pruning to create good branch structure, shape, and growth.

[digitS']

I searched for a picture of sweet pepper (Marconi) hanging up in my kitchen, ripening. Could not find it! Oh, there are sweet peppers hanging there now but it would be disingenuous for me to claim that they are mine . No, there are a few from the farmers' market. The hot peppers in a greenhouse bed are fine but I had a bad 2018 growing sweet peppers in the garden again ... So! Take this advice with a grain of salt, VanIsle_BC.

You can hang them on string and if they are close to ripening, they will do that. However, there are other things that may/will happen.

They may mold. Watch closely - only happened once in the 4 or 5 times we tried it. Sweet peppers aren't usually thin-walled and so they may not dry well. And, dry they will!

They may be more "leathery" than crisp like hot peppers when you take them down. What can you do with them?

harvest014.jpg (18.45 KiB) Viewed 1290 times

picture from the 2014 season

After they have cooked, they can be run through the food processor. In combination with tomato sauce and other ingredients, the sweet pepper sauce is great over pasta or in casseroles. Experiment a little with use but you may be surprised how versatile the sauce is and how quickly it can be used.

Steve

[Vanisle_BC]

I heartily agree about the versatility of sweet red peppers run through the blender. That's an essential ingredient for our spaghetti sauce, together with Sweetie of other cherry tomatoes.