I had a thought about this. I realise you're in Hawaii, and I'm not all that familiar with your growing season... but... The jalapenos I'm growing show days-to-maturity as 65-green, 85-red. Since they start out green, they'll be green for a long time. Then, where they're ready as a green, my plants still have roughly 3 weeks to wait until they turn red.
I haven't seen this come full cycle yet on my plants, but the way I will be looking at them, is when they get to a "good size" for being ripe and green, (I don't know what that is... but I hope I'll know it when I see it) I would expect to wait another 3 weeks if I want them red. I want mine green, and hot, so my goal will be pick them when they show the barest hint of red. That's my plan anyway.
What is the advertised DTM for your seed? And how close are you to that mark?
I've seen seed listings where peppers brag about holding a certain colour for a long time on the plant. I figure that helps market growers harvest a larger crop at once, while it is all the same colour.
Don't give up hope!
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HonoluluGirl
- Senior Member
- Posts: 129
- Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:01 pm
- Location: Hawaii
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Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7427
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
Best way I know if Jalapeno peppers are ripe is, pick one, cut it in half, stick your tongue on it. If it is not hot it is not ripe. If it is a tiny bit hot it is still not ready to harvest.
When they are ripe put them in the kitchen blender and turn then into a green milk shake. They make good paint stripper and work good to clean oil and grease of the lawn mower and garden tiller.
When they are ripe put them in the kitchen blender and turn then into a green milk shake. They make good paint stripper and work good to clean oil and grease of the lawn mower and garden tiller.
The cracks on Jalapeno's are genetic. I don't know if they are an indication of heat, but it seems like the hotter ones have it more.
Jalapenos vary in heat from almost none in the TAM's to 1500-8000 shu. It is a milldly hot peppers.
I also discovered that the more recently hybridized a pepper is, the more unstable it can be. So recently developed peppers like Carolina Reaper and Ghost which are among the hottest in the world can produce peppers that are not hot because they are not stable yet. Older varieties that have been isolated and line bred through many gernerations are the most stable.
Peppers do cross polinate so if you grow different varieties next to each other and save seed, the next generation may be a hybrid.
In Hawaii, I prefer to grow the larger and pendulous peppers. Hawaiian chilies are good, but the bulbuls and mejiros will cap them all for you unless you cage the pepper. If you let peppers get red on the bush though the birds can see them easier and they will even go after the pendulous ones too.
Jalapenos vary in heat from almost none in the TAM's to 1500-8000 shu. It is a milldly hot peppers.
I also discovered that the more recently hybridized a pepper is, the more unstable it can be. So recently developed peppers like Carolina Reaper and Ghost which are among the hottest in the world can produce peppers that are not hot because they are not stable yet. Older varieties that have been isolated and line bred through many gernerations are the most stable.
Peppers do cross polinate so if you grow different varieties next to each other and save seed, the next generation may be a hybrid.
In Hawaii, I prefer to grow the larger and pendulous peppers. Hawaiian chilies are good, but the bulbuls and mejiros will cap them all for you unless you cage the pepper. If you let peppers get red on the bush though the birds can see them easier and they will even go after the pendulous ones too.