picking chillis etc

[jacks10]

Since all your good advice my chilli tree is now producing I have abouor 10 nice green chillis. Silly me didn't keep what type they are and can't remember.

I have done so much reading on how to do this and that and now don't know what to do.

I wAs thinking of picking the ready ones and placing some in a paper bag or banana skins to ripen them and leave them for a while. And the others just leave in a dark place then freeze them.

I have attached 2 pics one you can see the height but I have cut down a little since the pic was taken last week.The other pic I have tried to get closer to chillis so you can see them.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[SusieG]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Hello jacks10 - I think your chilli plant is looking very healthy .....

You say your going to pick the fruits and bag them to ripen ~ just a thought, why don't you just leave them on the plant for a bit longer and give them a chance to ripen there ...?
There's no rush to pick them just yet - your plant is indoors isn't it..? So even if temps drop suddenly, your baby should be ok where it is ...

Unless of course you just can't wait and want them ~ NOW..!!!

[jacks10]

Thank you Suzi G for your nice comments.


I think I might leave some on the plant and some in the paper bag to try and ripen.
Going away soon and mum in law is house sitting looking after dog and teenager so will do some of the chillis then and forget about them for a week.
And 1 of them will use for my spag bowl in the week!!!

[SusieG]

-----jacks, you'll probably find that in your absence your plant will be fine ~ you might even have a nice surprise when you get back home to see more ripened fruits.....!

Hope later in the week you enjoy your chilli in your spag bol ....!!!

I have so many unripened chillis that I have been picking them and using them ~ I'm going to make a chilli & tomato chutney later with this little stash ...........

[treepixie]

Susieg, what variety are the dark green ones?

[gringo]

Jacks10, I'd say your chilis look like a type of cayenne (I'm not an expert but have grown cayennes for the last 4 years and mine look very similar to yours).

I echo advice above, leave them on plant to ripen. Plant will survive and probably prosper without being watered for a week or so.

[SusieG]

Susieg, what variety are the dark green ones?

The big fat green ones are Ancho ~ very mild and will grow big enough to stuff...!

[jacks10]

Suzi G your fruit selection looks amazing and hope your chutney goes well. Might give a chutney a go if I'm patient enough with my chillis as hubby has a tomatoe plant(s) and is doing very well.

Gringo if they are cayenne chillis do they eventually go red then? A few of them are very long now so not sure if that's what they are going to stay like.

Not sure if I will use one for my spag bowl now but we shall see!!!

[SusieG]

Jacks, I ended up making a tomato & chilli 'jam' - all that fruit boiled down to make just one medium kilner jar - I tasted it this morning, and it was lovely ..... going to try to keep it for a few weeks, if possible as its supposed to get hotter as it matures .....! (Hehe, bit like me then... Lol ). ~ I'd definitely recommend you try the recipe if you've got fruits to spare!

And yes, your cayennes will ripen to red if you leave them!

Many of my chillis are only just yesterday/today starting to 'turn' ...

[happyhumph]

This helps - I was given 2 mystery plants, that grew into chilies & now it looks like they may be cayennes!

[gringo]

They're fine to pick when green if you're going to cook them straight away. You can freeze them green too. I find they're better left to ripen to red if you're going to dry them (I do ristras with my red ones).

[jacks10]

Hi
Been on my little break and left mum in law to look after chilli plant and stuff in garden. As we has a lot of black fly beforewe left we had to move the chilli plant outside.,
The chillis are still green so I am going to presume they will stay green now. Going to move it back indoors in the next day or so. It's now grown outwards and produced a few more chillis

[Jonnyt]

You can leave them on the plant to ripen probably to the end of October and beyond.

My Cayennes (bought plant) have nearly all ripened and been picked but my self sown Apache and Ring of Fire are still green as are my Patio Fire. Last year they all ripened later than now so I'm sure they will also this year.

Remember they get hotter when they ripen so picking Green may not give the required results, I also don't think they ripen off the plant like tomato's

[jacks10]

Thanks for that I will leave them alone as long as poss. I have learnt to be patient over the last few months!!
I have just fed my cucumber plant tomarite as it's started flowering and had some left in the can so gave the chilli plant a feed even thou it's flowering days are over��
Just brought it back inside the conservatory as the skies have opened up and I think it needs to dry out as I think mum in law might have over watered it the last 5 days every day!!!!

[Ladyslip]

Remember they get hotter when they ripen so picking Green may not give the required results, I also don't think they ripen off the plant like tomato's

Just as a point of interest ....last season I had a lot of unripe pods on some very sad looking plants.....around Nov time.....I picked brought inside and left with a banana to ripen....which they did :-)