I am first time growwer. There are many green peppers on plants but also many flowers. Nights are getting colder ( sometimes 7C/44F ) am I in danger of losing my harvest? Days are still rather warm (18C/65F)
Is there anything I should do/am I in danger?
by GasStationWorker29
5 Comments
They should be okay until a hard frost. They will just slow down a lot. Nothing you can do to rush ripening afaik. If anyone chimes in with ideas I’ll try also.
My super hots are taking a loooooong time to ripen. I’m in zone 9a/b so hopefully I get another 6-8 weeks or more but nobody knows.
If you can get some black containers and fill them with water, maybe 5 gallon buckets or similar, they will absorb heat during the day and release it at night but you will want to seal up as tight as possible and they can only do so much. There are electric heaters you can run but again if it’s leaky they won’t help a ton.
For next year: start earlier or better yet, take cuttings or overwinter your favorites from this year so they will be more mature when you plant in the spring. This will give you earlier pods. There are a lot of ways to passively heat a greenhouse in cold zones but they take planning. If you work on that now you may be able to plant early and harvest later next year.
Man I would kill for a greenhouse that size
You can help ripen green peppers by putting them in a bag or container with a banana I do believe. Not sure if this affects spice level though
You can cut the branches and hang them up, they’ll ripen off the branch fine. pods that aren’t mature size might go little soft and wilt.
I had a branch snap off and it lasted about 3 weeks in water before dying off, got a few extra pods from that.
Get a heater.
WAIT!!!! Peppers are perennial plants!!! You can do what you want with them but- they wont freeze inside a greenhouse for awhile yet so keep them watered and push on. Before a severe freeze happens you can dig a few plants up and pot in a quart sized pot and bring in for the winter to a sunny window or under lights- you will need to prune the plants back to just above the ‘Y’ on the stem and remove all the leaves but they will come back and you will have a head start for next year. And btw- they look gorgeous!! You did a great job!!!