Your peppers please!

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
the grower probably got a few from the next patch over mixed in with yours, try drying a few and see if they're heirloom or not next year
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
dry two or three of the peppers out, you can use a screen rack, i just put them on a plate that sits on top of my dehumidifier. i turn them at least once a day, and after a week or two, they're good and dry. you can also hang them from strings, as long as air moves around them, they usually dry nice. when they're good and dry, break them open and remove the seeds. i usually let them dry for a few more days just to make sure they won't mold, then i put them in small jars with some desiccant beads.
be careful about breathing in heavily while you do this, the dust from the dried peppers can irritate your sinuses, and don't touch yourself till you wash your hands well.
if they're heirloom seeds, they'll grow more peppers just like the ones they came from. if they aren't heirloom, the seeds may be sterile, or they may grow strange looking half and half peppers, depending on whether they seeded themselves, or some other pepper seeded them.
either way, you got more pepper plants for next year
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
dry two or three of the peppers out, you can use a screen rack, i just put them on a plate that sits on top of my dehumidifier. i turn them at least once a day, and after a week or two, they're good and dry. you can also hang them from strings, as long as air moves around them, they usually dry nice. when they're good and dry, break them open and remove the seeds. i usually let them dry for a few more days just to make sure they won't mold, then i put them in small jars with some desiccant beads.
be careful about breathing in heavily while you do this, the dust from the dried peppers can irritate your sinuses, and don't touch yourself till you wash your hands well.
if they're heirloom seeds, they'll grow more peppers just like the ones they came from. if they aren't heirloom, the seeds may be sterile, or they may grow strange looking half and half peppers, depending on whether they seeded themselves, or some other pepper seeded them.
either way, you got more pepper plants for next year
I just remove the seeds when I use the pepper. I dry them on paper plates on top of the fridge.
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
A good tip for saving seed , is to always leave the fruit , ie; peppers, tomato , on the bush , until it is 100% ripe , that way the seed has fully matured, which in turn will deliver better germination rates
If the fruit is picked semi mature , the fruit will ripen , but the seeds stop developing
Also I like to get one of the first fruits of the season. Less chance of cross pollination.
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
i am getting way too soft. feeling sorry for the dead peppers
@wascaptain, I almost didn't post that picture. I figured I would get some flack for being a lazy SOB. But I have picked so many peppers only to have them go bad in the fridge, and get tossed in the compost pile two weeks later. All my friends lock their doors when they see me coming with shopping bags. Even the nice old ladies at the thrift stores are telling me they have had enough.

I should pick them and give to Sister's chickens. They love them.
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
None of my mini sweet going to waste yet. They are just getting started good. These are from the two in pepper trench #2. The four in the kiddie pool are getting big, but no fruit yet. And the culls in trench #3 have a few small peppers, but the plants are not getting much bigger.

DSCF0410.JPG
 

wascaptain

Well-Known Member
yo too larry......

talking about waste, i got to keep my ladder locked up from my wife. if i dont, she will use it to reach the tops of our fruit trees. its like she hates to see a fig or orange unpicked.
i tell her..... the birds got to eat too.

i dry, make jellys and sauces out of my pepppers. peeps seem happy to get the pepper jelly...fresh off the plant....not so much
IMG_1508.JPG
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
yo too larry......

talking about waste, i got to keep my ladder locked up from my wife. if i dont, she will use it to reach the tops of our fruit trees. its like she hates to see a fig or orange unpicked.
i tell her..... the birds got to eat too.

i dry, make jellys and sauces out of my pepppers. peeps seem happy to get the pepper jelly...fresh off the plant....not so much
View attachment 4196349
We do a lot of poppers and unstuffed peppers. {like stuffed peppers, just chopped up instead of stuffing them} Also make a good bit of hot sauce. The wife hasn't made any pepper jelly this year, but she usually does. And I've roasted and frozen quite a few of the Hatch. I blend most of my Habs to make a pepper spray. But I already have a couple of gallons in the freezer from last year.

I just always plant too many peppers.
 
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