[CH] Hanging Peppers

McWilliams, Dan (DMcWilliams@fendall.com)
Thu, 5 Oct 2000 08:29:02 -0500 

[snip]
>>Tue, 3 Oct 2000 21:01:59 EDT
>>From: Dustymllr@aol.com wrote:
>>Found information on Pepper Joe's website about pulling the entire plant
before the 
>>first freeze and hanging it upside down in a dry, airy location (a garage
or 
>>basement).   The green peppers will ripen right on the plant.

>>Has anyone tried this or have a better technique?  If so, please send us
some 
>>pointers or watch outs.  We're leaning towards putting the plants in the 
>>garage rather than the basement due to the possibility of bringing some 
>>unwanted critters into the house.
[snip]
 
 	You can't go wrong following Pepper Joe's advice. Last year I had
Francisca Habs which weren't quite ripe when the frost hit. I hung those and
some Cornio Da Toro pepper plants in the garage. They ended up being some
the best peppers I harvested all year.  The frost will be on the pumpkin
here in SW WI tonight so the last few nights I pulled out about six
different types of pepper plants and hung them in the garage. I like the
garage because I was afraid that in the basement it might be too warm and
they'd dry out and it doesn't irritate my wife as much. The only thing I
have noticed is that some of the very small peppers, like Rooster Spurs,
tend to dry out much faster than the bigger peppers but I have had some
Malibu Purples hanging for a few days and where the Rooster Spurs have
wrinkled the Malibii are still nice and crisp. But that's no big deal since
I wanted to dry those anyway. I did leave some Chocolate Scotch Bonnets,
Thai Dragons and Mai Mombassas out in the garden and am going to try to
cover those to see how that works. The Chocolates are about half way ripe
and are such a beautiful shade of brown I hate to yank them yet. 
	Hello from a Greenhills High School Alumni,
	Now a Cheese Head,
	Dan McWilliams

Spring flowers are long since gone. Summer's bloom hangs limp on every
terrace. The gardener's feet
drag a bit on the dusty path and the hinge in his 
back is full of creaks.
- Louise Seymour Jones