[CH] What causes pods to turn ripe?
JohnT (Love2troll@kc.rr.com)
Wed, 14 Jun 2006 11:38:32 -0500
"Normal peppers turn red based on day length. That is why even seemingly
immature peppers turn red in October, while a humongous pepper won't turn
red in July."
Quote above from an expert on a forum I visited yesterday.
I politely asked if he could provide a study that backs this up and he cited
"personal experience" from growing 2000 plants a year and tutoring from an
immigrant Italian family. Now, I know from personal experience that I can
force a first year seedling to set and ripen pods earlier than 'normal' by
keeping it severely rootbound. And I've read someplace that not all
capsicums are day neutral. Probably from a Jean Andrews or Dr. Bosland
book, but maybe online someplace. We've all read that stress causes a pod
to be hotter & I'll be the first to say that I've never been able to prove
that and have some doubts that it is true. So I keep my mouth shut and
don't reply.
Question: What factors are known to induce a pod to ripen? I've had mature
size rocoto pods take a month or more to ripen and have witnessed some
turning from green to red in a very few days. Have also had immature size
pods turn red after insect damage. I think ethylene gas is used to turn
picked green pods ripe color commercially.
jt