Chillies not ripening

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by Canucks72, Aug 28, 2009.

  1. Canucks72

    Canucks72 Gardener

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    My 3 Apache Chilli plants have done well, producing maybe 25-30 fruits per plant... trouble is that they don't seem to be ripening. The very tiniest ones turned red weeks ago and had to be picked... (very little heat by the way) but the larger fruits just keep getting bigger, not turning red at all. I have picked one, and they're fiery hot and tasty. I'm going on holiday in 2 weeks and hoped they would be ready for drying by now, so 2 questions:
    1) With the mixed weather we're having, are they likely to get ripe within 2 weeks, or should I maybe bring them inside to see if that'll kick start the ripening?
    2) Are they okay to be dried green? I buy Thai Chillies which are both red and green and find them equally good, so is this the case with home grown?
    Thanks!
     
  2. steve75

    steve75 Gardener

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    I have an apache plant it too has done very well. I had the same as you small ones ripening first with little heat. today i have Picked the first few large ones they are very hot. just give them a little more time... How are you planning on drying them? This is my first year with them.
     
  3. seedstotal

    seedstotal Gardener

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    Just leave them on a peice of paper in the warmest place in the house, mine dried out very well like that!
    Yeah chillies need a lots of time to grow and ripe, I was just a little late with the sowing (march) and put them in the unheated greenhouse too early, and the habanero is full of flowers now!! Got 1 tiny fruit only!
    Well it was my mistake chucked them in the greenhouse way too early in the spring! And it depends on variety as well.
    Did the same thing with tiny pyramid chillies and I am enjoying hot fruits for a month now!!!!!
     
  4. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Canuck, no need to worry too much. Some chillies don't ripen until quite late in the season. It doesn't usually matter if you go away and leave them to ripen on the plant - as long as you have someone to water them. If you intend drying them anyway the ones that ripen whilst you are away may start to dry on the plant but won't be a problem - unless you are going away for a long time and the ones on the plant may fall off.

    Just in case you didn't know, most chilli plants are evergreen perrenials. so you can keep the plants from one year to the next. All you need to is keep them indoors where they don't get too cold and have plenty of light. They will tend to start growing like mad once the crop has finished and you can then keep them pruned. Although they are evergreen they will probably drop a lot of leaves

    Over the last three years there have been quite a lot of threads on here about chillies so you could do a search for them if you were interested.


    Here is one of my four year old chilli plants. I have been harvesting about a dozen a week from it for the last couple of months but the ripening should speed up soon. :thumb:


    [​IMG]
     
  5. Canucks72

    Canucks72 Gardener

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    Well I'll be away for 3 weeks so that might be too long to leave them... I may get a colleague to give them a water once a week. They've not needed much so far, I've tended to water quite well then leave them for a week as they seem to like drying out.
    I might even dry them green, I'll see how I feel. I quite like green chillies.
    As for drying method, I was looking to put them in a metal steamer rack and pop them in the oven on an ultra low setting, probably with the door open! It worked for my "sun dried" tomatoes.
    Many thanks for your thoughts!
     
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