Any suggestions for hastening hot pepper ripening?

I bought some green poblanos the other day from the grocery store. I put them on my windowsill. 7 days or so later, they turned red. :-)

Cheers!

Let me see if I remember my high school biology here...

I think if you put them in a brown paper bag, they will ripen quicker. I seem to remember that the skins of fruits give off methane which acts as a ripening catalyst for other fruits. The paper bag traps the methane while allowing them to breath a bit. Warmth (such as a windowsill) speeds the process.

Leaving them on the vine? Maybe try a brown garden recycling bag at night? Would protect against frost at least.

Or, I'm just talking out of my backside :)

No, you are right... I don't think it's methane tho' but I can't remember the name of the gass off the top of my head. Bannanas tend to put out more than some fruits so you can put avocados, peppers or tomatoes in a paper bag with a bannana or two to speed things up.

Cheers!

How about ethane?

You can pull the plants up and hang them upside down, that'll work pretty well. Other than more light and heat, not much.

John!

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:

It's ethene (old name ethylene). As frisco said, Bananas (particularly ripe ones) and rice give off stacks of it, so that would be a good source of it.

That's it!

John!

Zax wrote:

Good job!

I just put mine on the windowsill with good air circulation.

Cheers!

I have left them in the back of my truck for several days after pulling them and more ripened.

So yeah, shake the all the dirt off and hang them upside down in the basement with newpaper underneath.

I have also used the big bread trays lined with newspaper to spread the biggest ones out. They ripened over a couple of weeks.

John!

Chris Smol> In article ,

You know, I've been thinking about this. As the Queen of trying to eke out a few more weeks of garden time, I have noticed how much ripening slows down as the days get shorter and the sunlight less intense. It's not unexpected, just...frustrating. I can keep the pepper plants alive, but the return on fruit isn't really worth it much past this time of year.

I was thinking that this would be the time of year that the red mulch that some gardeners further north use might be an advantage. It usually warms up quickly enough in the spring here that I don't see much advantage in using it then, but I wonder about this time of year? Hmmm, I might have to experiment by putting the red mulch around a couple of plants and seeing if they ripen more fruit, or if the fruit ripens faster.

Must add to my list of things to try...

Penelope

How about aluminum foil? I've heard of people putting that down, shiny side up, around plants in the early spring. -aem

Alien telepathist or government thought control beams are keeping my peppers from getting ripe?

Makes sense.

Naw, actually, I thought about the tin foil, but I've heard so many good reports from folks that have tried the red mulch I was leaning toward trying it.

Plus, my neighbors think I'm weird enough. After all, I squeal in excitement over finding lady bug larva on my plants, flake out in the grass out front to listen to an owl calling, and made them all come and see my monarch and black swallowtail caterpillars whilst I proudly burbled on about The Importance of Larval Food Plants.

We won't even go into the earthworm incident.

Penelope

Please do. ;-)

Actually it's ethylene.

This begs the question, "If a pepper or tomato is picked when unripe, will it produce viable seeds when ripened?" I have about 30 semi-mature heirloom tomatoes and peppers and it looks as though cold (for peppers and tomatoes) weather is going to be here before they ripen.

A Florida gardener, Lou Please ping me for my real address. SPAM.