Feeling Pepper challenged?
I still am to some degree. I gave up a while ago but still would
pick up a nursery six-pack every year and they would fail and
produce just a few in September. Too cold in the evenings I think.
Especially in the Catskills. Never worth the garden Realestate.
So many other crops love the temps.
I cracked the code a bit last Spring by starting way early.
8 varieties. Healthy seedlings but grew tall and lanky. I learned
from pot growers about topping. Making a canopy. I had six
AjiAmarilloSmall from Artisan. I topped one, then a week later
another, then a third plant week three.
The pic shows the three plants after three weeks. Into two gallon
pots on the deck they all did excellent. I have had nice medium
hot to hot peppers since mid June. Could be the variety but so
satisfying I'm going to add the lager Aji next year. Not staking
needed.
My other 4 plants, other varieties just started forming peppers
early Sept and still none harvested now October 5th.
The last lower pic is a few days ago one of the Aji just pumping
out more flowers and fruit.
Those in warmer climates just seem to plant and walk away.
In a challenging climate this worked for me. Worth a try for those
challenged. I have enough with 2-3 dozen a week for cooking and
the rest I toss in a on-going freezer zip-lock for the winter.
Not enough to make a good hot sauce but maybe next year with
more plants.
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