Jalapeno Peppers, When is the right time to harvest?
@lookatdesktop (27134)
Dallas, Texas
November 6, 2018 1:40pm CST
Planting pepper seed is easy. It's all about timing. You have to be patient.
But when the peppers finally appear, they are not ready to harvest yet.
I had to go online and do a Google search to find out when to harvest a jalapeno pepper. They appeared a few weeks ago and since then they have increased in size.
But the pepper plants I grew, might not produce the very large peppers I see in local supermarkets in the area. I have seen jalapeno peppers twice as large as the ones on my plants. So. I have to ask, when is the proper time to harvest those green jalapeno peppers?
The internet web search engine, Google might have the answer I need.
So it says 8 to 10 weeks to full maturity, 2 to 3 inches deep green and not all grow at the same speed on a single plant. I figure, there are a number of tiny peppers at their early stage of growth but many more at least 2 inches in length.
I found this information helpful from the following URL online.
You can harvest jalapeno peppers anytime throughout the their growing stage, but ripe fruit generally have cracks around the top portion.
3 people like this
4 responses
@wolfgirl569 (106361)
• Marion, Ohio
6 Nov 18
Many will come free when you move them to if they are ready. Thats how I pick most of my peppers.
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@lookatdesktop (27134)
• Dallas, Texas
7 Nov 18
Yea. The high winds of last week caused one pepper to just break off. I guess many of them are ripe now for the picking.
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@xander6464 (44250)
• Wapello, Iowa
6 Nov 18
I just pick them when I need them, as long as they're at least a reasonable size.
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@lookatdesktop (27134)
• Dallas, Texas
7 Nov 18
So you grow them too? Fantastic.
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@xander6464 (44250)
• Wapello, Iowa
7 Nov 18
@lookatdesktop Yeah. This year wasn't so good. Weeds kind of took over the garden. I got a bunch of peppers but not as many as in other years.
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@lookatdesktop (27134)
• Dallas, Texas
7 Nov 18
@xander6464 , Well, those weeds as you said, "took over the garden." 
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@NormanDarlo (1071)
• Ireland
7 Nov 18
I'm envious of you, being able to grow peppers outdoors! I grew some a few times in the greenhouse, but summers here tend to be short, cool and damp, so I usually only got underripe fruit 
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@lookatdesktop (27134)
• Dallas, Texas
7 Nov 18
At least you tried. So many of us give up the first time around. I failed to keep tabs on my peppers last summer and they stayed too long on the plant and turned from green to red and then to black. I was pretty sure those peppers were extremely hot and did not even try one. In a pot in the summer heat, they need to remain at least in the shade to avoid the intense direct heat and have to water them often.
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@NormanDarlo (1071)
• Ireland
7 Nov 18
@lookatdesktop Do they really get hotter and hotter as they change colour? I never knew that! I'll keep trying. We often get some very good weather in May or June, and I tend to get over-optimistic and too adventurous. But I'll strike lucky one of these days!
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@lookatdesktop (27134)
• Dallas, Texas
7 Nov 18
@NormanDarlo , I never ate a purple or red one. I am not willing to take a chance on it. Green jalapenos are hot enough in my opinion. Some green ones are milder and it is almost impossible to know which one you bite into will be hot, hotter or flaming hot until it's already too late. Better to have something to drink to wash that heat out ASAP.
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