Saving my Carolina Reaper

[AMKuska]

It's fall now and getting colder and colder. I have had a bumper crop of peppers, but even though it is loaded with fruit my reapers are not coloring up.

I have a frost cloth over it for now, but I would really like to get seeds and fruit from thus guy.

I should I dig him up and put him in my grow tent? Bury the roots in hay? Pick the fruit and try to Ripen it?

Any advice welcome. I usually get a pretty pathetic harvest so I want to make the most of this.

 

[flowerbug]

[-- i wrote a bit at the very end that you may want to think about before you dig up and move a plant inside --]...

it really depends upon how ripe the peppers are (aka if the seeds are developed enough).

they peppers may be green but still be able to color up in a few weeks even after picking.

i would leave them in the ground as much as you can before a hard freeze takes them out. if you want to try to bring the plant inside wait until the day before the freeze and lift as much of the pepper plant (root ball and plant) out and put it in the biggest pot that will fit. this way you disrupt as little of the root system as possible.

if you are disrupting the root system you can trim a little of the growth from the top to balance that back out and give it a good shot of water after transplanting it into the pot and filling in around the edges to get the air bubbles out. if you have a long enough season inside and it is warm enough you may see some new growth. you can use just a little fertilizer but generally i don't for peppers as they seem to do ok with what our garden soil and worms provide. i would keep an eye out for worms wanting to escape and try to give them another home (aka back outside ) as they won't stay put. that's one thing about bringing plants in is that you often bring in other things too... i guess i should put that note at the top, but what i'll do instead is write a pointer up there to down here...