I hate to break it to you Mark, but i'm afraid you planted old pepper plants. With age comes wrinkles. Bend down really close and you'll probably hear them complaining of creaky joints. Keep a close eye on them come fall. They may try and uproot and move to Florida.

-Matt

P.S. Don't sweat it, they look great.

Mark,

Welcome, Your plants look fine to me although I'm not one of the pepper experts we have here on the Oklahoma Forum. Below is a google image of a ripe habanero, they turn orange when ripe instead of red like most peppers.

Perhaps Jay or Dawn can give you more info on leaves curling.

If you can eat a habanero right out of the garden, you are a tougher cowboy than me!

Hello Mark, and welcome

Dont pay any attention to Matt. I'm old with wrinkles and creaky joints and I dont want anyone looking down on me. Old things need lovin to.

Just kidding guys.

Mark I thing they look good, even if they had grey hair also.

Larry

Mark, They look fine to me too and my leaves wrinkled in the bad heat, but that didn't keep them from producing. Habs come in lots of colors. I am linking a blog from a Kansas grower who has four colors in his harvest.

Here is a link that might be useful: JR's High Farming

Oh, no, gray hair on pepper plants? That could be diagnosed as powdery mildew, and we wouldn't want that, would we? LOL! I have lots of powdery mildew on my head, you awful guys!

Welcome, Mark!

Susan

wow, thanks everyone for the follow up! My strawberries and tomatoes have suddenly started blowing up with blooms. I've had them planted since May with virtually no success, and all of the sudden they're going CRAZY! No complaints.

I also dedicated a bed to broccoli and a bed to various lettuces. Unfortunately, something is eating my broccoli leaves! ARGH. We're in the middle of the city with a fenced in yard....I'm not sure what's getting it, but it could be grasshoppers. I've seen a TON of them. I've put a bird feeder in the back yard, hoping the birds will pick them off.

Mark,

Welcome to the forum.

I wouldn't worry about the wrinkled foliage. There are several reasons you might see wrinkled foliage on pepper plants, including some foliar diseases and sometimes a calcium deficiency, but generally neither one prevents the plants from producing peppers. Although we humans tend to think our plants should look perfect all the time, the truth is they often produce just fine even we they look far less than perfect. My vote is to leave them alone and not worry about it.

If you purchased the plants at a store labeled merely as 'Habanero Pepper', likely you have the ones that produce orange peppers although every now and then I see Red Savina Habaneros sold in stores. Either way, they'll change colors when they are ready and not before. You also can pick them and use them green once they are full-sized but the flavor is better if you let them mature to their ripe color. Habaneros come in many colors and while I haven't grown them all, I have grown the following colors: red, orange, yellow, brown, mustard and white.

I can nibble a habanero in the garden, but I generally don't because my mouth will burn forever. I prefer habs made into Habanero Gold jelly (apricots and habanero peppers being the two main ingredients, along with tons of sugar) because the sweetness makes the heat more bearable.

As for the culprits eating your fall garden, it could be anything. Grasshoppers are a good candidate although in my garden they prefer many other plants to those from the cole family. All cole crops, but especially broccoli and cabbage, are often plagued with caterpillars in the spring and sometimes, but less often in the fall. So, check the backs of your broccoli plants and look for little green worms. If you find them, you can hand pick them and drop them into a container of soapy water to drown or you can spray your plants with Bt 'kurstaki'.

Dawn

thank you Dawn! I don't see any caterpillars. I DID see a bunch of grasshoppers, but they seem to have evacuated since the cool weather rolled in. I'm looking forward to harvesting my peppers. Are they likely to mature before first frost? I'm sure hoping to get enough peppers to go crazy on some Gold, some hab salsa, etc. :)

Mark,

You're welcome.

I can't say if the small habanero peppers on your plants are likely to ripen before frost because there's no way to know when your first frost will occur. In the 12 years we've lived in southern OK, our first frost has occurred as early as Sept. 29th (I think that was in either 1999 or 2000) and as late as December 17th or 18th around 2005 or so. However, the first frost is normally in early November for much of the state, so your peppers have a chance of maturing.

There are a couple of ways to give the green habs a chance to mature if a frost or freeze is forecast for your area and you are pretty sure your plants are about to die:

(1) You can pull up the plants, roots and all, and hang them upside down in a non-freezing location, like in a closet, a tornado shelter or a well-insulated outbuilding like a barn or garage. The plants likely will drop leaves, but the peppers often stay on the plant and color up/finish maturing over a period of several weeks. (This often works with tomato plants that have small bite-sized tomatoes too.)

(2) You can harvest all the peppers, placing them in a single layer on a cookie sheet or small cardboard box (like the flat boxes cases of bottled water come in, for example) lined with newspaper. They can be very close to one another but not touching one another to allow good air flow. Place in a cool, dry location where humidity does not fluctuate wildly, and they often will mature and color up over a period of days, but generally won't last as long as peppers on a plant treated as described in item (1) above.

(3) You can dig up the plants, place in a pot with a high-quality soilless potting mix and bring them inside the house or place them in a warm sunny location like a patio where they can continue to receive sunlight and heat during the day and can be carried inside at night to avoid freezing weather.

With peppers, I've been doing a little experimentation with overwintering them in pots in my insulated but unheated garage to see if I get earlier production from plants that are more than 1 year old. So far, it seems I do. Last year, a potted red sweet bell pepper overwintered successfully despite dropping all its leaves following a night when the lows dropped into the single digits either in late Dec. or early January. It began leafing out again within a few days of the leaf drop, bloomed and had formed small fruit by latest January or earliest February. I began harvesting those red sweet bells beginning in late April, which I think is before I even had my new pepper plants in the ground. All I did was keep it in our large barn-style garage, dragging it out into the sunlight on warm days and leaving it inside the garage on cold days and cold nights. I pretty much took it inside on all nights even if they weren't forecast to drop down into freezing temps because I knew the deer would eat the potted pepper plants if I left them out at night.

I have some pepper plants that are now 3 years old in pots and they produce very early harvests----generally producing mature peppers before Memorial Day. So far I've done this with ornamental peppers of all kinds, jalapeno peppers, fish pepper (a variegated hot pepper that's great for a fermented pepper sauce) and several kinds of sweet bell and non-bell peppers. This year I intend to overwinter some habanero peppers if I manage to dig them up and pot them up before our first frost.

I am not sure why your habaneros were so slow to produce this year. I planted my orange habanero plants in May (I am sure it was not earlier than May because we had a temp of 39 degrees and patchy frost on May 3, 2010, for about the 3rd or 4th year in a row, so I no longer set out pepper plants before about May 5th thru 10th at the earliest) and was harvesting ripe, orange habaneros in July. I was, in fact, a little shocked that they matured so early, but suspect the beastly heat/drought/heat indices in June pushed them to mature quickly.

You know what, as I was typing that I did have a thought on pepper production. Hot peppers are not affected negatively by high heat as sweet peppers often are, but they are negatively affected by high humidity. That could explain late pollination/fertilization/fruit set.

If I were you and I wanted habs this year, I'd carefully dig up the plants soon, put them in pots with good soil and put them in a sunny location that stays hot. In my particular case, I'd put them on the concrete apron alongside the south-facing garage wall so they could soak up heat and light not only from the sun but also reflected heat/sunlight from the south-facing wall and the concrete apron. If cold threatens, carry them inside to protect them. Often, you know, we'll have a cold night or two in Oct. or Nov., and then it will be followed by another 4 to 6 weeks of decent gardening weather.

You also could leave the plants in the ground and cover them up REALLY well anytime forecast lows are expected to drop below 40 degrees. When I want to cover up a plant under those conditions, I put a 5 gallon or larger bucket over it and then put a big sleeping bag or old comforter over the bucket. You have to remember to uncover them in the morning though, or they can roast in the heat once the sun comes up.

Dawn

I have had a strange pepper year as well. I planted Pablano peppers this year and could hardly wait until they were mature. The plants are probably 5 feet tall and have bloomed for a long time. When they started to produce peppers, the peppers were small. I mean really small and not at all like a pablano. I left them on the plant thinking they would grow and they never did. They just turned a beautiful dark red color. The size and shape is like a small hab, but they aren't that hot. They seem a little hotter than a pablano but not even one fifth of the size. I think I will be shopping for the best hybrid pablano seed that I can find for next spring. I am sure disappointed with what I ended up with this year.

Carol,

Do you know what your source of poblano pepper seed was for the plants you grew this spring? I can't help thinking you got crossed seed or mislabeled seed.

I have a smallish, red pepper called 'Zavory' that is similar to habanero in appearance but is mild in flavor. I grew it on purpose though. Your poblano sounds quite similar to Zavory.

My peppers produced great all year long and are still producing very well. I've harvested almost 100 lbs. of hot peppers and dozens and dozens of sweet bell peppers. Here where I live it was a great pepper year for the second year in a row, but not every year is a great pepper year. This was just an extra odd weather year and I think that was reflected in the problems everyone had with various crops like beans, winter squash, peppers and tomatoes that generally are fairly reliable producers for most of us in most years.

It is something odd every year, though, isn't it? I am not sure what a truly "normal" year would be like.

Dawn

Dawn, The answer is yes and no. I am sure that I still have the package, but I can't get to it right now. Talk about a wrecked house. I have everything moved out of my kitchen and packed up all over my house. The seed box happens to be behind a four foot wide stainless steel shelf in the small bedroom that is covered with food and dishes from my kitchen. Tomorrow all of the cabinets will be coming out and the re-build beginning.

I have found dishes that I haven't used in 9 years. LOL I have one of those pyrex measuring cups that is the size of a mixing bowl and all of the time I was making Apple Pie Jam, I was wishing that I knew where it was. Today I actually found it. My kitchen is a fairly large room - but totally useless. It has never been adequate for the way I cook and everything was starting to breakdown. I have seen better camp kitchens than the one I have been using for the past few months. LOL It is probably going to be 'over built' for my little lake house, but I am so excited. Everything in my kitchen is being replaced except the refrigerator. My DH wants to replace that but I said no. It is only about 3 years old and I don't want to spend the money on a new one. When I have to replace the one in the bunkhouse, then I will make the switch to stainless steel like the rest of the kitchen and put this one out there. Until then it will just have to look out of place.

The design that we have to go with is not perfect, but it is going to be so much better than what I have now. It is exciting to think I will have an actual 'real' oven instead of that little baby wall oven. I have had a wall oven in the last two houses so that is over 20 years. I would never, ever put one of those in a house.

First - welcome Mark! Your questions and the ensueing replies have given me quite a few giggles over the last few days! Hope you stick around because this is THE place to be if you garden in Oklahoma. If you hang around long enough, you'll soon find yourself talking about us like we're people you "see" every day! Dawn has a great theory on this. It's an imaginary neighborhood where we all live within walking distance and can browse over each others gardens, chatting, harvesting and enjoying the fruits of our labors. This is the next best thing!

Second, I seriously jealous of anyone who's still harvesting large amounts of peppers. I'm getting some, but my plants were so stressed by the heat (that is - the ones that weren't ravished by the blasted grasshoppers) that they really aren't producing even close to what I got last year. Guess MIL will have to steal them from somewhere else this year! LOL! But I've learned a LOT and am already adjusting my plans for "next year".

And Dawn - I'm so glad to see you back on a more frequent basis!! I'm sure I'm not the only one that's missed your weather and gardening reports! I sent you an e-mail but I'm sure you've been so busy you haven't checked your In-box. Regardless, glad things have slowed down enough for you to check back in here!

Carol - OMG!!! How EXCITING!!!! DH & I went thru a total kitchen makeover 2 years ago and it was horrible...but the best thing we ever did!!!! We gutted the entire space, moved water lines and splurged on gadgets. Cut corner where we could and did all the work ourselves. The result is a wonderfully functional kitchen that I'd be hard-pressed to ever leave. We may have overdone since we live in a double-wide, but since I'm LIVING in it, I don't care. It's all about "quality" not "quantity". I didn't replace appliances since ours were fairly new, but we did spend the money for a top-of-the-line garbage disposal (well worth it!) and I also sprung for a gadget that holds the KitchenAid in a cabinet. I just open the door and slide it out and up. It snaps into place. It stays plugged in so it makes it sooooo easy to use whenever the need comes up! It was less than $100 for the hardware so if you're interested, I'll send you the link. I ordered it off the Net. Bottom line, we have oak cabinets, marble look countertops and it's multi-functional. I've got the option of up to 5 "work-stations" which is good since I have 2 grown daughters that seem to always be out here cooking in the winter months. It's all about the "flow" and keep in mind a functioning triangle. Sheesh...I'm sounding like some kind of designer, aren't I? ha! Also, we did it all including flooring & gadgets for under $6K. Realtors tell us that was money well spent.

My pepper report - the Mucho Nacho is not so Mucho. I think the weather really hampered what would have been a good harvest. Same with my Felicity jalepeno's. My "Big Bertha" bells are turning out to be "Skinny Minnie's". I am geting a few nice ancho's. The surprise is a few extra's from spring starts are healthy and covered in blooms. Maybe I'll get a few from them before frost.

Paula

Carol,

I am so excited the kitchen rebuild is under way! I also am insanely jealous. One of these years (although it may not happen until Tim retires and that is still a good ways off) I hope to redo our kitchen too. I hope you'll keep us posted on the kitchen progress. For all the time you spend in the kitchen and for everything you do there, I don't blame you for 'overbuilding' the kitchen in comparison to what is generally found in a lake house there. Why not have a room as important to you as the kitchen built to be exactly what you what it to be???? This is going to be such a wonderful home improvement!!!!

Paula, I finally got around to checking my e-mail this morning and sent you a book-length email in response. Sorry for how wordy it was, but I had a lot of info to share and hope it wasn't too boring. Once before, fire dept. business took me away from this forum for about 18 months during which I maybe posted maybe 3 or 4 times. That was during the awful "wildfire season" that began in Love County in Oct. 2005 and didn't truly end until early 2007. I don't think I could bear to be away from all my forum friends for such a long time now but we were so insanely busy then that my computer just sat and gathered dust except when I was checking the 'fire weather' pages.

The pepper harvest this year has been insane. I am afraid to plant fewer plants in 2011 for fear it will be a 'bad pepper year' and I won't have enough peppers for fresh eating, canning, freezing and drying, but I surely don't need as many peppers next year as we had this year either. The sweet peppers produced terribly well considering the heat and that was surprising too because we had tons of heat and humidity and both of those normally have a negative effect on sweet pepper production. I guess having the heavy pepper harvest made up for the poor bean harvest. In my garden, the hoppers prefer the beans plants to all others.

Paula, I hope you have a better pepper year next year and I hope we all have a better bean year! I feel bean-deprived. For some odd reason, the darned grasshoppers didn't eat the purple hyacinth bean plants which are in full bloom and spectacularly gorgeous. They devoured every other bean plant though, but never touched my peppers. We still have billions of hoppers, but I can't tell they're damaging anything now.

Dawn

All,

My tomato plants are looking good, well rooted and getting bushy and tall, but I have a nasty looking black residue of some kind on the edges of some of the leaves.

Can anyone tell me what this is?? I have seen a few stink bugs around, they are mating, and I have sprayed w/ Sevin.

Thanks to all

Ir is impossible to attempt an accurate diagnosis on such few details. We need to know more about it.

You describe it as a residue. Does that mean you can wipe it off with your figure or a paper towel? Or is is actually inside the leaf tissue and not merely on it? Is it solid black? Speckled black and purple? A smudgy-looking black that is heavier towards the leaf margins and then gets lighter and fades as it moves more towards the interior of each leaf? Is it speckled or spotted more than solid? Consistently black, or brownish-black or purplish black?

Is the black on the foliage uniformly all over the plant? Worse at the bottom and moving up? Worse at the top and moving down? Is there any appearance of nearby brown tissue and/or sporulating bodies?

How many days since you first noticed the black?

Are you in an area where there has been a widespread late blight epidemic during the last 2 or 3 years?

Different diseases progress in different ways so in addition to knowing what it looks like, we need to know how it is moving. Is it moving? Or, is new growth coming out that's not affected? Is the new growth healthy or, by chance, is it twisting and curling or turning yellow?

Diagnosing tomato diseases when you can't see them and you haven't been able to see how they develop and progress can be very tricky, so a thorough description is needed.

How much moisture have you had in the last couple of weeks?

Dawn