My brother in Wisconsin was scrambling to harvest his peppers too. He got down to 36F a couple days ago. His are all in ground so he doesn't have the option to bring them inside. He was planing to cover them to get them thru the one night cold spell. I don't see any temps below 40 in his 2 week forecast going forward.

No threat of frost here in my location any time soon. I've been harvesting and drying hot peppers for a few weeks. I have another 4 racks of Serrano, Brazilian Starfish, and Sugar Rush Peach in the dehydrator now and need to go out and pick the red cayennes today to add to the lot.

I really need to pickle some too but haven't been motivated to do that yet. Also need to slice and freeze some sweet peppers to use in fajitas and stir fry.

The joy of gardening - trying to stay one step in front of Mother Nature.

Your peppers sound good. Do you freeze your roasted ones? Bet they would taste wonderful in January!

Not a great pepper or eggplant year here. I have one pepper plant that is just now forming. 🙄. One small AjiAmarillo I made some spade cuts around it so I can pot it up and bring inside. Did that last winter and it kept producing through the holidays.

No overnight temps below 50º so far.

I order a box of HatchChilis every year from NM and should be here today. I roast with garlic and tomatillos and freeze in flat pack zips. Just uncovered the last two from last year...they will go in a big batch of Fall chicken chili.

I preserve mine in brine and vinegar after roasting them, and they keep for a year. I made a huge batch of smoked chocolate Habanero sauce last December when I harvested them, but I won't have a big harvest this year, as I was not around enough to get the seeds started. So I am liable to run out of sauce, but I did dehydrate quite a few chilies that got ripe in January.

All of mine stay outside but are in pots. I should really put some of them in the ground to see how many years they will produce. They get rootbound even in very large pots.

We're going back to L.A. tomorrow for a couple of weeks, and I'll see how the plants are doing. I might try putting some in the ground, but the plants I have are now at least a year and a half old.

Lars, in the past I had a jalepino - in a pot - survive 3 years before it gave up and died. I have a new one called Sweet Heat that I would like to keep alive.

I have a pablano that is giving so many that I have started freezing them after charring the skins-off. I haven't tried putting any in brine and vinegar.

agmiss: the photo of your peppers is beautiful. What are you planning on doing with so much goodness?

agmss, those are beautiful peppers.

Here we got down to 40, but I'm hoping to get a couple more weeks reprieve. Those chocolate habaneros are not ripe yet and the plants aren't in pots, they are in the garden.

Jack, I found out the first year I grew Sugar Rush that they will ripen after picking. We had two bushels (yeah, I know, I didn't realize they were so prolific) and they gradually ripened in the garage as I picked through and tossed the soft/rotted ones.

Here I have Ajvarski, Hungarian Black, Chocolate Habanero, Sugar Rush, pepperoncini, some "lunch box" small sweet peppers and jalapeno, along with a Scorpion and something called "Death Spiral", LOL. Only the Death Spiral and the Lunch Box, along with a few Sugar Rush, have ripened.

That Death Spiral, though, wow. I have seen Elery eat a Ghost pepper without even changing expression but the Death Spiral even made him say "uncle" and go for the cottage cheese, he said it was the hottest pepper he's ever tasted, LOL.

The Death Spiral are the long ones, the Scorpion the more round and shorter ones. Anyone want some seeds? This batch went into the dehydrator to make "Dust of Death" as The Princess calls it. I can save seeds from the next ripe ones though...

Annie

Thanks you but I'll give a big negatory on the seed offer Annie! Way too hot for me! I didn't know the Sugar Rush Peach ripened to a different color. Mine are all pale greenish/yellow and non have changed color at all.

Dust of Death. I like that!!

Jack, if you let those Sugar Rush ripen they will turn a dark peach color. The more ripe they become the more they smell like peaches. I nearly gassed myself grinding some in the food processor because they did smell like peaches. Felt like breathing fire, LOL, so you KNOW I'll never try the Dust of Death! (grin)

Agmss, are those the "sweetie drop" peppers, like the ones I see on olive bars and such? I considered growing some, then forgot. Now I'll have to add it to next year's list!

Annie

Annie, I'll pass on the seeds as well. I think the Sweet Heat and Pablanos are about as hot as I can handle, both of which got extra hot this year because of our high temps.

Agmiss, I'd like to know what those peppers are too. They would be fun to pickle.

Annie, I don't know when your first frost is due, but September seems awfully early. You might get ripe chocolate Habanero chilies in October, if the weather stays warm that long. I have always thought of October as a summer month - but that might not be the case for Maine and perhaps not for Michigan.

Annie - I just stuffed a bunch of the dehydrated peppers into some jars and then a few minutes later I rubbed my left eye. Big mistake!!!! I think I'm almost back to abnormal now.

As far as the SRP ripening. I suppose some of mine did ripen to that color but it is hard for me to tell being partially color blind.

Wow, agmss, those little drop things are super-cute peppers!

Annie, if the Death Spiral peppers are too hot for Elery, then I suspect they'll be too hot for even my BF. wow. My tolerance is lower than his, but when my lips blister I know that a pepper is too hot for me. For him, it's when he hiccups uncontrollably. lol!

All of my hot peppers grew great this year, but my sweet peppers took forever to get going and are just now starting to ripen. Our low for tonight is supposed to be 40F. :p

Annie, I'm interested in some seeds, please. Since my surgery last spring I've not had it in me to do much outside. Being in S Florida it's been too hot to really tend more than the 5 or so potted plants without needing to spend 2 days recuperating.

But my energy is coming back and I'm looking forward to cooler weather so I can get out there, tame my overgrown jungle and start planning the pepper, tomato and herb containers again.

Funny being a German and loving super spicy peppers but then my absolute favorite food is anything Thai, the hotter the better!

a bzzybee, just send me an email with your address, to annie 1992 at yahoo dot com, and I'd be glad to put an envelope in the mail, as soon as another one gets ripe!

Lars, the average temperatures here in September are a high of 71F with a low of 46F, that goes to a high of 58F and a low of 35F in October. Those are just averages, of course, it is not unusual to get a frost by the end of September. I only have three plants, though, and I can cover those if we just have an overnight frost then the temperatures go back up.

PM, I think the extremely hot summer had something to do with that heat, and it's funny, Elery also got the hiccups. None of the drama that ensues on all those YouTube videos of people eating hot peppers, just a "well, that's too hot for me" and a trip to the refrigerator for cottage cheese, eaten between hiccups, LOL.

Annie

Annie, I very much thank you for your generosity, ti chiamero Generosa in my heart of hearts, email sent.

Annie

Here is the info on the ‘Christmas lights’ pepper. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/peppers/hot-peppers/biquinho-yellow-piquillo-pepper-seed-3381.html

I dried a half gallon jar of apples for my generous friend who works at Johnny’s Seed and dropped them off Saturday. And came home with squash and like 20 packets of seed - mostly hot peppers. I may need to up my game to catch up with her generosity.

Lars - it isn’t at all unlikely to get a frost in Maine in September. Many already have had one but not me yet. I hope it holds out for a few weeks more. I have lots of unripe tomatoes and peppers - especially hot ones.

Thanks, agmss, I think I'll try those next year! It says just a tiny bit of heat, so even I should be able to eat those!

Annie

Annie - have you every grown Poblano peppers? They also have just a tad bit of heat and are fantastic grilled with cheese on top or stuffed inside.

Jack, I did grow Poblano last year, roasted them and froze them, I just used the last package a few weeks ago. This year, though, they didn't like the weather, apparently, and the peppers are still too small, I don't think they'll be ready before frost. Fortunately, they are easily available at the farmer's market, that's what I put in the Chipotle Catsup that I just canned.

Annie

I only plant sweet peppers and I don't plant many any more. I had 3 nice different ones this year and one got broken off so ended up with two plants, Gypsy and Lunch Box. Love them both. The one that got broken off was King Arthur. I did get two nice peppers off of it though. I freeze or dehydrate mine to use and I do use quite a few.

Sue

I bought some peppers seeds a few years back and they were a mix of Mexican peppers. I've been growing a few ever year and trying to isolate the different varieties. So far I've identified poblano, tobasco, serrano and cayenne. This year, I gave my guinea pig, errr...husband, one to try and it clearly was a spicy one! I think he's going to be a bit more wary next time I hand him a pepper to try.