2021 Pepper Season Mid-August Update
It’s been just about a month since our last garden update. In that time, the pepper plants have been cruising along nicely with only a small number of hiccups. And we are coming up on peak production time in my area – the harvests will start to get bigger and more frequent in the coming weeks.
Before we check in on the various regions of the garden, there are a couple of items that have been a bit disappointing. The Thai Dragon that I have growing in a 13 gallon pot looks great and is producing a pile of fruit. Despite these pods looking the part and tasting the part, there is no burn associated with any of them – I’m going to keep the plant going, however, as I enjoy the look of it.
My other big issue is that my both of my Rocoto varieties (Brown Rocoto and Ecuadorian Red Pepper for Hell) have yet to produce any fruit. Both plants are massive in size and continue to put out beautiful purple blossoms, but the also continue to drop those blossoms at an alarming rate. I’m going to assume that the hot Virginia temperatures are to blame and will keep my eye on both the remainder of the season.
As you can see in the photo above, the potted plants are doing pretty well. As expected, they are not as large in stature as those in the raised beds, but a couple of them (Chupetinho White and Naga Smooky Rainbow) are producing hundreds of fresh pods. I’m also pretty darn close to picking the first ripe Solid Gold Bhut in the next couple of days – very excited about that development.
Just like the past few seasons, the plants in the raised beds are ridiculously big. Not all of them are producing as expected. The previously mentioned Rocotos live here, as does a BTR Scorpion that has produced one ripe pod. I’m hoping that particular plant starts flowering soon. I have harvested some incredible peppers from these three beds both in terms of flavor and scorching heat. Look out for reviewing coming over the next couple of weeks.
I’ve got a single Brazilian Starfish (pictured below) that is putting all of the rest of the raised bed plants to shame. This one plant just started cranking out fruit, but it stands nearly five feet tall, towering above the rest of the plants by at least a couple of feet. And, the ripe fruit I have pulled from it so far have been incredibly delicious!
And finally, we come to the self-watering buckets. The plants here are producing well despite starting to yellow a bit. I’m gong to blame the 4 inches of rain we have gotten over the past couple of weeks – as well as forecasted three coming today alone – with contributing mightily to the leaf coloring. That all said, the Pimenta Moranga (that’s supposed to be peach) is producing some of the tastiest and fiery pods I’ve enjoyed all season. And in massive numbers!
That’s it for this update. Happy gardening!