by Janet Jenson

Created on: December 13, 2008

After planting a jalapeno pepper seed indoors in August, we watched the ensuing plant grow and flower and bear fruit until finally, in December, we got our first bright red fully ripe jalapeno pepper. If you would like to see how it went from a rich chocolate brown to bright red overnight, here is a composite photo:

A Hot Pepper

Although it was not necessary, we started our Christmas jalapeno in an AeroGarden Deluxe planter from AeroGrow International. We have several of these planters and use them for everything from growing salad bar greens such as romaine lettuce, chicory, and purslane to growing tomatillos and cherry tomatoes, petunias, and other edibles and ornamentals. This is dirt-free, bug-free gardening. The bulk of the roots live in an aerated bowl of nutrient-rich water, with an air gap between this liquid and the growing surface. Grow lamps are supported by an adjustable arm and are raised as the plant grows. One difference between the Deluxe AeroGarden and AeroGrow's standard planter is that the lamps can be raised a full two feet higher. This makes it possible to grow fairly large soil-less plants indoors.

After our pepper plants are well-established, however, and before the root system gets too large to remove from the itty-bitty AeroGarden grow holes, I take some of the plants out and put them in containers filled with hydroton grow rocks and liquid nutrient solution. Sometimes they wilt a little from the transfer shock, but usually they perk back up again after a few hours. Sometimes I cut off the larger leaves toward the bottom, to reserve energy for the new growth. Most kinds of pepper plants will start flowering after a month or so in the AeroGarden, so if I am going to take them out, I generally do this before they flower, in order not to disturb the blooms. Seeds can be germinated and will grow without the fancy and expensive AeroGarden's help, but they grow more slowly and do not get as big. Some kind of aeration has to be provided, too, and I use the simplest but most labor-intensive method, a manual ebb and flow system. I simply drill holes in the bottom of one container, nest it in another and lift the inner one up and out to allow the liquid nutrient solution to drain out once or twice a day. That is pretty much all the care a hydroponic pepper needs, and of course, this step can be automated, but sometimes bothering with the equipment is more trouble than it is worth, especially if your experience power outs from time to time.

The pepper plant pictured in the link above has flowered continuously since mid-September and we have enjoyed eating the green peppers, but we only left one to fully ripen. It seemed to take an eternity for it to begin changing from green to red, and in fact, several months did pass, but instead of going from green to orange to red, this one just got darker until it changed from green to a deep brown and then the very next day it was bright red. Once it began blooming, the plant produced new flowers continually, and probably will do so until summer comes, and then unless some friend wants to adopt the plant it will be curtains for that one, as we cannot take it along to our summer home. We'll start a new plant in September.

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