Swimming in Serranos

TomNJ · October 25, 2016

In reading up on Serrano peppers on the Internet, several sites mentioned they are usually picked green and to expect up to 50 peppers per plant. Personally I only pick red ripe Serranos for use in hot sauce and salsa. So with the season's first frost looming, I harvested the last of my Serranos today and tallied up the season's yield.

My seven Serrano plants yielded a total of 22 pounds of red ripe peppers. At an average of 0.23 ounces/pepper, that's over 1500 peppers or about 220 peppers per plant! And that's just the red ones - there were probably a couple hundred green Serranos left on the plants I pulled today, and I'm also not counting what some friends had picked earlier.

Are these unusually productive Serrano plants, or do the Internet sites have their typical yield figures wrong?

TomNJ

Worth1 · October 25, 2016

Tom your just better than they are.

What are you going to do with them?

dmforcier · October 25, 2016

It must be the magic dirt.

AFAIK, that's a superb yield. Congrats.

Now don't eat them all at one sitting.

pmcgrady · October 26, 2016

I had similar results growing Big Thai Hot peppers this year, close to 400 peppers per plant. My dehydrator has been running nonstop for over a month.

Father'sDaughter · October 26, 2016

Tom, I think you did find some magic dirt down there!

I'm happy my one plant in a five gallon grow bag only yielded somewhere around 75. I wouldn't know what to do with your harvest either! Sadly mine didn't have time to turn red and were all picked green.

Many were used along the way for cooking, but the last pile of them is now a pepper mash fermenting in a mason jar. When it's done, I'm turning it into hot sauce.

Salsacharley · October 26, 2016

That is insane production! You can pickle them, including the green ones. For each 2 lbs of peppers, stemmed and sliced like jalapenos in a jar:
3 Cups distilled white vinegar, 2 Cups water, 2 T salt, 2 T sugar. Pack the peppers into 4 clean, hot pint-size canning jars, leaving 1/2 in headspace. combine the vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a medium nonreactive saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the hot brine over the peppers to cover by 1/4 in. Leave 1/4 in headspace between the top of the liquid and the lid.
You can then refrigerate them by cooling, covering and refrigerating them. They'll last up to 3 weeks. Or you can can them using the boiling water method: Release trapped air, wipe the rims clean, center the lids on the jars and screw on the jar bands. Process for 15 minutes. Turn off heat, remove the canner pot lid and let the jars rest in the water for 5 min. Remove the jars and set aside for 24 hrs. Check seals and store in a cool dark place for up to a year.

This recipe is from "Put'em Up" by Sherri Brooks Vinton. I use it for all kinds of peppers and it makes excellent pickled peppers.

TomNJ · October 26, 2016

Yes my soil is quite good here - excellent drainage (no puddles), pH of 6.6, and all nutrient elements tested as very high. I have full sun and sit on top of a ridge at 2600 feet in the Blue Ridge mountains of southwestern Virginia, so the climate here is a bit cooler and drier than the coastal plain.

I put up 25 pints of hot sauce from my Serranos this year, probably a three year supply so I have been giving some away. I also have plenty of dried powdered peppers of several varieties, mostly Poblano, and have a half gallon each of crushed Serranos and Tabascos fermenting and will can these next month. Yesterday I picked the last half bushel of sweet peppers, a half bushel of Poblanos, and a quarter bushel of Serranos. Since I am up to my eyeballs in peppers I will give these away to local friends or the food bank.

Next year I plant less!

TomNJ/VA

dmforcier · October 26, 2016

Tom, you should look into growing C.pubescens - Manzano and Rocoto. Thick-walled, black-seeded peppers of about the heat level of Serrano, maybe a bit less. They developed in the uplands of the Andes and like cooler weather. The pods make outstanding powder and preserves, especially when smoked. Much more flavorful than Serrano, which I consider pretty boring.

The problem is that they are hard to get up and running. I admit that I have only ever been able to bring one Manzano to fruit**, and others have similar results. But once running, they crank out the good pods and, word is, can even take light frost. Maybe your magic dirt will prove the difference.

** I got one up to 20" this year, got it blooming, and it suddenly died. Cause unknown.

franknmiss · October 31, 2016

Tom,
I had the same experience this year with Serrano pepper. My Son loves hot peppers and asked me to grow him something hot this year. I bought a pack of Serrano seeds while at a "Dollar General" at the beach in Alabama for 25 cents early this spring.
Grew a few seed out and planted one in a 5 gallon homemade self-watering bucket.
The amount of ripe red peppers coming off this one plant was unbelievable. It supplied all he could eat as well as for a couple of my neighbors.
It is still producing today as we are having temps near 80 still going into November.

I enjoy reading all your post about your garden in the mountains. It sounds beautiful there.
We are only at 175 feet ASL here and it is very hot and humid in the summer for sure.
Frank

TomNJ · October 31, 2016

Hi Frank,

Yes life here in the Blue Ridge Mountains is really tough.

This is what I have to face in the mornings from my front porch...

GrowingCoastal · October 31, 2016

Lovely. A nice counterbalance to the harsh realities of life.

efisakov · October 31, 2016

Tom, this is beautiful scenery.

franknmiss · October 31, 2016

Tom. Wow!

Worth1 · October 31, 2016

Smoke from boot leg stills that is what my dad always said.

worth

BigVanVader · November 2, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

Smoke from boot leg stills that is what my dad always said.

worth

Lol, back in the day most likely

October 25, 2016	#1
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 771	Swimming in Serranos In reading up on Serrano peppers on the Internet, several sites mentioned they are usually picked green and to expect up to 50 peppers per plant. Personally I only pick red ripe Serranos for use in hot sauce and salsa. So with the season's first frost looming, I harvested the last of my Serranos today and tallied up the season's yield. My seven Serrano plants yielded a total of 22 pounds of red ripe peppers. At an average of 0.23 ounces/pepper, that's over 1500 peppers or about 220 peppers per plant! And that's just the red ones - there were probably a couple hundred green Serranos left on the plants I pulled today, and I'm also not counting what some friends had picked earlier. Are these unusually productive Serrano plants, or do the Internet sites have their typical yield figures wrong? TomNJ

October 25, 2016	#3
dmforcier Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,825	It must be the magic dirt. AFAIK, that's a superb yield. Congrats. Now don't eat them all at one sitting. __________________ Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers

October 26, 2016	#8
dmforcier Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,825	Tom, you should look into growing C.pubescens - Manzano and Rocoto. Thick-walled, black-seeded peppers of about the heat level of Serrano, maybe a bit less. They developed in the uplands of the Andes and like cooler weather. The pods make outstanding powder and preserves, especially when smoked. Much more flavorful than Serrano, which I consider pretty boring. The problem is that they are hard to get up and running. I admit that I have only ever been able to bring one Manzano to fruit, and others have similar results. But once running, they crank out the good pods and, word is, can even take light frost. Maybe your magic dirt will prove the difference. I got one up to 20" this year, got it blooming, and it suddenly died. Cause unknown. __________________ Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers

October 31, 2016	#12
efisakov Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NJ, zone 7 Posts: 3,162	Tom, this is beautiful scenery. __________________ Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!”

October 25, 2016	#2
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Tom your just better than they are. What are you going to do with them?

October 26, 2016	#4
pmcgrady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Central Illinois Posts: 1,836	I had similar results growing Big Thai Hot peppers this year, close to 400 peppers per plant. My dehydrator has been running nonstop for over a month.

October 26, 2016	#5
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,919	Tom, I think you did find some magic dirt down there! I'm happy my one plant in a five gallon grow bag only yielded somewhere around 75. I wouldn't know what to do with your harvest either! Sadly mine didn't have time to turn red and were all picked green. Many were used along the way for cooking, but the last pile of them is now a pepper mash fermenting in a mason jar. When it's done, I'm turning it into hot sauce.

October 26, 2016	#6
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	That is insane production! You can pickle them, including the green ones. For each 2 lbs of peppers, stemmed and sliced like jalapenos in a jar: 3 Cups distilled white vinegar, 2 Cups water, 2 T salt, 2 T sugar. Pack the peppers into 4 clean, hot pint-size canning jars, leaving 1/2 in headspace. combine the vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a medium nonreactive saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the hot brine over the peppers to cover by 1/4 in. Leave 1/4 in headspace between the top of the liquid and the lid. You can then refrigerate them by cooling, covering and refrigerating them. They'll last up to 3 weeks. Or you can can them using the boiling water method: Release trapped air, wipe the rims clean, center the lids on the jars and screw on the jar bands. Process for 15 minutes. Turn off heat, remove the canner pot lid and let the jars rest in the water for 5 min. Remove the jars and set aside for 24 hrs. Check seals and store in a cool dark place for up to a year. This recipe is from "Put'em Up" by Sherri Brooks Vinton. I use it for all kinds of peppers and it makes excellent pickled peppers.

October 31, 2016	#9
franknmiss Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Columbus, MS Living on the Edge ( Of Zone 7b/8a that is..) Posts: 50	Tom, I had the same experience this year with Serrano pepper. My Son loves hot peppers and asked me to grow him something hot this year. I bought a pack of Serrano seeds while at a "Dollar General" at the beach in Alabama for 25 cents early this spring. Grew a few seed out and planted one in a 5 gallon homemade self-watering bucket. The amount of ripe red peppers coming off this one plant was unbelievable. It supplied all he could eat as well as for a couple of my neighbors. It is still producing today as we are having temps near 80 still going into November. I enjoy reading all your post about your garden in the mountains. It sounds beautiful there. We are only at 175 feet ASL here and it is very hot and humid in the summer for sure. Frank

October 31, 2016	#11
GrowingCoastal Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC Posts: 1,253	Lovely. A nice counterbalance to the harsh realities of life.