Hi,

Yes, the fruit develops where the flower is. Once it is fertilized the flower petals die off and the fruit start to form.

Based on you photo I doubt you'll have ripe peppers by the end of September.

Bill

Sorry, forgot to add that the "stick" you describe may be the stigma. If you follow it to its base you'll see the blossom end. That is where the fruit pod starts to grow.

You should know in a few days if a pepper will grow there or if the plant aborts it. Either you will see the beginning of a pepper, or the whole blossom will be dropped.

What kind of pepper is it? If it is a type that you pick green, you might be ok. If it is something that you let ripen, that takes a while.

The stick is the style and stigma of the pistil, the female organ. The pollen (think sperm) travels down the style to the ovary, where it fertilizes the proto-seeds. Then the ovary develops into the pepper pod. The stick eventually falls away, but it's not uncommon to see baby pods with the stick still sticking out the bottom.

Look at Flower in wikipedia for some diagrams.

...made me horny... :P

...made me hot... :P

Fixed it for you.

My habs make me hot. Different sensation entirely.

Some Annuums ripen fast.
Depends on the plant variety you have as to if you'll get ripe pods.
Also a lot of peppers are great in the pre ripe stages.
A lot of peppers are sold Yellow,long before they ripen to red.

Patience is a virtue in growing chiles.

Yeah. Or you can end up eating orange habaneros not knowing they are actually red type ;)

The pod stage is the most interesting. Depending on the kind of peppers you grow, the flower petal ring can have a direct effect on how the pepper develops. In a lot of cases you see some rather exotic shaped peppers in the habanero family.

Some habaneros on my plants are somewhat scabrous, much like the texture you see on the hotter Nagas and Trinidads. Others are smoother. I suspect that not all peppers will always follow their Scoville averages, even the low and high end.

One thing about habaneros, they can't read Scoville charts.

Yeah, its going to take at least a month for the pod to reach full size, and then probably another month before it ripens.

At this point I wouldn't be wondering when I'd be able to pick it but if I'd be able to pick it. First frost dates are sneaking up fast.