Ornamental pepper âÂÂBlack PearlâÂÂ

In early summer, plants begin developing glossy black fruits that ripen red. For much of the summer, the plant has a blend of all three: lavender flowers, black âÂÂolivesâ and rounded red mature fruits. Fruits are edible but extremely hot

You want to know what to do with the fruit, or with the plant as a whole (overwintering) once it has fruited?

Fruit wise you can pick it and eat it if you want (though my black pearl and purple flash fruit was a little bitter). Save some seeds from the red ones to dry and plant next year.

If you are wanting to overwinter it, you will have to bring it inside if it get below 40 F where you are.

It is really up to you how to deal with the peppers. If you pluck the ripe ones as they ripen, it will spur the plant into producing more. That is probably the best way to get the most production. Black Pearls tend to stay in the black stage for a long time before ripening to red when you should harvest them to promote new growth. Twilights go through 4 or 5 color stages before they ultimately ripen. They will start out purple and go to yellow/whitish, then orange and then red. If you harvest the red ones, it should prompt the plant into putting out some more blooms as long as the growing conditions are still good in your area. I would not "cut back" your peppers at this stage. I have not grown the purple flash but basically, you would want to harvest peppers from it as they become ripe which allows the plant to put it's energy into producing more pods.
Good Luck,
Bruce

I am with Bruce on this. It's up to you.

I have been letting my ornamentals go and in my opinion the shriveled pods start to look a bit unsightly.. Here is what one of mine looks like... Its still putting out new pods... Prob put out more if I had picked.

dj

Thank you all for the input! I'm so pleased I came upon this board! They are potted and in the house as the nights are already too cold for them outside. My NuMex Twilight still has not started to wither and seems to even have some new buds starting so I will let that one alone for a bit more. The Black Pearls are about 80% withered and the one that I believe to be a Purple Flash is an even mix of bright red and withered and immature dark.

My last question is how best to harvest without traumatizing the plant. Do I snip them at the stem as I would say a bell pepper or pluck them as I would a berry?

They are potted and in the house as the nights are already too cold for them outside.

Don't know which Zone 8 you're in but it must've cooled off!> USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

To answer your question, I always snip my peppers.

This post was edited by northeast_chileman on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 18:45

Unless you are able to give your plants a whole lot of direct sunlight or artificial light indoors, you are better off trimming them way back and down potting them over the winter. They will begin to struggle trying to support pod and plant production while being starved for sunlight. It will make it a lot easier to care for them as well. That is my suggestion though.
Bruce