Peppers
Poblano / ancho
Green = poblano, dried red = ancho.
- Indoors
- 8 to 10 wk (mid Mar)
- Outside
- Transplant after frost
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July; keep it even the whole way
- Harvest
- Aug to Oct
Care
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July and August, about weekly in spring and fall. A long soak at the base until the top few inches are wet, then let it dry before the next. Keep it even the whole way to red; a September dry spell hits the longest-hanging pods first.
- Sow
- 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, cut the weaker at the soil line when true leaves show. Set plants 18 inches apart in the bed.
- Start inside
- Mat at 80 to 90F, sprouts in 7 to 8 days. Under the lights the moment they break ground, 14 to 16 hours; off the mat at the first true leaves. Outside after mid May, once nights hold 50F.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked in at planting carries the bed most of the season. A medium feeder, so side-dress once at fruit set, then ease off the nitrogen.
- Ready
- Big and dark green for roasting from August; let what remains ripen mahogany red, then dry them into ancho. Cut with shears.
- Trouble
- Tall plants flop under a load of pods: stake early. Sunken dark tip: blossom end rot from uneven water, soak evenly. Longest-hanging pods shrivel in a dry spell: keep the water steady to the end.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in July and August; bags dry far faster than a bed. 30 to 40 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag.
Two peppers from one plant, with poblanos picked green for roasting and anchos dried from the pods left to ripen red. Green pods start in August, and whatever reaches mahogany by October becomes the winter chili supply.
Growing
One of the slower peppers, so it gets the full 8 to 10 weeks indoors from mid March. Transplant after frost into the bed, or a 5 to 7 gallon bag, and stake early; the plants grow tall and top-heavy. Big green pods for roasting come first, in August. Leave the rest to ripen dark red for drying; pods that reach full color before frost dry cleaner and taste sweeter.
Varieties
Baron and Tiburon set reliably in Northeast summers; heirloom-strain poblano seed runs hotter and more variable, which is its own argument.
In the kitchen
Green: roasted over flame, peeled, and folded into rajas or chiles rellenos. Red and dried, it is ancho, the backbone of chili powder and mole.