All red jalapeño peppers are simply green ones that actually completed their ripening process. (Same goes for red bell peppers.)
- Figure out what USDA zone your garden is in:
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/Native_Plant_Materials/Native_Gardening/hardinesszones.shtml
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Figure out your “first frost” date. YMMV because: climate change. From that point in time you can work backwards to calculate your “days to harvest (or to maturity)” window.
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Depending on how soon your first frost is, pick how many days to maturity your jalapeños need to have, keeping in mind that cold weather will slow down the ripening process. Some jalapeños bear faster than others:
- You can plant pepper starts in July in Central Texas:
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It’d be good to keep some polyspun rowcover or shadecloth (at least 50% blockage in CenTex) handy to protect plants (and their fruits) from sunscald.
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Best luck I have had growing Solanaceae spp veg is in a wicking bed or wicking bucket with shadecloth in CenTex. No other system is as reliable and robust.
- Solanaceae are very heavy feeders. Good quality soil is everything. Soil mixes abound. NB: Peppers are sensitive to fertilizer–timing is a big deal. Howard Garrett knows dirt. He’s kinda famous in Texas for giving solid advice for those of us who follow organic practices. He is very seldom wrong:
Good luck!
