RE: Chiles and frost

	Hi all,
	Phillipa in New Zealand asked about chiles and their resistance
to frost. The answer is they have NONE! If you intend lifting and
potting some, do it now before any chance of frost at all. One little
touch of frost and the plants will die, fruit will freeze and then go
all mushy and nasty as it defrosts. If you are unable to lift the plants
before the first frosts, cover the ones you want to keep during the
night with plastic sheeting or old sheets or some other material that
will protect them until you can dig them up. Growers on the chile-heads
list have even been known to string Christmas lights through their
plants before covering them in an attempt to keep them warm enough
during early frosts until the fruits ripen a bit more. I believe that
pulling up an entire plant roots and all and then hanging it upside down
in a garage or other sheltered spot will aid in ripening pods that are
still green but of a mature size. I have had no luck ripening totally
green pods off the bush - if they have already started to turn red, then
they may ripen if you pick them.
	Cheers
	Sue in sunny SA (where I am also harvesting the last of the
chiles before the frosts!)
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