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I planted three bell pepper plants last year as an experiment - regular green, yellow and red varieties. All three produced beautiful green peppers. The red and yellow peppers never turned color on the vine. They were planted as small plants in late May after frost, and I didn't harvest the peppers until late October. I tried to leave them on the vine as long as possible for them to turn, but they never did. At the last possible frost date, I cut them and brought them inside and put them on a window sill. The yellow peppers immediately started turning yellow once cut, and they tasted great. The red ones never turned red, and I finally ate them green. They tasted fine too, but not as sweet as red peppers from the store. Are the peppers supposed to turn color before being harvested? This is what I assumed. How long should I realistically wait for them to turn?
* * * * Ethel Highlands Ranch, CO Plants: 6 | From: Colorado | Registered: Aug 2004
| Seeded: 67.176.122.124
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Hello Ethel, Welcome to The Garden Helper's Forum!! We are very glad you found us!!!
I can only add my observations from my first time adventures last year with colored peppers.. My son and I grew them, bit of an experiment... *he's not tooooo keen into gardening, but really likes the colors of the peppers so that's what I offered to do for him to get him interested in gardening... * the things mother's will do..
Anyhow... What was your growing season like???
Ours here in NY, zone 5 was a slow, wet one.. and on the cool side a good portion of the summer.. I had my peppers segragated, as to not cross pollenate as they will with the hot's and sweets. *bees just like the flowers and will pollenate all* but I had 2 sets of peppers up high on my son's porch on his tree fort... Purple ones and Sweet Red one's.. They were kept high and dry and produced lovely looking fruit **although the purple one's scared us, cause they looked a bit black when growing.. As far as high and dry part, the watering was left up to my son that would rather of rode his bike...
And the yellow one's and orange one's where down on the ground, in a container, and on top of a black plastic like that went over wood piles.. And those got a late start, but did produce, but like you said were green... Come the end of the season, I had to put them inside my little greenhouse to keep them warm at night because the temps' were getting too cold, too early to get them to keep ripening... But they did ripen into the most beautiful orange and yellow I ever saw....
So, I think maybe it's just you might have been up higher in elevation *I've always heard Colorado was a higher elevation* and maybe on the cooler side.????? I don't know exactly where you are in Colorado? *I have a bunch of relatives there* But peppers loveeeeee the heat and take a bit of time to grow, and produce and then ripen....
How did you grow them??? In the ground? Maybe if you would like to experiment, I am a great experimenter to see how things turn out being done two or three different ways.. but grow them in 5 gallon *food grade* buckets....the next time *or just one and grow the rest of them like you would normally* but then the bucket is warmer as there's more sides exposed to sun, and in a container they tend to drain faster so they are dryer and warmer..the buckets are moveable to more sunshine on cooler days and whatever is needed. Also maybe for the one's in the ground try the black plastics....****Or the new RED PLASTIC, it's like a landscape fabric type, made out of plastic to go down on top of soil, under the plant. The black heats the soil up faster.... The red is supposed to do something for some kind of rays pushed back up and on it to produce more fruits, I have never tried this, so, if you do the red plastic, give us a shout back and let us know what you thought about it....would love to hear the out come...
You could also purchase items that can go over the tops of the plants that keep warmth in... *again, when season's are cooler and they need that bit of ompf!!!
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Great ideas, Weezie !! I had problems with my sweet peppers changing colour, too, except the purple ones, but the walls were thinnish and not so tasty. I think I'll take you up on the idea of growing them in containers, that way they can come inside if it gets too cool too soon. We're supposed to have another cool summer if you believe the Almanacs, so bringing them inside during thunderstorms might be an idea as well.
I grew Serrano chilis with eggplants separating them from the sweet peppers and didn't have probs with cross-pollination. The Serranos were prolific producers and we had tons of red ones as well as the green ones for salsas. I was afraid we would have eaten all the salsa I canned by now but I checked downstairs in the frozen storage cellar and there's still another 24 jars left, woohoo !
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Yeah, I had forgotten to add that I grew Jalapeno's and Cayenne's for him too!!
And Green Sweet Bell peppers too,
I had pepper's alllllllllllll over the place..
I had purchased 4~pks of the yellow, orange, purple and red peppers, but grew the green, jalapeno's and cayennes' from seeds... TOO MANY SEEDS....next time I"ll cut down on the one's I start...
Weezie
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
quote: but the walls were thinnish and not so tasty.
How was your watering??
Constant water, but not too heavy...
(I know it's hard to gage too when they call for rain, and so you don't water, and you hold off and hold off.. then you finally HAVE TO WATER, and it rains... )
Weezie
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
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I use a buried soaker hose for the main veggie bed..that worked wonders..I had eggplants that were 4 feet high and the pepper vegetation was green and glossy. I'm still getting used to gardening in this zone, though. The peppers themselves were kinda smallish. Cubanelles do really great here, however. That's what I used in place of Anaheims which don't seem to be as popular with Canadian gardeners. I also mulched the heck out of the entire raised bed with lots of straw and grass clippings.
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Yeah we don't use chemicals on the lawn at all..prolly why I have such an earwig problemo. Organic gardening, pretty much, unless you count insecticidal soap. I hate lawns, personally. If it wasn't for the Munchkin, we wouldn't have one..more room for tomatoes !!
Yeah, I suppose we might have some grass growing in the garden, but I pull it out as soon as it sprouts and it mostly gets pretty smothered. One plant I absolutely despise is the morning glory. They choke the heck out of everything. Any ideas on how to kill them?
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