When to harvest peppers?

[boefixepa]

It's easy to know when to pick tomatoes...when they are red. However I have peppers and have noticed a few times I have waited a tad too long and they have some soft spots on them, but I want to wait until they are as big as they are going to get too....so what is one to do???? How do you know when to pick peppers? I really what to get this right. I also have anheim peppers...so do I wait until they are store size or pick them early....

At least the onions, strawberries and herbs are easy....why do I seem to have problems with peppers?

[contrary1]

I've learned it is better to pick things too early, err on that side, rather than wait til they have passed their prime.

Some of my crops are not ever the size of things I see in the store, and then there are others that are twice the size. Go figure. No sense to much of this gardening stuff, it is definately a trial and error hobby for me. But, there isn't much wasted if you pick one item periodically and test it out.

We currently have mystery squash and we're not sure what it is, let alone when it is Done.
So, we're picking one a week, just to open and check it out. Last week was the first trial, it seemed like we could cook it, although the meat part of the squash wasn't even as big as the seed part, so we're leaving it another week to see if it will catch up, or if this is it as far as bulk goes. Total size are bigger than cantalope now, and they are bright green. They are a new one for me, and I didn't plant them. Volunteer from the compost pile of some sort.

Let us know how your pepper crop turns out!

[Brendan39]

Harvesting peppers while they are still green will encourage more fruit production. Waiting to harvest peppers until they are more mature and orange or red will mean less pepper production. As long as you keep picking the fruits when they are still in the immature (or green) stage, the plant will continue to produce more fruit. So you must usually choose between harvesting lots of green peppers or fewer orange and/or red peppers. Most hot peppers are harvested when they turn yellow, orange or red, with the exception of Jalapeno peppers.

You can get around this production and quality problem by planting two pepper plants of the same variety. You can continue to pick the green fruit from one of the plants to encourage more pepper production on that plant. You can wait and harvest the peppers on the other plant when they turn the desired color. This way you have the best of both worlds.
Most bell pepper varieties taste best when they reach fist-size. If you pick them when the are much smaller than this, you might find that they taste slightly bitter.

Hot peppers should be picked when they reach maturity according to the seed packet or seedling tag. If you harvest hot peppers before they reach maturity, they may be overly hot, depending on the variety. Many hot pepper varieties can be harvested while they are still green, as long as they have reached full size. This size depends on the variety of hot pepper.