Once a pepper starts to show it's color (aka, "breaking color") you can cut it and let it continue to ripen to color over a few days. It's not useful to add any type of ripening trick on peppers because they aren't very ethylene receptive...just leave them on a counter. You can put them in them in the fridge at any time and they'll keep for a week or two (usually closer to 2...even longer if you don't mind the peppers soft).

Pick as they become the desired color, same for tomatoes. If you arne't sure, google the tomato and get a good look at "ripe" and even google "over ripe" for the tomato variety. The first year I grew black tomatoes we had a few very overripe guys...I kept thinking the shoulders should be growing darker purple instead of darker green....!

I am not an expert (by any means) I am NOT Dr. Pepper!!!

However...the technique that has worked for me is that a pepper is ready to harvest when its' stem becomes easily detached from the branch that it is growing on. To test this...take a pepper you know IS NOT ripe and gently pull up on it. It will stay attached to the plant. Now try one you think might be ripe. If it is, it will quickly detach, if not leave it on for a while and come back and test it again.

I hope that this helps!

I do what lonmower does. With some peppers I wait for the color change, but I use a lot of them in the green stage also and I pick them when they easily break from the vine.

I also pick them when they easily detach from the plant.

Thank you everyone for your helpful responses. That's why I love coming to this site, and don't mind asking the questions. Because everybody loves gardening and learning as much as we do and are more than happy to share their experiences.

Thanks,
R. Perry