We never even allow fruit set till the plants are over 24" tall. You should consider adding support for the plant when its still small enough the roots are not damaged when you drive or push it in. Since your plant is in a container, you can just attach some wire or twine to something overhead to support it. leave it loose where you attach it to the plant. We usually just use wire plant ties. And yes, there are all kinds of ways to do it from cages to trellising. The photo looks like they are turning from green to yellow, so its up to you.I don't see many blooms on the plant, nor do I see a lot of leaves, which leads me to think its a small plant to have 2 fruits turning. We typically pinch a lot of blooms before we let one set. Peppers are fun to grow,but like many things in the garden, benefit from attention, and patience!

Posted by SortaOrganic none (My Page) on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 20:04

I love peppers very much! Thank you so much. I will follow your suggestion.

As we know, fall is coming. Are these perennials? Could I over winter it in a green house?

Never tried it, so I can't say. We harvest peppers until the first hard frost kills them. Remember, the search feature on here can be one of your best friends...http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg0708132917589.html

Of course you could cut it off at any stage and it will taste fine, it just gets larger if you let them stay on the vine longer, and it could get red. Some seeds or plants are labeled green peppers, but those could eventually redden too. But even "red peppers" could be picked green, I pick as I use them. Also, two that I see look like they are pretty big, but of course its hard to tell from a picture, the one of the right looks very big, but I am just going from the perspective of the peppers against the leaves. You could pick both if you need them for a recipe. A small note, sometimes when they start to redden, you get an awesome marble looking pepper like they have at farm stands and farmers markets, so you might want to let some get at that stage. They are sweeter when red.

This post was edited by krissylovesplants79 on Mon, Aug 26, 13 at 17:22

When my pepper plants are still young I will pick the peppers a little early to encourage growth. If you keep the peppers on to long the plant won't produce as much. When the plant is more mature I allow the peppers to stay on much longer...

jujujojo:

If you like the taste of GREEN bells, then no problem. I, personally, only grow COLORED bells.

Yes. Peppers are perennials and you CAN overwinter and many people do. However, it's not something as simple as bringing it inside so it doesn't freeze.

Pose the question and your circumstances in the HOT pepper forum and you'll get all the info you need on overwintering peppers.

Kevin

Posted by woohooman San Diego CA 10a (My Page) on Tue, Aug 27, 13 at 0:18

I really did what you said. The green pepper over wintered fine. It starts to have a lot of new flowers but the plant has not grown bigger over the entire winter. Will I have a better harvest this year?

BTW, the tomato plants died shortly after they were indoors. They do not tolerate low light as well as the green pepper plant.

Here is my more than 1 year old pepper plant:

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You'll probably notice that your pepper plant won't handle low light as well either and may not survive if held for too long without sufficient light. Typically the lower leaves will drop first and the rest may yellow. Don't be concerned that new blossoms aren't showing. When you provide sufficient artificial light or you get enough natural light your plant should regain color and resume blooming assuming the stress has not been too great.

Posted by bmoser z6PA (b2m2@moserproduce.com) on Thu, Feb 6, 14 at 18:47

Last October, I moved this bell pepper and two tomatoes indoors. The tomatoes died within a month. But this pepper survived today and is growing okay. It has a small West facing window. I do not expect peppers now. I will move it out in mid-March. I hope it starts to grow better then.