Leave them on the plant until they show just a little bit of color and then you can pick them and they'll turn fully over a few days. It sometimes seems to take forever for hem to get that first hint of color. It's worth it, though- Ripe peppers are so expensive and they are one of the veggies they spray the most. I always let ours ripen before we use them. We like them better than green and i figure i can buy the cheaper greens when i need or want them and wash them thoroughly.

We rarely buy ripe peppers for that reason, and normally if we do it's from the farmer's market in season where they're more local and a little less likely to be pumped fulla chems. We do freeze a lot of our grown extras for winter. I normally pre-dice them so they are easy to use. They are great for a lot of our crock pot or pressure cooker recipes.

Thanks for that info. I use to wait till they turned pretty much all the way and that really cut into production!

I read that 20 to 25 'dried' bell peppers fit in a 1-quart jar or 10# dry to 1# and then you can still toss them into the freezer. That's a lot of peppers and takes up a lot less space!! I've never cared for the green bells but love a little of the roasted reds on/in stuff.

I have no problems growing them in my yard (not exactly full sun either), and I grow all colors. It seems to me that some of the colored versions are better about coloring up than others. You can often find mixed colors in seed packets if you only want a few or have a small garden and I've noticed some of the local garden centers have the bells in specific colors available as seedlings. They do take a while to get fully ripe but by mid summer on I have a steady supply - and by first frost they seem to jump ahead and ripen quickly.

What varieties of Peppers do you all grow? I usually grow Camelot and Giant Marconi. I have added the freebie I got called Canary this year. The standard Cal Wonder does not do as well for me as Camelot. I like them in all stages of ripeness as well and freeze several packages each year.

Mike in the Piedmont

Thanks for the help! I do not use any chemicals in my gardening. Looks like I'll be letting my peppers get a little color then pick them and put them in the window.

In a very small way (an EarthBox containing but 4 pepper plants) I've tried lots of color combos - per their tags anyway. Took me awhile to catch on to the color change that happens when green peppers are left on the vine and I have a really fun pic of a green bell turning red in vertical stripes, but am too impaired to post it, so you'll have to take my word for it :o)

Most colorful group I had consisted of 'banana peppers' (per the tag). They wern't much for eating (thin, no heft to them), but wow did they color up! Lime green to yellow to red to orange - sideyard looked like a circus tent!

This years planting is "red" bell peppers .... hmmmm, we'll see what they do!

I've been wondering this same thing. I have 1 red bell pepper plant, 3 yellow, and still waiting for them to turn colors. I guess I'll wait a little longer, lol. The red ones are getting big too, the largest was about 3" in diameter and almost 4" long and still no color change.

Thanks for the info!