It's just my opinion, but until the plant grows some more, you might consider picking any small peppers and allow the energy to go towards growth instead of producing fruit.

I grow a few banana pepper plants & pickle the fruits.You can pretty much harvest them whenever you want.They will be yellow when young & then turn orange & finally red once fully ripe(I like to mix the colors together when pickling them).I'm not sure why your peppers are so thin walled-unless it is the variety.Your plant is probably just getting going,because they are usually very high yield plants.Mine kept cranking out peppers all summer last year & finally got zapped by the freezes.I'm sure it will start being more productive if given time.Best of luck

I guess, in hindsight, the fruit was a bit greenish-yellow when I picked them.

I think I'll leave this one in place until it starts to turn orange and then pick it and see how it turns out.

I've got a couple of jalapeno plants that have made it through two winters now that give me tonnes of peppers (and I've still got a jar of last year's pickled peppers left), I'm hoping this guy will get to the point where I can put up some mixed jars.

I was wondering the same thing with mine! I've picked all of mine at that greenish-yellow stage because it didn't seem to ever turn orange. How long does one normally have to wait for it to turn orange and then red?

I can't really say how long the banana peppers take to fully ripen,as I've never paid much attention.They seem to be the same as tomatoes though-in that it seems to take for ever for the first fruits to ripen,but then it seems like the rest ripen in no time.They should be fine to eat at the yellow stage(I only eat them pickled,so I can't even tell you if there is a noticeable change in sweetness when they are orange & red).I only planted 2 banana pepper plants this Spring,as I planted too many last year(I should still be able to give plenty away).The largest plant is about 1ft tall & is already covered in fruits/blossoms.The other plant got chewed down by a cutworm,but is bouncing back.All the plants in this bed get a shot of fish emulsion about once every 3 weeks-other than that,I just weed the bed.Best of luck.

I try to follow 1 of the tips I got from Organic Gardening magazine years ago; pick the 1st peppers as soon as they reach full size to encourage the plant to produce more.

I don't know what variety you have, but mine are full grown at about 6 inches. They take a while yet after they reach that length to turn orange, and I've not yet been patient enough to let one turn red, lol, so I don't know how long that would take. I usually just pick them yellow - they are very tasty pickled or chopped on salads that way. I have even diced them and added them in with bell peppers for a little variety in cooked dishes and sauces.