CAPISCUMS

[Compo]

After a couple of years of struggling with peppers I have a couple of plants in my greenhouse that are now producing whole uneaten green capiscums and one is actually turnint red. Will they stay red or can I expect organge and yellow too.

The variety (I think) is californian sweet capiscum?

Compo

[Primrose]

Normally I think the green peppers will turn red, but there are different varieties which ripen into yellow and orange. Perhaps somebody else can clarify but I think you would need to look on the seed packet or at least check the specification if you want to grow some which ripen to colours other than red.

[Jenny Green]

If one has turned red they all will unless you have different varieties there.

A few years ago I bought two packets of capsicum seed - one showed red peppers on the front and the other showed green. It wasn't until I'd gone to the trouble of keeping the seedlings and young plants of the two kinds carefully apart and was in the midst of deciding which colour I'd have on which side of my greenhouse that the penny dropped.

[GIULIA]

curious this - mine are all turning red now, but they actually tasted better when they were green - they're a bit soft and pappy now they're ripe, OK for cooking but dull in a salad.

[Johnboy]

Hi GIULIA,
I feel that has got more to do with your personal taste than anything else. I feel that when we were all introduced to Peppers they were all green and it was only later that the red ones appeared. I remember being most surprised when I had missed picking one and it turned Red. Like Jenny I too should have turned red!
JB.

[Compo]

Well the ones that are red are still quite firm and shiny so will pick some and leave the others to see what happens.

Compo

[girdhar]

Hi,
I think capsicum usually turn red after ripening .I have not heard of capsicum that turn into any other colour .Honestly.

[Chantal]

I had ones last year that turned yellow and also orange. Not sure what I expected but I got them in addition to green and red.

[Monika]

I thought that was their normal progression: green, yellow, orange, red, or am I completely wrong?

[gowerbass come gardener]

the same variety for me last year went form green to black to red

[PLUMPUDDING]

All unripe peppers are green and they ripen to yellow, orange, red, purple, or chocolate etc. depending on the variety. They can go through a range of colours while ripening, but the usual one is green to red.

I over-wintered a chilli pepper last year and have been picking fruits until last week when I trimmed it back. I also did the same with a sweet pepper and picked a large red fruit last week off that. I've saved lots of seeds from both in case my experiment doesn't work and they don't send out new shoots again, but these varieties are perennial in their own countries, so they should be OK if I keep them frost free.

They got through last winter very well and flowered very early. I picked the first fruits in May. I didn't prune them though last year, so I'm waiting to see what happens. They make surprisingly large plants in their second year.