Orange bell peppers grow and ripen but....

[Francis Barnswallow]

....only grow to the size of a cue ball. Is this normal?

How come the farmers market bell peppers get at least twice the size of mine when ripe?

[gumbo2176]

I've had varying success with bell peppers of all colors. Sometimes they rival the ones you see in the markets, but most times they are a good bit smaller but just as flavorful. I think the biggest difference is commercial growers have it down to a science and if you are growing acres of one particular crop, you better be good or you're going to be poor.

[rainbowgardener]

yup... takes careful watering (lots of water but not too much) and fertilization, to get those big beautiful peppers.

[garden5]

I know what you mean. Many of my first ones were half the size of the ones in the store, but my later ones were about 2/3 the size .

[applestar]

I suppose it could be variety too. Sometimes, you can ask the produce manager and they ACTUALLY know the answer. Also produce stickers sometimes have website address on them, and you can get more info about the produce there, or you can actually pursue the matter and ask.

Also, size isn't everything. How do they taste? I'd rather have smaller tastier peppers than giant watery blah pepper any day.