First grn. pepper getting heavy should I pick?

[Tammy42]

Hi everybody went out to the garden last night, and noticed that, this pepper is pretty thicj around the width and it is very heavy, even though it is not big, should I go ahead and pick it, so it does not break the steam or plant? Tammy

[applestar]

All my peppers and eggplants, the first one started to get big and everybody else (all the sib fruits) stopped to watch. So even though they hadn't reached the full expected size, I picked them and ate them in turn. Now the rest of the fruits are competing to see who gets biggest first.

So yep, I say pick'im! Don't you have a recipe that's just calling for some green peppers? Last year, after seeing the movie Ratatouille with the kids, I resolved to grow ALL necessary ingredients in the garden this summer (well except for oils and such). Recently, I was able to make my first rat (my onions weren't big enough to harvest, but they were out there so I counted it as my first ) DH and I loved it. The kids, not so much (they don't like their foods to be mixed up that much yet -- they'll learn. They'd better -- my favorite recipes are one-pot meals )

[Tammy42]

Thanks Applestar will go out there and pick it and eat it and enjoy it!!!! Tammy

[Diane]

Thanks Applestar will go out there and pick it and eat it and enjoy it!!!! Tammy

I agree with Applestar. I picked the first few slow growing peppers about two weeks ago and now today I picked an almost as big as the stores pepper. I have two more catching up. These two plants are in pots.
My 8 other bell pepper plants in my bed that were eaten up to nubs with swiss cheese leaves have made an amazing comeback and I even see buds!
The jalapino is doing great and I've picked 2 peppers already.

[Rambo 09]

Pick, water, multiply, pick, water multiply, water, pick... sounds good.

[Tammy42]

Thanks Applestar and Diane for all the great support from you!!! I went out there yesterday and picked the fruits of my labor and they were delicious!!!! Can't wait for my next peppers!!!! Tammy

[St. Louis gardener]

I have a related question/comment about the red/orange/yellow sweet peppers I grew this year from seedlings. They haven't grown very tall. Is that because they are in the shade of the squash on one side and the tomatoes on the other? I'm thinking yes. Next year I will hopefully have much more room and not have to crowd my plants.

Also, I have been waiting a long time for the peppers to turn their respective colors. The red one started turning first, then the orange one, but the yellow one still has no color. Oh, did I say until recently I only had one pepper on each plant? This relates to the previous message. I saw flowers on the tops of each plant, but they would bloom and then seemed to die off, then more would bloom. I figured all the nutrients were going towards the one pepper that was pretty big on each plant. Then very recently I finally saw 2 more baby peppers growing on the orange pepper plant. Yeah!!

The red pepper and the orange pepper are almost totally ripe (except for a small area near the bottom that is still green ... guess it doesn't get enough sun), so this weekend I'm going to pick both, and use them in steak kabobs. Yum! Once I pick them, hopefully the two small ones on the orange pepper plant will grow faster, and I'll get more peppers on the red plant. Not sure about the yellow one, though. If I picked the pepper now, and set it on a windowsill, for example, will it ever turn yellow?

Thanks for sharing.

[!potatoes!]

nope, peppers won't ripen any further after picked. wait it out, if you really want yellow, or eat it green.