Allotments 4 All

I've got "tasty grill red" peppers outside in a growbag, all still green but a decent size. How long is it safe to leave them outside, and would bringing them in speed up reddening? Also, apart from the colour, how do I know when to pick them? And finally, does it help to remove the leaves to get more sun & air, as with tomatoes?

Mine are only just starting to redden (grown outside) - should think they'd be ok for a few weeks unless there's a frost, I pick them when red and don't remove any leaves.

The only ones of mine at home (in pots outside and inside GH) to go red so far are the ones I over wintered and the dwarf varieties:  Redskin (sweet peppers)  and Apache (chilli) - both F1s I think.

Beginning to wonder if that's more than a coincidence and dwarfs ripen earlier?

Although more exposed the ones in a raised bed up at the allotment have produced a really heavy crop compared to those in pots in the garden/GH, but none have turned red yet.

One cayenne chilli (the individual chilli not the plant!) went half red over the weekend - hope this is the start of a trend....

Thanks- son wants to take some back to uni next week, so guess he may have to have green ones.

Mine will stay outside until the first frost threatens, I have kept them outside until early November before now. If a frost threatens bring them in, if you have no room then harvest the pods and ripen them indoors. You can cut the whole plant off at the base and hang it upside down inside.

By the time my plants die off they will have been outside from April-October, they even survived 8" of snow, while in a buried coldframe for two days. Capsicum are far hardier than they are ususally described. Especially C. Pubescens, which will even take a light frost.

Interesting - if I take them off green, they are soft & wrinkled in a week.

I gave up and ate them green.... last year's went red just fine, but nothing doing this year....I was beginning to think that they were miss labeled!