Charlie wrote:

So if I keep picking when they're nearly red they'll throw out more
flowers?

Charlie.

"chileBeasT" wrote in message
...
Not all peppers will ripen at the same rate. Some will be ready
earlier than others and not all peppers turn red when they are ripe. Too
many ripe peppers on the bush and the plant will stop flowering. Never
let them all get completely ripe on the bush, or pepper production will
stop. Once they are full size peppers, they are ready to eat.


Depending on the temperature, the hours of sunlight, the moisture and
nutrient levels, pest pressures and so on, 'yes'.

The general answer is 'yes'. As a fruit ripens it sends the plant hormones
that tell it not to set more fruit but to focus on ripening the one that is
nearing success. For a fruiting plant, success = fertile seeds. The more
fruit reaching advanced stages of ripeness, the less likely a plant is to
set new blooms. It may well be that the plant will continue setting blooms
occaisionally, but the quantity of them generally will decrease markedly.

Pay attention to the calendar. Once the weather turns chilly there will be
no more blooms anyhow so you may want to let the last 'batch' of peppers
finish ripening on the bush. I find that peppers in my garden are
sufficiently prolific that I can get all I need by letting them all ripen.
But then, we don't eat huge quantities of peppers and pick for the table as
we go with a final flush of harvest in the fall.

In time you will learn to judge your response to the plants based on what
you need from them. If you are growing them for fully ripe, don't pick them
green and just accept that you may need to plant an extra few plants in the
spring to get the quantity you need in the fall.

Hope this helps. Might be "too much information".

Bill
--
Zone 5b (Detroit, MI)
I do not post my address to news groups.