A gardening friend living in the same town here has told me that her bell peppers never ripen to the colors that they're supposed to be. For example, her Red Beautys stay green the entire Summer. Never heard of that before, and my peppers turn their appropriate colors every year. How come?
Ping: Farmerdill...Bell Pepper question
With the exception of green when ripe cultivars like Staygreen and Evergreen, all bell peppers ripen to red, orange , or yellow. Apparently many northern gardeners have problems getting ripe bell peppers due to a short growing season. It takes a lot longer for them to ripen after they have reach the immature edible stage. Red Beauty is about as early maturing as they come (68 day green- 85 day red) so it is surprising that hers don't ripen and yours do.
I wonder if she waits long enough? Seems like peppers take their time to go from green to red. Are they in full sun? Farmerdill is right about Red Beauty. It's about as fast as there is for me.
Well I'm not Farmerdill, but... :) Bell peppers can take 2-4 weeks to ripen.
But I don't grow bell peppers because they don't set much fruit and take forever to ripen. Have you tried Carmen? :)
NO--haven't tried Carmen. I don't remember that pepper here. I get most of my seed through Territorial Seed Co. But, I will look for it next year. Does it have a short maturity date? We need it here because we don't have the heat you have in Texas and it takes nearly the entire summer to start getting peppers of any kind. But, i grow them anyway for their beauty and the fact that when i do get them to ripen they are wonderful and I am thrilled!!
You might want to try "Red Knight" (available from Johnny's). This is my first year giving it a try but it is touted as a 57s day to green stage, 77 days to red ripe. Nice blocky fruit on a disease resistant; compact, open plant.
(And yes, F-dill...I'll be sure to take pics this year.) :>)
Shoe
Thanks Farmer Dill for your valuable input. I appreciate the comments from others on this subject as well. I think my friend has simply been impatient!