Single hen

[theherd123]

I currently have loads of peppers growing in the greehouse and they are all quite a good size however they are not yet a nice dark green colour.

 

Is there anything i can do to encourage them to ripen?

[Snowy]

What colour are they now Em? Mine started off green, then went yellow then red!

[theherd123]

They are a light green colour at present but they have been that way for a week or so now.

 

Not too sure i want to cook with them that colour as not too sure if they are ripe enough yet.

[Valkyrie]

How about experimenting with a banana? Apparently they help ripen fruit (enzymes that are given off) and peppers are fruits. I haven't tried myself though. I had this problem last year so this year I sowed the seeds in January. I think it is down to the lack of sun when we needed it most because mine have slowly been ripening - and then suddenly loads are ripe. Some of mine were pale greeny-yellow and ripened to an orangey-red. Dark green ones have ripened to yellow, and some long ones that we were told were chillies are in fact long red peppers (a very tentative taste test revealed that!) - no problem, glad they are peppers after all. It may be down to colour - some people swear by putting red milk bottle tops near tomatoes to encourage them to ripen, so the same may be said for the peppers - once one starts, they all go. Mine started to ripen well late August/early this month (rather too late for my liking) so lots were put into the freezer. I left some on the turn and a couple of weeks later there were another load. I have picked about 20 today and all are in the freezer - probably totals 12/14 lb.

It certainly won't do you any harm if you eat the green ones - they will be higher in vitamin content, although the fully ripe ones are sweeter. You might find it helpful to pick a few green ones to help some of the older ones to ripen off.

[chickencam]

I think that most green peppers will ripen to coloured ones if left long enough. Home grown peppers tend to have a much stronger flavour than bought ones, but they can be eaten at any stage of ripening.

[snowcloud]

Liz is right; leave them for a while longer, maybe another couple of weeks, and they will colour. They respond well to tomato feed too, so you can try that too if you like - I use it on mine and they are all turning red at about this time.