Will my pepper stay this colour?

[invisiblepiper]

Hi - I have grown peppers for the first time and I want to ask
1. If it is usual to only get one fruit per plant - large but only one as the other blossoms fell off when the fruit started.
2. Do peppers continue to change colour? ie; green to yellow then to red? Or do I have a yellow pepper plant? ( It changed from green to yellow)

Sorry , probably really stupid questions - but I am a true novice at this!

[Thomzo]

Hi
Exciting isn't it.

Your pepper may well continue to change colour depending on how much light and heat it gets. Watch out if it starts to wrinkle though. That's a sign that you need to harvest it.

Is it a small chilli pepper type plant or the larger capsicum? If it's a small chilli then you can keep it and it may well have more flowers and chillis. I'm not sure about the larger ones. I have three on my plant at the moment so it'll be interesting to see if I can keep the plant for next year.

Cheers
Zoe

[Rod in Japan]

It's most unusual to have only one fruit from a pepper. Peppers of all varieties are usually my most heavily cropping plant. Planted outside in a sunny spot in the spring, they generally grow into a small woody bush that needs a bit of pruning.

Is your pepper indoors in a pot by any chance? I would guess the flowers fell off maybe because they weren't pollinated by insects.

I think you probably have a yellow variety. My green peppers start green and some go red if they're left on the plant long enough, while others rot in a green state. If it is indeed a yellow pepper, I'd hazard a guess that it isn't particularly robust. I've tried 'fancy' varieties of capsicum, and they don't do nearly as well as the old basic varieties.

[Millymollymandy]

I have grown orange capsicums before and the colour goes from a lighter green than your normal green/red variety through to yellow and then orange.

I have some fat chillies (almost capsicum size) which are doing this at the moment, though some are finally turning red so they are very pretty and decorative with all colours on the plant at the same time. They look very autumnal.

One thing I have found with both capsicums and chillies is that if you leave the fruit on the plant to ripen they stop producing more flowers/fruit, so if you want a lot you need to pick green to get a second crop.

[Rod in Japan]

I harvested some habanero peppers at the weekend, and had a near-death experience trying to eat one of them.

Some of my normal peppers get very strong tasting, especially when it hasn't rained for a long time.

[invisiblepiper]

Yes - the plants are indoors in pots - but I did optimistically twizzle the blooms with a soft painting brush to aid pollination. I have no idea about variety - cos I bought them at a church sale. Oh well - at least the fruit are a substantial size - definitely capsicum - and very pretty!

[Millymollymandy]

I harvested some habanero peppers at the weekend, and had a near-death experience trying to eat one of them.

Some of my normal peppers get very strong tasting, especially when it hasn't rained for a long time.

I just want to say if that is your blog, and I think it probably is.... DO NOT KILL THAT CATERPILLAR!!!!!!!!

It is a Swallowtail caterpillar, and I am really surprised to see it on parsley. I grow dill to feed this caterpillar and I've also found it munching my carrot leaves. They normally eat wild carrots and fennel in the wild (fennel being related to dill).

I have sadly only seen one Swallowtail butterfly all summer, but I've had many of their caterpillars. I love them to bits!

[Jules]

This year I have red pimentoes, green peppers and (wonderfully) purple peppers.

Not sure if you mean peppers or chillies but either way it is very odd to only have one pepper on the plant. Such a disappointment for you I'm sure!

Keep trying - are they kept in a greenhouse, by the way?

[invisiblepiper]

[quote="Jules"]are they kept in a greenhouse, by the way?
quote]

Nope - just the kitchen windowsill

[Rod in Japan]

MMM, the caterpillar is still on the leaf. I'm glad to know what it is, thanks.