In the latest copy of Amateur Gardening it says that you "should remove the first fruits that sweet peppers set, because this soaks up all the plants nutrients and prevents other fruit from setting". I havent heard of this before and not done it. Also on the seed packet there is no mention of this from the seed suppliers. Has any one done this and does it improve the number of peppers produced?

Not heard of that before. And got plenty of fruit on mine

I always remove the first few at the green stage so that the plant does not stop producing but thought that was just the plant thinking it's job was done so not heard all the stuff about the nutrients.

Never heard of that - I haven't done anything at all to mine and at the last count I had 14 fruit set on the 2 plants with more flowers threatening to set any day now. My first time, and I've no idea if that's good bad or indifferent, but anyway I'll be well happy if I get 14 peppers!

I remove some green ones , and use them, as if you leave them on the plant stops prodicing then I leave the later ones to go red. That way I get a kind of double crop.

Alice and Alison - what size do you remove the green ones to use? When they are full size but still green, or smaller than that?

My biggest one at the moment is only about 2 inches long, and I'm hoping they'll get a bit longer than that

If your plants are big and sturdy, then leave the fruits on to develop. I usually cut some to use green (reasonable size) and leave the rest to ripen.

Demeter, if they are only 2" I'd let them get bigger. I cut these chillies and green peppers the other day but I'll get red ones later.

Originally Posted by Alice

Demeter, if they are only 2" I'd let them get bigger. I cut these chillies and green peppers the other day but I'll get red ones later.
Attachment 5287

WOW! I don't have anywhere near that many and they are nowhere near as bis as, plus they seem to have stopped growing a while ago . How did you manage those?

PJH I grew them in the Coservatory. Planted in March but usually plant in February. I fed them with Miracle Gro Organic until the fruit set and then with tomatoe feed.
You can see them on the plant here, and some of last years ripened ones.

Thanks for that. Next silly question - what do you use unripe ones for? Leave them to ripen? Or use them - the same way as ripe ones or what??
(Can you tell I've never done this before? lol)

you can pick peppers green and leave them to ripen on the window sill (we should be having enough sun by now!)

Demeter, you can do what you want with green chillies and peppers. Slice them into salads. Fry them with onions and tomatoes (green ones if you like). Cook them in curries and stews. Stuff them with anything you like and bake them in the oven. Really you can just eat them any way you like.

Use the unripe ones just the same as green peppers from the shops, picked one last night that was about 4" long but depends on how many I want to use etc.

Cool - thanks all