If you’re wondering when to pick peppers, you’re not alone. Quick answer: chilies are typically ready for harvest in 60 to 150 days (after transplant), depending on the variety.
Below, you’ll discover basic pepper harvesting tips, including how and when to pick peppers for 12 popular varieties. Whether you’re harvesting chilies for fresh eating, saving seeds, storing peppers for later, or — my favorite — picking them for a spicier flavor, this guide has you covered! 🌶
How Do I Know When My Chili Peppers Are Ready To Pick?
Peppers are usually ready for harvest during the summer and early fall months. As for when to harvest chili peppers, the appearance will tell you when the pepper is ripe.
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Pepper Color
Most peppers start off green and change into the color that they’re supposed to be when ripe. For example, Banana peppers are traditionally pale yellow.
You can wait for unripe chillies to change color or eat them green. Peppers are edible at any stage. You might even prefer the flavor of an immature pepper.
Pepper Size
Another sign that the pepper is ready is when it’s the size it’s supposed to be when ripe. Cayenne peppers, for instance, can be ~5 inches (13 cm) long and 0.5 inches (1 cm) in diameter when they’re harvest-ready.
Pepper Corking
Some chillies like Jalapenos can develop thin, tan lines on the skin known as “corking.” These little stretch marks are seen as a desirable trait. Corking is another way to tell when a pepper is ripe and ready to pick.
grow tips
- For chillies, “days to maturity” usually refers to the amount of time you can expect ripe fruit after transplanting outdoors. Note your transplant date and then count 60+ days out to get an idea of the first month that you might start harvesting peppers.
- Some pepper seed companies include harvesting information on the seed packet. Botanical Interests, for example, has data on pepper size, color and days to maturity on the back and inside flaps of the envelope.
Harvest times depend on the variety of pepper you’re growing so we’ll go more into that below.
Pepper Harvest Time By Variety
The following charts have harvest information for popular types of chillies in the sweet to mild and hot pepper heat levels.
Sweet To Mild Pepper Varieties
Generally, sweet to mild peppers are ready for picking in 60 to 90 days.
When To Pick Anaheim Peppers
Days To Maturity: 70 to 90 days from transplanting
Appearance: 6” to 8” (15 to 20 cm) long and 2” (5 cm) diameter when fully grown; harvest green chillies for a sweeter flavor or red for more heat.
When To Pick Cubanelle Peppers
Days To Maturity: ~75 days from transplanting
Appearance: 4” to 6” (10 to 15 cm) long and 2” (5 cm) diameter; usually harvested in premature yellowish-green stage.
When To Pick Gypsy Peppers
Days To Maturity: ~ 65 days from transplanting
Appearance: ~4” long by 2” (5 cm) diameter; can be eaten in any of the light green to reddish-orange color stages.
» Related: When to Pick Banana Peppers from the Garden
When To Pick Mini Sweet Peppers
Days To Maturity: ~60 days from transplanting
Appearance: 2” to 3” long (5 to 8 cm) and 1” (2.5 cm) diameter; harvest in any green, yellow, orange or red color stages.
When To Pick Pepperoncini Peppers
Days To Maturity: ~75 days from transplanting
Appearance: 3” to 5” (8 to 13 cm) long and 1” (2.5 cm) diameter; pick in yellowish-green stage or when red for a sweeter flavor.
When To Pick Shishito Peppers
Days To Maturity: 60 to 75 days from transplanting
Appearance: 2” to 4” (5 to 10 cm) long and 1” (2.5cm) diameter; usually harvested in the green stage.
When To Pick Hot Peppers
Hot peppers are typically ready for harvest about 90 to 150+ days after transplant.
When To Pick Fresno Peppers
Days To Maturity: ~75 days from transplanting
Appearance: 2” to 3” (5 to 8 cm) long and 1” (2.5cm) diameter; pick green peppers or red for a hotter flavor.
When To Pick Ghost Peppers
Days To Maturity: ~100 days from transplanting
Appearance: 2” to 3” (5 to 8 cm) long and 1” (2.5cm) diameter; wear gloves when picking red peppers.
Read more: Ghost Peppers
When To Pick Habanero Peppers (Orange)
Days To Maturity: 75 to 110 days from transplanting
Appearance: 1” to 2” (2.5 to 5 cm) long and 1.5” (4 cm) diameter; pick green for a grassy heat or orange for a hotter and citrusy flavor.
Read more: When to Pick Habaneros
When To Pick Serrano Peppers
Days To Maturity: ~80 days from transplanting
Appearance: 2” to 3” (5 to 8 cm) long and 0.5” (1.2 cm) diameter; usually harvested in the green stage.
When To Pick Tabasco Peppers
Days To Maturity: 75 to 90 days from transplanting
Appearance: 1” to 1.5” (2.5 to 4 cm) long; harvest when dark red for the best flavor.
When To Pick Trinidad Scorpion Peppers
Days To Maturity: 90 to 120 days from transplanting
Appearance: 1” to 3” (2.5 to 8 cm) long and 4” (10 cm) diameter; wear gloves when picking red peppers.
grow tips
- Those first peppers may be smaller than the expected size. Pick these smaller chillies when they turn the ripe color or develop any corking.
- When do you pick green peppers? This can be confusing because they’re usually harvested in the same color they start off in. For green peppers like Jalapenos and green Bell peppers, it helps to refer to the approximate days of maturity and look at the size.
When To Pick Peppers For Drying
When drying peppers, it’s best to pick them when they’re ripe or even slightly overripe. This means they might be a little wrinkled on the plant.
And, choose your best peppers. You don’t want to harvest chillies that have insect damage, disease or issues like brown spots or tears in the skin.
When To Pick Peppers For Seeds
If you want to save pepper seeds to grow later, harvest mature chillies. These peppers can either be their color of ripeness or red when they’re fully mature.
When the chile is its ripe color, let it sit on the plant a few days afterward to give the seeds a better chance of being viable. Otherwise, you can leave peppers until they turn red. (Many chile varieties end up red if left on the plant to mature.)
grow tips
Don’t save seeds from hybrid peppers. Peppers grown from hybrids won’t be as robust, and they can have many differences from the parent plant.
» Related: Heirloom Peppers vs Open Pollinated vs Hybrid Seeds: What’s the Difference?
How To Pick Peppers
You can pick peppers off the plant by plucking them off or using garden shears.
Small to medium peppers like Jalapenos can be pulled off by hand. Gently grasp the branch and use the other hand to bend the pepper up so that it comes off with its stem.
Use clean shears for large chillies like Bell peppers so that branches aren’t damaged from pulling. Hold the pepper and then cut anywhere along the stem. (The piece of leftover stem eventually dries up and falls off.)
grow tips
Wear gloves if you’re picking hot peppers. The oils from these spicy chillies can irritate skin and eyes!
How To Store Peppers
If you plan on eating chillies within two weeks, store them in the vegetable drawer of your fridge. You can simply toss the dry, unwashed peppers in a sealable bag until you’re ready to eat them.
Use your freezer if you want to store peppers for up to eight months. For hot peppers or smaller varieties like Thai chillies, wear gloves while washing and placing them in a freezer bag.
If you’re freezing bells or other sweet peppers, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln recommends washing, cutting out the innards (stems, seeds, etc.) and slicing them into strips. Place these strips on a cookie sheet in the freezer for about an hour (tray freeze). When ready, transfer these frozen strips to a freezer bag.
Harvesting Peppers FAQs
What’s Next?
I hope you enjoy harvesting all your hard-earned peppers! Knowing the signs of ripeness and understanding how to pick chilis will keep your plants producing more! You can even experiment by picking chillies in different stages to find the flavor and heat level you like best.
Up next, don’t miss the overwintering pepper plants guide. This process helps keep your plants alive during the colder months so that they can grow again next season.
Want more Harvesting Peppers Guides? Discover when to pick:
When are black pearls ready? These are starting to fruit, but I’m not sure when to pick. Are they to be pearl-sized? Larger? With being so round and small, not sure if my idea of stuffing them will work out. Pretty plants. Excited to try them, though.
Black Pearls are usually ready when fully black. You can also try them in the dark red stage too. I’ve had these peppers be all kinds of sizes so I usually just go by color when deciding when to pick. In my experience, these chilies are too small to stuff, but maybe you’ll get some outliers. 😀 It’s definitely a beautiful plant!