Paprika Harvesting
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Valorie Pooley
Posted on: September 1, 1998

I purchased paprika seeds from you and the plants are doing fine. The fruit is about 6 inches long and still green. None of my gardening books give information on paprika so I am wondering if I wait until they turn red before picking or pick now. It is long past the 45 days since they were planted and one of them rotted at the end.

The flavour will be best if you wait until the fruits turn red on the plant. However, most fruits picked green and placed onto newspapers in a sunny window will turn red in time and can then be dried. The 45 days only applies if the temperatures at flowering time remain high, because fruits don’t set during cold temperature nights. The fruits need hot sunny days to mature and will just sit there if they don’t get it.

The fruit with the rotten end probably had the disease called blossom end rot. Wet, cool weather encourages the problem. If you have too much rain you might consider putting a clear plastic tent over the plants to keep them drier and warmer. Make sure you have it open on two ends in sunny weather!

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