Farmer Joe Smith from Niantic, Connecticut, talks about how long it takes for peppers to go from green to red.

Some people think that when they buy seeds for red or yellow peppers that the plant will immediately produce peppers of that color. It doesn’t happen that way. All peppers start out green, but if you leave the pepper on the plant it will eventually turn the color you want it to be. You will always have to wait at least 30 days, maybe a little bit longer.

This holds true with the yellow pepper varieties and hot peppers. If you look at one plant, you’ll see many that are green and some that have matured to yellow or orange.

Another color change is not because of maturing, but because the sun is scalding the outside of the pepper. Make sure the leaves of the plant are protecting the peppers from getting this damage.