Agreed. Most bell peppers especially the open pollinated types were developed to hold their market appearance as long as possible, whether it be green, purple or white. Yellow, Orange, and Red are ripe colors and only recently have become popular. There are some new hybrids that ripen fast as compared to the older varieties. It can take as much a month for a full grown ( immature) pepper to ripen. As for the bitterness, green pepper has a unique taste, I would not describe it as bitter, but they are not sweet in the strict sense of the word either. Hopefully it is just that you don't like the taste of green peppers.

Hi Tam, I agree with Chris- from your description it sounds like you surely have thrips. I pulled all of my bell peppers last month even as they started to reflower b/c they started to show signs of thrip damage- new tender leaves (i.e. most yummy ones LOL) show deformity and curling and sometimes slight discoloring/darkening. Some species of thrips like the chili/chilean are extremely small and light colored, making them very difficult to see. Look closely and I bet you find your culprit. HTH Naomi

I have found that Jalapenos vary significantly in heat levels - some are decently hot and some are mild. I like the flavor nonetheless... I would say if you're looking for "hot" hot peppers, you need to mosey on to chinense varieties. I eat hot foods routinely down at the local Thai restaurant. I give them my super hot varieties because I have more than I need for powders. Normally, I can actually use Caribbean Red Hot's for sandwiches, etc. But this year, I grew 7 pots and Trinidad Scorpions and I now know that 700,000 scoville units is about my limit. These babies are hot beyond what I used to consider hot. My Thai restaurant will slice up one 7 pot into about 3 dishes and all of us are crying halfway through curry beef with green beans or beef bai kra pow. They're unbelievable. You need to upgrade to the superhots if that's what you want. And, they're easy to grow.......

FWIW, my orange habanero this year grew up with the big chinense leaves. It squeezed out a big first flush, then a whole raft of new growth along with about 800 blooms. The new leaves were all a lot smaller than the giant old leaves, which are now deep in the foliage. Many are yellowing and falling off. The new leaves seem still to be growing so the size differential isn't as striking as it was at first. Plant is in a big (15 gal?) pot. Dennis