[strangerachael]

What do you think peppers need most - sun or warmth?
My greenhouse only gets sun for about 5-6 hours a day, peppers in the g/h in previous years have been very slow to ripen, some never do. The plants are still tiny at the moment (3-4" tall)
The allotment gets full sun all day but is obviously a good deal cooler and less sheltered.
If opinion is divided I've got three plants in pots so I could do an experiment and try both.

[Dopey113]

I love growing peppers (why are seeds and plug plant so expensive though?) I think they need a long season, thats why they do better in the greenhouse, heat, then sun, but they need both, because we are in the UK and they get a short season, if it was longer we could grow so much more outside and it would ripen

[Christine]

Mine started off in a sunny window sill, moved to the greenhouse when potted on and have shot up like weeds over the past couple of weeks. They seem to need both sun and warmth. And feeding.

[Trikidiki]

I would go for more warmth. If 'push comes to shove' you can eat the peppers green or ripen them up with some bananas after picking.

[mumofstig]

I've never had peppers ripen once picked  I wish they did, cos I'm not that keen on green ones.

[Trikidiki]

Put them with ripe bananas. The ethylene gas given off by the bananas will trigger the peppers to ripen, put them in a sealed bag together will hasten it more. I think you can now buy pads which release ethylene to help ripen fruit.

I told my sister in law about it once and told her I'd demonstrate it. I put a green pepper in the fruit bowl with some bananas then when she was elsewhere switched it for a red one from the fridge. She was amazed when she came back an hour later and it was red. It really does work, though not as quick as that.

[Dr_Pepper]

You'll be very lucky to get any decent yield off outdoor peppers in the UK, so it's the glasshouse option I'd say.

Cold roots really stunt the growth of capsicums - much more so than tomatoes - I'm considering mulching my polytunnel chillies with grass clippings  to keep the roots warm in my clay soil.

[Potty Plotty Lotty]

You'll be very lucky to get any decent yield off outdoor peppers in the UK, so it's the glasshouse option I'd say.

This was what I always thought which is why I found smilydog's comment on this recent thread so intriguing

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=123073.msg1448799#msg1448799

[Aidy]

Photoperiodism

I love that word, 3rd best word in the world behind "pie" and "beer"

It is now said the dark period is more important than the light period and if you look at the native light hours of pepper plants most have on average 12hours of light a day so sun is not that important, peppers like tomatoes are daylight neutral plants so don't need either the light level to reduce (autumn) or increase to start to fruit however they do need depending on variety as mentioned a long season, warmth is important.
For my super hots they are sown in the begining of Jan and live in a grow tent with grow lights until the light/ heat levels increase to transfer them to the greenhouse which is on the plot, having said that my cayenne and sweet peppers are sown end of Feb as they do not require the same length of growing season.
Hope this helps

[strangerachael]

thanks everyone
In light of all these replies I think I will keep them in the greenhouse.
I have said in previous years that I wouldn't bother with peppers again, but I just happened to have a freebie packet so thought it might be worth another try. Fingers crossed for a long hot summer (ha ha)

[micou]

Photoperiodism

I love that word, 3rd best word in the world behind "pie" and "beer"

It is now said the dark period is more important than the light period and if you look at the native light hours of pepper plants most have on average 12hours of light a day so sun is not that important,

So my current 18 hours of light probably aren't helping? Damn. 

[mumofstig]

Direct Sunlight
 
Because peppers are day-neutral plants, their flowering ability is not determined by more or less artificial or natural light. Fruiting plants such as peppers, however, require at least five hours of direct sunlight daily but grow best with eight to 12 hours of direct sunlight daily. The best location for most indoor plants, including pepper plants, is in front of a south-facing window.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/growing-peppers-indoors-photoperiodism-47726.html