seems that you would be depriving yourself of a lot of treats if you just waited for them all to mature, and I daresay that you would lose some because they would rot on the vine. And of course it depends on the cultivar, some of these produce fruit continually, some all at once, (like my fresnos) and others you may want to eat both green and let some mature to their full red stage (like jalapenos). So it depends what you've planted and what you are trying to get. Personally I like to pick a fresh pepper from my garden when I'm cooking so for instance I wouldn't pick all my serannos at once unles they all came IN at once then I would ruefully have to freeze or dry some. I can't remember if serannos do that or not.