Well, being that I hate green bells but love ripe COLORED ones, I HAVE to wait. I know what you're talking about though. And have yet to snap a branch harvesting one. I have, however lost a few branches in days of yore due to not caging and a branch getting weighted with too many heavy fruit.

Kevin

Snip the stem end of the pepper with pruners or kitchen shears and carefully pull it out. If you try to snap a pepper off the plant when it's wedged in between stems you can do damage (as you've found out).

Rodney

Thanks guys. So it sounds like you are a proponent of getting them out of there when they really start to wedge. I could have done myself a favor by paying more attention while the peppers were smaller. A lesson for me not to just let them go until I need a pepper for the kitchen. A little attention, guiding the peppers out of the crevices while they're small enough, should probably go on my list of weekly garden maintenance.

Some varieties are much worse than others about not knowing where to put their peppers.

Yes, I grow both Ace and Lipstick. The Lipstick never poses a problem, though admittedly, they are smaller sweet peppers and grow pointy (like lipstick) so I think they slide out from the "Y" as they grow.

The Ace, I've learned, definitely can't be trusted to grow unattended. Most likely because of their shape, they are constantly wedging themselves in the crux of branches.