Short Season - What Peppers Do Best?

[recruiterg]

I am in Zone 4. I assume we might have hotter summers here than you, but a relatively short season. I have grown many peppers with good success such as sweets: sheepnose pimento, melrose, tequila sunrise, jimmy nardello, red cherry sweet. Hots: joe's long cayenne, satan's kiss, jalapeno.

[RinTinTin]

Mulato Isleno is a short season (75-80 days) pepper that has done well for me in Seattle. That, and Early Jalapeño have produced July/Aug fruits for me here.

The Mulato (becomes Ancho when dried) needs to be roasted/peeled for fresh eating, like the Anaheims.

[wmontanez]

Buran and Alma Paprika did very good for me (Zone 6, Northeast, planted in late May and in mid July I took some green peppers by mid August I had ripe fruit on the plants. Hungarian sweet banana that also was very productive but none rippened before frost. This year I started early in Jan to see if it goes better.

[Raffles]

Long Slim Cayenne and Ring of Fire have both done well for me in the past. My Thai Bird peppers produced last year but not well. I suspect due to over fertilizing. Everything went in late this year so I'm hoping more than counting.

[Jeannine Anne]

Gypsy

XX Jeannine

[nctomatoman]

Try growing your peppers in black pots - since peppers like hot roots, you may find that your maturity date (and yield!) work greatly in your favor by trying this. I know that here in hot, hot NC peppers in the ground are pretty slow and sleepy and moderate yielding at best, while those in black pots or grow bags are supercharged....5 gallon is just fine for typical bell or fryer shape sweet peppers.

[husker nana]

Carmen (Sweet Bulls Horn Pepper) and Hungarian wax peppers are the ones that have already put out peppers for us here in Wisc. The Carmen's are big and still green so waiting for them to turn red. We've been eating the Hungarian wax.

[fortyonenorth]

Bácskai Fehér, a Hungarian sweet pepper, was first to ripen in my garden this year - right along with the earliest tomatoes. Oregon's Adaptive Seeds offers it and I understand it does well in the NW.

[DiggingDogFarm]

I have a selection from Early Dwarf Cayenne from LISP that I call Baby Cayenne...it's the earliest pepper I've ever grown.
A surprising number of peppers on such a tiny plant!

2 plants in this 5 gallon container.....



Production and size wise the plants are about the same as what i originally received from LISP...

LISP pics.....





The original description.....

"Early Dwarf Cayenne
This is Long Islands dehybridization of a selection from a mass grow out of hybrid peppers. Responses from all across the country have been enthusiastic. One grower in Oregon marveled at the very early maturity and amazing crop of little 3" cayenne type fruit. Plants grow only 8-12 inches tall and are always the earliest red peppers in the garden. The medium hot pepper has a fine, fruity flavor. There is still some variation here which allows for continued selection in the future."

~Dig

[DiggingDogFarm]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Try growing your peppers in black pots - since peppers like hot roots, you may find that your maturity date (and yield!) work greatly in your favor by trying this. I know that here in hot, hot NC peppers in the ground are pretty slow and sleepy and moderate yielding at best, while those in black pots or grow bags are supercharged....5 gallon is just fine for typical bell or fryer shape sweet peppers.

I grow as many as I can in black containers, it sure does make a big difference!!


~Dig

[wmontanez]

Dig, those are beautiful pictures!

Craig, this year I followed your dense planting method once I found Fafard seedling mix. It was very quick potting up the 100+ seedlings of combined pepper and tomatoes. I also took advice to grow my hot chiles in 5 gal black containers. So far they are doing fine with good folliage but no chiles only flowers.

[jwr6404]

In the Portland area you should have several Korean markets. In the Spring they will have several varieties of vegetable plants for sale to include Hot Peppers. There is a variety that is referred to as Wrinkly Pepper. We grow it every yearhere in Western Washington. At this time you should find seeds at the Market. Online you might want to visit WWW,evergreenseeds.com

[kath]

I only eat ripe peppers and had luck with Lipstick and Gypsy a few years back- then not much from them since then. Tried Carmen, it's a hybrid, and have had sweet red peppers in June every year since then. They put out a lot of fruit and last until frost here. I keep trialing others in hopes of finding an open pollinated variety that performs as well.

[Suze]

Tolli's Italian is always my earliest sweet pepper. Bonus is that they have outstanding, sweet, almost apple-like flavor, and the plants are also compact. Honorable mention for Frank's and Churvena Crushka, as those are also early, compact, and have great flavor. (all three of these are great for 4-5 gal containers due to the size which will allow you to get a good early start in your climate) Carmen F1 is another very nice red elongated sweet, but a week or two later (at least) than the other three and plants are taller, you will need a small cage or stake. Peppers are also a bit larger.

For bells, Mavras F1 (a hybrid) is a favorite of mine. Green -> purple -> red when ripe, great flavor and production. Does well for me for both spring crop (when it is hot) and also fall crop (when it tends to be cold nights and short daylength). I do not know how it would do for you in your climate, but it's done better than most for me for the last couple of years. About the only bell I bother with these days. I don't know if I'd call it early/short season, probably mid, but it does seem to handle a wide variety of growing conditions. Mavras isn't a huge plant, never grown it in a container, but I'm pretty sure a 5 gal pot would suffice if you wanted to get an early start with it.

[WVTomatoMan]

I don't know how they'll perform well in your area, but the ones that consistently ripen quickest for me are Tolli's (excellent tasting sweet "banana shaped" pepper) and Ring of Fire (F1 hybrid cayenne type pepper with good flavor and decent heat).

Good luck.

Randy

Edit: I didn't read Suze's post until after I posted. It seems I've been spelling Tolli's incorrectly for years. Oops. Corrected it. I had ripe Tolli's and Ring of Fire peppers the 4th of July weekend. The plants were planted May 15th. Your actual milage may vary.