Peppers!

I don't know why, but I am almost an abject failure at germinating peppers. My tomato germinating skills are well above average. This year, I attempted to germinate six each of twelve pepper varieties. I planted three seed of each variety in six grow cells for each variety. One variety didn't germinate a single plant. A few varieties produced three or four plants from eighteen seed. A few varieties germinated every seed and required thinning before up potting. Since all of my seed was either purchased (the variety that produced no plants) or donated this year, I plan on saving all my seed this year which are not hybrid. Maybe that will improve my germination rate.

The following are observations I've made so far on some of the different varieties.

Banarama Normallly, I'm not a fan of banana peppers. I don't like the thin walls and almost absent taste. I cant see much difference between eating normal banana peppers and eating paper. This hybrid was the earliest producer of peppers. It has much thicker walls, it is much larger, and has a pleasant pepper flavor. I'm still not a fan of banana peppers, but for those folks who are; this is a great variety.

Better Bell Hybrid A super producer of large bell peppers. I'm waiting to see if the plant will survive the high summer heat which normally kills my bell pepper plants. If it survives without shade cloth, it will be grown next year.

Giant Marconi This is a fabulous pepper. It produces very large elongated peppers with thick walls and no heat. In my mind, it is the perfect stuffing pepper for everything from simple stuffed peppers to Chili Reaynos (spelling is probably incorrect).
If my bell pepper plant doesn't survive the heat but the Giant Marconi does survive, it will replace my bell pepper selection next year..

Red Trinidad Scorpion I have no idea why I am growing this pepper. I am basically a coward when it comes to eating the really hot peppers. The seed was given to me and it was a pain in the rear to germinate only two plants out of about fifteen seeds. The plants that did germinate produced one large plant and one tiny plant. They are still one large and one tiny in my garden. Neither has produced a pepper yet so I can't comment and if I can't generate some courage, I may not comment.

Fooled You A heat less Jalapeno pepper. My wife likes to make salsa with our garden tomatoes, garden onions, and garden herbs. She only likes mild heat in her salsa while I prefer hotter salsa. She has never been been able to consistently regulate the heat using normal Jalapeno's. With "Fooled You" she can make heatless salsa for her and everyone else and use normal Jalapenos for my salsa. It produces really large peppers abundantly.

Thai Hot Once again, a variety which I will not be eating except possibly in some hot schezwan dishes. It is easily the most beautiful plant in my garden with its almost round shape with the tiny red peppers sticking out through the leaves.

Bishops Hat A uniquely different pepper in large size and pepper shape. I wasn't sure I knew how to visually picture a "Bishops Hat", but if the peppers are an indication; I now know. The plant looks like a large decorative yard plant with these little ornaments hanging all over it.

Trinidad Perfume My anticipation has probably been highest for this pepper. So far, it is a fairly small plant without any peppers. It looks healthy and robust so I should get some highly flavored, heatless, peppers at some point this summer.

Sweet Cayenne Another heatless variety with no heat. The very long, narrow pods appear to be in the catogory of "Hotter Than Heck" peppers, but they have no heat. They do have an intense cayenne flavor.

I like a mixture of hot and mild peppers which allow me to mix and match to acheive the heat intensity and flavor intensity I prefer.

Ted

[Worth1]

Chile rellenos.
translation stuffed chile.
traditionally made with poblanos.
there are stuffed peppers all over Europe and Asia and I could eat every one of them.


I hope you enjoy your peppers Ted.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

Banana peppers: I thought they were boring and bland myself, but 90% of my family won't eat any type of hot peppers. I grew banana peppers for them, but along the way, we found that cooking those banana peppers on a grill or in a pan brings out a wonderful flavor. It is one of those flavors that makes you salivate. mmm

Fooled You: Just like the TAM Mild (Texas A&M) if you grow them near hotter type peppers - they do get hotter. I planted mine between TAM type M Jalapenos and Serrano... and our Mild TAM Jalapeno peppers are HOT.

That is the results of my 3 years of growing peppers at least. I don't have any experience with the others you've listed. Oh, and spaying Epsom Salt water (2 tablespoons per gallon of water) on the pepper plant leaves really has improved the size of my plants and yield. I spray them 1 time per month with a simple squirt bottle.

[JJJessee]

Could your germination issues be related to not keeping the soil/medium slightly above 80°?
I also keep a dome over the starter cells to stabilize moisture. Peppers taking 7-14 days or more to germinate are more vulnerable to drying out somewhere along the way.

I like the Bishop's Hat, but mine took a long time to ripen last year, but you're in a better pepper zone.

This is my first year on the Marconis. Looks like it will be a winner.

[b54red]

Ted you might want to try Socrates hybrid for bell peppers next season. I have been having wonderful success with them for quite a few years now and unlike many bells they usually make it through the worst of the summer heat. They even keep producing during the mid summer doldrums though not as heavily as in early summer and fall.

I love Giant Marconi but they tend to get so freaking huge. It is not unusual for them to top out around 10 feet which causes them to fall over and create problems. I have never figured out how to support the things.

For the last couple of years I have been getting much better and faster germination with my peppers using DE as the starting medium then moving them to potting soil and cups as soon as possible. I have been using the Auto Zone brand called UltraSorb.

I am right now undergoing a sudden and massive aphid attack on my peppers like I have never seen on large pepper plants outside. I could hardly see the new growth on some of them because the aphids were so thick. Despite that most of my Socrates, Declaration, and Slonovo bells look pretty good and are setting despite the heat. My two Jalapenos are doing really good along with my frying type peppers. My Cayenne peppers are just doing okay.

Good luck with your peppers this season.

Bill

[Urbanfarmer]

"I am right now undergoing a sudden and massive aphid attack on my peppers like I have never seen on large pepper plants outside. I could hardly see the new growth on some of them because the aphids were so thick."

Bill......few years ago aphids somehow got into one of our greenhouses, which was half full of bells, which they love. We waited too long to break out the big guns and then literally couldn't stop them. Predatory wasps, ladybugs, pyrethrin bombs, sprays, insecticidal soaps, neem oil......once they got established it quickly got out of control, or they were momentarily diminished while the plants were damaged by the treatments.

The downside of a greenhouse is......once a pest gets in, there are no natural enemies to counter them and they reproduce exponentially. The same thing happened a couple years later with whiteflies on tomatoes. Both crops had to be cut down and the greenhouses severely nuked.

I've grown TAM Jalapenos in the past and they were as hot as any other Jalapeno in my garden. The last two years I've grown Big Guy and Mucho Nacho. They make much larger hot Jalapenos. My Fooled You Jalapenos are growing about eighteen inches from the hotter varieties and I can't detect any heat in them.

The very word "Aphids" should be designated as a curse word. It should be banned for use within 100 ft. of any garden. The problem is once the word is even thought, the reality of aphid's suddenly appears in multiple, plural form. I don't know if the singular form of aphid even exits.

I've read, heard; and tried almost every magical cure for them and found none of them to be based on fact. I've thought of asking the government to designate my garden as a nuclear waste repository but that probably wouldn't work either.

I've finally resorted to the simplest control which is washing them off my plants with a water spray. It doesn't get rid of them, but it does keep their numbers in a manageable range.

In my garden, eggplant seems to always be the favored host plant. Peppers are their second favorite host. Cucumbers and squash are not spared their wrath. I can't remember ever seeing an aphid on a tomato plant.

Two years ago, I grew a beautiful bed of Chinese Cabbage and Mustard Greens. I didn't find a single aphid on any of the plants. I tried to repeat the same success with the same plants last fall. I didn't harvest anything. Every leaf on every plant was totally covered with aphids.

Don't get me started on Grasshoppers! If could find and breed a variety of grasshopper which only eats aphids, all would be right with the world.

Ted

[frankbenjones]

Originally Posted by tedln

I've grown TAM Jalapenos in the past and they were as hot as any other Jalapeno in my garden. The last two years I've grown Big Guy and Mucho Nacho. They make much larger hot Jalapenos. My Fooled You Jalapenos are growing about eighteen inches from the hotter varieties and I can't detect any heat in them.

Ted

This year I grew TAM Jalapenos for my brother that can't handle the heat thinking they would be milder and they seem to be just as hot. I'll probably skip them next year and just grow Jalafuego. Haven't tried Big Guy or Mucho Nacho. I'm also growing Mariachi (not a Jalapeno). So far I've only tried one and it was definetly milder.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Urbanfarmer

"I am right now undergoing a sudden and massive aphid attack on my peppers like I have never seen on large pepper plants outside. I could hardly see the new growth on some of them because the aphids were so thick."

Bill......few years ago aphids somehow got into one of our greenhouses, which was half full of bells, which they love. We waited too long to break out the big guns and then literally couldn't stop them. Predatory wasps, ladybugs, pyrethrin bombs, sprays, insecticidal soaps, neem oil......once they got established it quickly got out of control, or they were momentarily diminished while the plants were damaged by the treatments.

The downside of a greenhouse is......once a pest gets in, there are no natural enemies to counter them and they reproduce exponentially. The same thing happened a couple years later with whiteflies on tomatoes. Both crops had to be cut down and the greenhouses severely nuked.

I've had trouble with them before in my greenhouse on pepper seedlings and they can be a real pain to get rid of. I found the Pyrethrin, soap and rubbing alcohol mix worked good on them in the greenhouse. Can't remember how much alcohol I added to the mix but it made a real difference. Even then it took a couple of sprayings.

I have had good results with the IGR in the past on mites so I thought it might be helpful with the aphids also. I'll let you know. As of right now millions of them have disappeared from my peppers. Of course with aphids they can reappear very fast.

Bill

[Kazfam]

Very nice assortment.

I grow banana peppers for pickling - they are fantastic on a sub/sandwich.

I am growing from seed for the first time this year. So far so good - the plants seem much heartier than farm-store bought plants.

I've got in the garden:

California Wonder (Bell pepper)
Orange Sun (Bell pepper)
Hungarian Paprika (to dry)
Hungarian Wax (medium hot; for the hubby)
Pablano (medium hot - always wanted to try them)
Banana (for pickling)
Jalapeno Early (supposed to ripen earlier by 1-2 weeks; for the son)

Hoping the Bell peppers give me a decent harvest - LOVE to roast or stuff them.
I like the sounds of your Giant Marconi - keep us informed. I often have problems with my Bells because of the heat too and they HATE too much rain. Certainly not a problem this year so far - last year was terrible.

Thanks tedln...nice info.

[peppero]

Originally Posted by b54red

Ted you might want to try Socrates hybrid for bell peppers next season. I have been having wonderful success with them for quite a few years now and unlike many bells they usually make it through the worst of the summer heat. They even keep producing during the mid summer doldrums though not as heavily as in early summer and fall.

I love Giant Marconi but they tend to get so freaking huge. It is not unusual for them to top out around 10 feet which causes them to fall over and create problems. I have never figured out how to support the things.

For the last couple of years I have been getting much better and faster germination with my peppers using DE as the starting medium then moving them to potting soil and cups as soon as possible. I have been using the Auto Zone brand called UltraSorb.

I am right now undergoing a sudden and massive aphid attack on my peppers like I have never seen on large pepper plants outside. I could hardly see the new growth on some of them because the aphids were so thick. Despite that most of my Socrates, Declaration, and Slonovo bells look pretty good and are setting despite the heat. My two Jalapenos are doing really good along with my frying type peppers. My Cayenne peppers are just doing okay.

Good luck with your peppers this season.

Bill

Bill regarding those 10 ft plants, why not try topping them at about 6 ft or less and see if they wont make a bushier plant? I have done that on some of my plants and they are bushier.

jon

[b54red]

Originally Posted by peppero

Bill regarding those 10 ft plants, why not try topping them at about 6 ft or less and see if they wont make a bushier plant? I have done that on some of my plants and they are bushier.

jon

Because they were so big there was no where for them to get bushier.

Bill

Originally Posted by b54red

Because they were so big there was no where for them to get bushier.

Bill

Interesting!

My Giant Marconi plant is only about three feet tall putting out giant peppers. It is still early in the season though. It may be a giant plant by fall. Bishops Hat is already taller than the tomato cage it is growing in. Of the twelve pepper varieties I am growing, no two have the same plant size, leaf form, leaf color, or structure as the others. The closest in resemblance are the Fooled You and Big Guy jalapenos. If I saw the Trinidad Scorpion growing in a nursery without any peppers or blooms on it, I would never guess it to be a pepper plant. The Belgium Carrot plant seems to be a very petite plant about eighteen inches tall with a few green peppers on it. I'm waiting for them to turn orange like carrots. The plants are almost as interesting to me as the peppers they produce.

In the few years I've grown peppers, I've noticed most varieties produce a few peppers in the spring and early summer as they grow. Most continue to grow through the hot summer producing very few peppers. When the first cooler days of late summer arrive, they start blooming and producing profusely. I would guess the low summer production and high fall production is simply a result of the latitude I'm growing them in. In other latitudes, they probably grow and produce consistently. It seems some perform better in more warm southerly latitudes while others perform best in more northerly cool latitudes.

Ted

[frankbenjones]

Originally Posted by b54red

Because they were so big there was no where for them to get bushier.

Bill

Wow! I'm going to have to grow them next year.

[decherdt]

Pepper seeds don't like peat moss or a lot of moisture. I have better luck with a coir/DE/vermiculite mix watered well once and misted a little if I have to water again.