Paprika Peppers

[Boutique Tomatoes]

In the 'it never hurts to ask' category, this year I'll be growing many varieties of Hungarian paprika peppers. They're all commercial grower types and I hadn't had any luck finding trades for most of them, so I took a shot and contacted the seed company directly. After a little back and forth via email and one phone call someone there just sent me evaluation packs of the varieties I'd asked about rather than going through the whole official import process for such a small quantity. Gotta love gardeners around the world!

One of the things I'm most curious about is that some of these varieites are early and can supposedly be direct seeded. Szeged Hungary is famous for it's paprika (several of these varieties are types grown there) and it's temperatures seem to be prety much in line with my area. It would be interesting to be able to direct seed peppers here, so I'm starting some for transplants and I'll try direct seeding as well to see if I get anything that way.

[roper2008]

I'd like to see how they turn out for you. I'm growing a few
paprika types myself.

[GunnarSK]

Paprika is the regular word for all peppers in Hungarian, Czech, German and other languages, and papryka in Polish. So I'm curious about non-paprika peppers.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

These are all varieties developed for production of ground paprika. Here's some of the descriptions:

Szegedi 80 - Sweet variety with pendulous fruits. The fruits are 12-14 cm long, dark red when ripe, pigment content is 8.0-10.0 g/kg, in after post-ripening treatment. The solids content at picking is 20%. Its yield potential under intensive conditions is 20-25 t/ha, has a reasonable tolerance to diseases and can be transplanted or direct seeded. Due to its earliness a reasonable yield can be relied upon before the first frosts.

Kalocsai V-2 - Hot variety with pendulous fruits. It is a tall bush 60-70 cm high, with a strong stem, and dark green foliage. The weight of the mature, red ripe fruit is 17-20 grams, its length is 10-14 cm, and its surface is smooth, cylindrical, and dark red when ripe. Its pigment content at picking is 5.0-6.0 g/kg, going up to 7.0- 8.0 g/kg after post harvest ripening. Its capsaicin content is 200-250 mg/100 g depending on the season. The solids content is 18-20 % when ripe. Its fruit has a strong skin and is not easy to damage. Due to its earliness it is suitable for direct seeding under nearly all conditions. It can be grown successfully even without watering on o brown sandy soil that has high organic matter and good subsoil moisture. The yield potential is 16-18 t/ha. It has a high field tolerance to viral diseases.

[dustdevil]

I don't think direct seeding will work out well in our neck of the woods. I would expect the plants to expire before fruiting if kept outside. I think direct seeding would work in places like Florida and California...

On the other hand, sow them while it's still cold and they might come up like tomato volunteers.

Better do the experiment Mark!

[Boutique Tomatoes]

They sent a lot of seed for a gardener, so I've got plenty to experiment with. I was thinking of trying to direct seed the beginning of May, then again mid May. The weather profiles are close, they warm up a bit faster than we do but it looks like the average growing season is only a bit off (4-5 degrees higher in Hungary).

Szeged, Hungary




Fox Valley Wisconsin

[dustdevil]

Yes, the temps are very similar. Last year reminds me that at times in the summer we can be warmer than Szeged...that would be even better. It will be interesting to hear how this works out. Who knows, one year may be a dud and another a winner. Our weather has been so out of character in recent years. Good Luck!

[Doug9345]

Using the 60ºF for a high it looks like Szeged gets there end of March beginning of April and drops below it the third week in Oct. For 40ºF average low looks about the same.

For Fox Valley it's looks like it is from the end of April, beginning of May to the first week in October or about 6 weeks less.

If you look at the area of the graphs that are warm or hot then Szeged has almost 2/3 greater percentage of the time it is warm or hot.

I believe that those 6 weeks and what amounts to much more time when it's warm or hot make a big difference.

It should be interesting if it works.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

Paprika is the regular word for all peppers in Hungarian, Czech, German and other languages, and papryka in Polish. So I'm curious about non-paprika peppers.

Thank you I was going to say that but you beat me to it.


Worth

[Marko]

markutt, forget direct seeding. As far as I know there are no commercial growers in my area that use direct seeding method for peppers. And Panonian plain has very good climate for peppers. It's not only temperature. For example, part of Slovenia is in mediterranean climate an one part borders Hungary with continental climate. While mediterranean part is much warmer (zone 9), peppers grow better in panonian climate (zone7).

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Marko, you're killing my buzz... I'm still going to give it a try, if I end up with nothing for it at least I'll know for sure. Almost all of these say they are good for direct seeding so it would make field culture a breeze with not having to deal with transplants.

[Bladefan]

I wouldn't mind trying some out also if you happen to have extra seed...I am trying feher ozon this year... So far not much luck getting them to sprout... I think two plants came up from about 20 seeds....

[velikipop]

I have to agree with Marko..forget direct seeding peppers..unless you want to do it just for fun and confirm that it does not work. Almost all the seed packets from eastern Europe, for pepper, tomatoes and other vegetables provide diagrams for direct seeding. I have tried it and got a two inch plant by August. If you want to taste the fruit start indoors now to give them a good head start and you might with some good weather get some decent peppers.

Alex

[dustdevil]

Perhaps some sort of clear plastic row cover would hold heat in to get them germinating and growing early enough.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by marktutt

Marko, you're killing my buzz... I'm still going to give it a try, if I end up with nothing for it at least I'll know for sure. Almost all of these say they are good for direct seeding so it would make field culture a breeze with not having to deal with transplants.

I like your attitude. I say, go for it. It seems like a worthwhile experiment. Good luck and keep up that pioneering spirit.
Dutch