Socrates X3R Hybrid Bell Pepper

[clkeiper]

Cole and Chris, I buy seeds from Grimes here in ohio. they are a commercial supplier only, so you have to contact them and set up and account, I suppose or prove you are a grower and sell plants/produce, but I buy the "Tasty Orange Bell" pepper from them. It is a large block orange bell and is ripe to orange right now for me, which is earlier than any other ripe bell except Orange Blaze. it isn't an OP, though, or at least I don't think it is.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks. I would prefer a hybrid anyway. I have much better results with hybrid bells.

[ChrisK]

Thanks for the tip! I have no problem with hybrids per se, at all.

Originally Posted by clkeiper

Cole and Chris, I buy seeds from Grimes here in ohio. they are a commercial supplier only, so you have to contact them and set up and account, I suppose or prove you are a grower and sell plants/produce, but I buy the "Tasty Orange Bell" pepper from them. It is a large block orange bell and is ripe to orange right now for me, which is earlier than any other ripe bell except Orange Blaze. it isn't an OP, though, or at least I don't think it is.

[b54red]

I finally got a good rain yesterday after weeks of terrible drought and heat. Not much letup in the heat but it is nice to have a few days off in the watering. I got an inch of rain and that is more than I got the whole month of August and part of July. My peppers and tomatoes both desperately need fertilizing but I have been so busy just trying to get enough water to them that I have not had the chance to fertilize them and they are showing the effects. Hopefully we will get a little cool down but so far no such luck.

Several of my bells are now 8 ft tall and I have had to keep topping them because without some support way up there they will just fall over and break. Many of my peppers have had rotten spots start on them even before I can pick them and I think it is because of the heat and humidity without sufficient water and fertilizer to keep them healthy and strong. I am still battling aphids in one bed but despite all that I am still getting plenty of peppers.

I am also loving the drop down lines and tomato clips for support of pepper plants. I found it really easy to just add a new line whenever I need some support for a limb that is growing out too far without support. I am trying the drop down lines and tomato clips on some fall cucumbers and so far it seems to work pretty good and it is sure easier than building a fence for them to grow up. It surprised me how few clips I have needed so far since the tendrils are grabbing hold of the lines with little need of the clips. I am still putting a few on the vines for extra support in case the tendrils slip on the string.

Bill

[ChrisK]

Here's what I decided for 2015. All from TGS.

Early Sunsation F1
Red Knight F1
Bianca F1
Purple Belle F1
Orange Sun F1
Karma F1


Any thoughts on those above not already mentioned in the thread?

[roper2008]

I have grown Big Bertha PS from TGS, and it was a big elongated pepper. I
would recommend it. I'm going to order a few hybrids from her this year too.
Not sure which ones. If anyone want to switch half packs with me that have
ordered from her let me know. I probably won't be ordering until January.

[peppero]

So many varieties; so little time and space.

jon

[greenthumbomaha]

Time to order seeds. Resurrecting an old thread. Which of the hybrid bells tasted the best. In many threads they are described as superior producers, but taste is important too!

If you grew Early Sensation, how long did it take to turn yellow, given weather conditions were close to normal. Was the taste in the green stage flavorful? It would be nice to get two good peppers from one seed purchase.

- Lisa

[clkeiper]

I tried Pompeii this year... Not again for me. Maybe I needed a longer growing season, but I thought we had an exceptionally long one here for us... I am sure the 10" of rain in June didn't help. Nothing else was as "slow" as these though. They didn't grow very fast or color up before frost.

I did Burpees' Honey Crisp again this year. I grew it last year and decided to give away all the seeds because it didn't ripen up for me in 2014. We had a cool year and they needed a warmer climate. I had a few seeds left so I tried them again.... Um it looked just like Yellow Monster....so, it makes me wonder if it was really a "new" hybrid or a re-named OP one. It was a great pepper. HUGE and bared well. It din't taste like anything other than a regular pepper, but it would have made nice stuffed pepper boats. especially if you like just the filling and not the pepper.

"Bushel Buster-Green" from Grimes did very well. It was a green to red pepper. I picked it all Summer until frost hit it. But you have to be a commercial account to order from them.

Orange Blaze ... again. Not a huge pepper, but still a nice size for two people

Giant Szegedi OP... not giant, but I grow it every year, It is a nice tapered bell. Yellow to orangy-red. My MIL likes it for stuffed peppers, I don't. I sell a lot of them at my husbands market.

And my all time favorite (PM me for seeds) is still Yummy-( orange) peppers. A small snacking pepper. FABULOUSLY sweet and tasty. It is open pollinated and has very few seeds.

[greenthumbomaha]

I love the little orange peppers too. Pepper harvest this past summer was not as good as the prior summer for me either. Marconi is my favorite, for frying and stuffing. My neighbors prefer big green bells, and I got a good yield from a saved market pepper.

Hence the quest for a green bell hybrid.

- Lisa

[ChrisK]

Had a pretty miserable sweet pepper year all around so no data from my side. Now hot peppers are another story...

[Cole_Robbie]

Last year, I grew a lot of great peppers, but I couldn't sell them, because everyone else at market had them, too, even when I priced large bells at 3 for $1. So this year, I didn't plant any peppers. My mom and step-dad ended up selling all they could grow, due to the poor weather year and limited market supply.

Their big winner was the "yum yum mix" hybrids from Johnny's. They are a lot like the "Yummy" pepper, it sounds like anyway, sweet and few seeds. I saved a few seeds to grow out the F2s for fun. From reading old gardenweb threads, doing so seems to produce a wide mix of sweet pepper varieties.

Early Sunsation was my best bell the year before last. But when my stepdad grew it this summer he ended up with a lot of peppers that didn't fill out and were about half as long as they should have been, probably due to irregular moisture.

[FarmerShawn]

I've tried a pretty good range of bell varieties, mostly looking for early ones for our short season. Only one, however, stands out for a unique and delicious flavor, and that's Flavorburst. It's light green when , well, green, and ripens to yellow, which few make it to, because we eat all the green ones. I think Johnnys carries it.

[greenthumbomaha]

Interesting comparison of northern climate peppers :

http://extension.lccountymt.gov/2013...trial-results/

I've grown some of these with similar results in the the lower yielding varieties. Now I know to find subs.

- Lisa

[ChrisK]

Thanks! Surprised at the low numbers of fruits though on many of those.

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Interesting comparison of northern climate peppers :

http://extension.lccountymt.gov/2013...trial-results/

I've grown some of these with similar results in the the lower yielding varieties. Now I know to find subs.

- Lisa