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The sweet pepper family is constantly expanding with new varieties with improved qualities. In greenhouses, it is already grown everywhere. In 2011, sweet pepper Love F1 of the Dutch selection of the Syngenta company was included in the State Register. The hybrid stands out for its impressive size, wall thickness and resistance to stressful conditions. Sweet pepper requires increased attention. But labor is rewarded with beautiful and tasty fruits.
Characterization
Pepper Love – medium early, ripens on the 70-80th day from the time of planting seedlings. In technical ripeness, the fruits are consumed after 58-63 days. Love F1 belongs to capia type peppers. The name comes from the Bulgarian language, because many different varieties of hot and sweet peppers are grown and bred in the fertile fields of this country.
Capia-type fruits are distinguished by large oblong and almost flat pods. Their length is comparable to the palm. In the wrong conditions the pods are a little shorter, but in fertile soils, with sufficient watering and warmth, they grow like that. The thick walls of vegetables are affected – up to 7-8 mm. Unripe peppers are dark green in color, and when they ripen, they turn bright red.
Capia pepper, due to its commercial qualities, is popular among medium and large producers of agricultural products. It is also grown with pleasure in home gardens or summer cottages. The skin of capia-type fruits is dense, so all varieties and hybrids can be stored for a long time without changes in the structure of the pulp and tolerate long-term transportation.
Summer residents declare good keeping quality of pepper Love F1. When harvesting the last fruits in the phase of technical maturity – green, the pods in cool conditions retained their appearance and dense structure of the pulp, gradually acquiring a red tint until December.
Capia pepper fruits are widely used by the processing industry, due to the sufficient mass of the pulp. In domestic consumption, fresh salads are prepared from capia pods, stuffed, and various winter preparations are made. The fruits of this variety of pepper, including the Love hybrid, are ideal for roasting on the grill or in the oven. Capia pods are often frozen. Frozen vegetables perfectly retain their peculiar characteristic aroma and some useful substances.
Description of the plant
Compact bushes of the Love F1 hybrid grow in favorable conditions up to 70-80 cm, the average height is 50-60 cm. A plant with a strong stem, medium power, densely leafy, practically hides huge pods under the leaves. The leaves are large, rich dark green. On one bush grows up to 10-15 thick-walled fleshy fruits. In technical maturity, they are dark green in color, in biological they acquire a rich red color.
Hanging fruits of Love pepper are elongated, conical, with thick nutrient walls up to 7-8 mm, contain two or three chambers with seeds. The average length of the pods is 12 cm, the width near the stalk is 6 cm. If the requirements of agricultural technology are observed in growing, the fruits grow up to 18-20 cm. The skin of the pods is dense, with a wax coating. The pulp is tender, fragrant, of high taste quality.
The fruits of the hybrid Love on average weigh 110-150 g, in good conditions the mass of the first pods reaches 220-230 g, and the rest of the fruits – up to 200 g. Producers claim to collect 2 kg of vitamin products per season from one bush.
Advantages
Different varieties and hybrids of peppers, these vegetables of southern origin with a high content of nutrients, require special conditions for growing. The main ones are warmth and high levels of nutrients in the soil. By fulfilling these requests, gardeners get an excellent harvest. Hybrid Love F1 clearly demonstrates its advantages:
- Large-fruited and high yield;
- Excellent taste properties;
- Unpretentiousness to growing conditions;
- Endurance to stressful situations;
- Tobacco mosaic virus resistance;
- Good keeping quality and suitability for long-distance transportation;
- High commercial performance;
- Can be grown outdoors in warmer regions and in greenhouses in colder climates.
Growing seedlings
Pepper Love F1 is propagated by sowing through seedlings. Sow seeds in February or early March. You need to carefully prepare for the process, stock up on soil, seeds and containers. There are two opinions about growing pepper seedlings. Some gardeners argue that the sprouts need to dive. Others talk about the dangers of such a method for the plant. Everyone decides for himself and chooses either one container where he sows seeds for further picking. Or he buys special cassettes in the store, where the pepper grows before transplanting to a permanent place.
Soil preparation and sowing
For seedlings of the hybrid Love, a light nutrient soil is prepared. The optimal composition is recommended: 25% garden soil, 35% humus or peat, 40% sand. Experienced gardeners mix 200-250 g of wood ash, a good potash fertilizer, for each bucket of soil.
Pepper seeds Love F1 go on sale already processed and completely ready for planting. They are carefully placed in pre-moistened soil in the grooves or in the middle of the cassette to a depth of 1,5-2 cm and sprinkled with soil. The containers are in a warm place until sprouts appear. For germination of pepper seeds, you need to maintain a temperature of at least 25 degrees. A week later, hybrid sprouts appear together.
Sprout care
For the next 7-8 days, young seedlings of Love F1 pepper are kept in a cool place where the temperature does not exceed 18 degrees. The sprouts will get stronger under such conditions, but they need additional illumination – up to 14 hours of bright light daily.
- Strong seedlings are transferred for a day to a warm room – up to 25-28 degrees. At night, the ideal would be a temperature drop of 10 degrees against the daytime;
- Water once a week with warm water;
- Peppers are fed with complex mineral fertilizers according to the instructions.
Planting seedlings in the garden
Pepper seedlings Love F1 are planted in the garden or in the greenhouse at the age of 45-60 days. Two weeks before transplanting, containers with plants are hardened, taking them out into fresh air, first for several hours. Then the residence time in vivo is gradually increased. During this period, pepper seedlings are sprayed with copper sulphate to prevent fungal diseases.
- When the soil warms up to 10-12 degrees, in late May or early June, hybrid seedlings are planted in a permanent place;
- Love pepper cannot be planted on a plot where tomatoes, peppers, potatoes or eggplants were grown in the previous year;
- The seedlings of the hybrid are placed according to the scheme 70 x 40, where the distance between the seedlings in a row is 40 cm. This is the optimal planting for a rather powerful Love F1 pepper bush.
Features of hybrid care
Cultivation of pepper Love has its own specifics.
- Planted plants are watered abundantly for several days until they take root;
- Then watering is carried out once a week;
- When the Love F1 hybrid blooms and bears fruit, you need to water it 2-3 times a week so as not to create stress by drying out the soil;
- Loosen the ground carefully, because the root system of pepper is located close to the surface of the soil;
- Fertilize with ready-made fertilizers for pepper.
The hybrid bush Love F1 grows up, and then forms a flower and forms stepchildren. Branches vegetate, create leaves, and then a flower and their stepchildren. It is important to pluck the first flower so that the plant does not give its strength to the first fruit, but develops further and forms more ovaries.
- Removing the first flowers on plants of the Love F1 hybrid stimulates the formation of a powerful bush that will create many stepchildren;
- The ovaries will form regularly, and the hybrid will fully realize itself. Such a bush is able to produce 10-15 large, juicy fruits;
- It is important to pluck the first fruits from the bushes at the stage of technical maturity. The plant avoids fruit load stress and produces uniform fruits.
High productivity of pepper is possible only with careful implementation of the requirements of agricultural technology.
