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Sweet pepper is a vegetable crop that is popular with gardeners. It can be seen in almost every garden plot. In the southern regions of our country there are many farms that specialize in the commercial cultivation of sweet pepper. For them, in addition to consumer qualities, the yield of this vegetable is very important. Therefore, their choice is hybrid varieties.
Benefits of sweet pepper
Sweet pepper is the record holder among vegetables for the content of ascorbic acid. In 100 g of this vegetable there is a double daily dose of vitamin C. And if you consider that this amount also contains a third of the daily norm of vitamin A, it becomes clear that you cannot find a better vegetable for the prevention of many diseases.
This popular culture has not only many varieties, but also hybrids.
Advantages and disadvantages of hybrid varieties
Hybridization is the crossing of two or more varieties of pepper or other crops in order to obtain new predetermined properties. Attention! Heterotic hybrids of pepper have more vitality than conventional varieties.
The following advantages of hybrids can be noted.
- High vitality.
- Leveled fruits and excellent appearance, both of these qualities do not change as the crop matures.
- High plasticity – hybrid plants adapt well to any growing conditions and perfectly tolerate the vagaries of the weather.
- Disease resistance.
There are few disadvantages of hybrids: seeds are more expensive than varieties, they cannot be collected for sowing, as seedlings will not repeat parental traits and will not give a good harvest next season.
Many foreign producers have long sown only the seeds of pepper hybrids, despite their high cost. This approach fully justifies itself by the higher cost of the resulting quality products. In our country, hybrid seeds are also increasingly being chosen for sowing. One of these hybrids is sweet pepper Madonna F 1, reviews of which are mostly positive. What are its features and advantages? To understand this, we will give a complete description and make a description of the Madonna F 1 pepper, which is shown in the photo.
Description and characteristics
This pepper hybrid was included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements in 2008 and is recommended for the North Caucasus region. It is grown both in open ground and in a greenhouse. Pepper seeds Madonna F 1 are produced by the French company Tezier, which has been engaged in seed production for more than two hundred years.
What can be said about the Madonna F 1 pepper hybrid:
- the variety belongs to the early ones, some sellers position it as ultra-early – the first fruits reach technical ripeness after 2 months from germination; biological ripeness is observed after 40 days from the formation of the ovary;
- the bush is powerful, in open ground it grows up to 60 cm, in a greenhouse it is much higher, where it can reach a meter height;
- the plant has short internodes and is well leafy – the fruits will not suffer from sunburn;
- they have a heart-shaped elongated shape, almost cuboid;
- the color of fruits in technical and biological ripeness varies greatly: at the first stage they have the color of ivory, at the second they turn completely red; this pepper hybrid is also beautiful in the transitional period, when a gentle blush appears on the pale yellow surface of the fruit;
- the wall thickness is large – in technical ripeness it reaches 5,7 mm, in fully ripe fruits – up to 7 mm;
- did not let us down and the size of the fruit – 7×11 cm, with a weight of up to 220 g;
- the taste, both in technical and biological ripeness, is very good, soft and sweet, the sugar content of Madonna F 1 pepper reaches 5,7%;
- they are characterized by a high content of vitamins: 165 g of ascorbic acid per 100 g of fully ripe fruits;
- purpose of pepper hybrid Madonna F 1 – universal; fruits harvested in technical ripeness are good for fresh salads, stuffing and stews, fully ripe fruits are excellent in marinade;
- in commercial cultivation, peppers are in demand at all stages of maturity: harvested in technical ripeness are well sold on the early production market, fully ripe peppers are successfully sold at a later date;
The description of the Madonna F 1 pepper will not be complete, if not to say about its yield. It is not inferior to the standard among white-fruited hybrid varieties – the Fisht f1 hybrid and is up to 352 centners per hectare. This is 50 centners more than the Gift of Moldova variety. If you adhere to a high level of agricultural technology, then you can collect 50 tons of Madonna F 1 pepper from each hectare. At the same time, the yield of marketable products is very high – up to 97%.
This hybrid also has disadvantages, which are noted by both amateur vegetable growers and farmers.
- The shape is not quite cuboid, and it is these fruits that are most in demand.
- Overripe fruits are prone to the formation of small cracks; during storage, the skin becomes wrinkled.
Often, gardeners remove all the fruits without waiting for biological ripeness, believing that the cream color indicates that Madonna F 1 pepper has already ripened.
Peculiarities of growing
Pepper hybrid Madonna F 1 requires strict adherence to all the rules of agricultural technology. Only in this case it is possible to collect the large harvest declared by the manufacturer. What does Madonna F 1 need?
At seedling stage
The seeds of this pepper do not require preparation for sowing – Tezier has taken care of everything and supplies fully processed seed. Since the seeds are not soaked, they germinate a little longer.
Pepper seeds Madonna F 1 are best sown in separate cassettes or pots. This hybrid variety is distinguished by great growth power and does not like competitors next to it. Seeds sown in separate containers make it easy to transplant seedlings into the ground without disturbing the roots.
Seedling conditions:
- sowing in loose, moisture-intensive, nutritious soil to a depth of 1,5 cm;
- temperature at night – 21 degrees, during the day – from 23 to 27 degrees. A deviation from the temperature regime by 2 degrees leads to a delay in growth for 3 days.
- a lot of light – a light day for pepper should last 12 hours, if necessary, additional illumination with phytolamps is necessary;
- timely watering with warm, settled water – pepper does not tolerate the complete drying of an earthen coma;
- double top dressing with complete mineral fertilizer with microelements of low concentration.
Planting seedlings and care
Powerful pepper bushes Madonna F 1 do not like thick planting. In the greenhouse, it is planted with a distance between rows of 60 cm, and between plants – from 40 to 50 cm. In open ground, from 3 to 4 plants per square meter are located. m.
What pepper Madonna F 1 needs after landing:
- World – plants are planted only in areas that are fully lit during the day.
- Water. Pepper does not tolerate waterlogging of the soil, but loves watering very much. Water only with water heated in the sun. After planting seedlings and before the formation of the first fruits, soil moisture should be about 90%, during growth – 80%. The easiest way to provide it is by installing drip irrigation. During the growth of the fruit, it is impossible to reduce, and even more so stop watering. The wall thickness of the fruit directly depends on soil moisture. A properly organized irrigation system and maintaining soil moisture at the right level increase the yield of Madonna F 1 pepper by 3 times.
- Mulching. It stabilizes the temperature of the soil, protects it from drying out, maintains it in a loose state and prevents weeds from growing.
- Feeding. Without sufficient nutrition, a good harvest of pepper cannot be obtained. This culture does not like overfeeding with nitrogen – leaves begin to grow to the detriment of the crop. Peppers are fed with a complex mineral fertilizer with the obligatory inclusion of trace elements. The first top dressing is carried out after the rooting of seedlings, further – with an interval of 2 weeks. Fertilizer is dissolved in accordance with the instructions. For each bush you need about 1 liter of solution. If there are signs of vertex rot, you will need to fertilize with calcium nitrate. If chlorosis is observed, plants need iron, magnesium and boron.
- Garter and shaping. Plants heavily loaded with crops need a tie to stakes or twine to keep them from being uprooted from the ground. Pepper Madonna F 1 requires mandatory formation. In open ground, it is led into one stem, cutting off all stepchildren. It is permissible to leave 2 or 3 trunks in the greenhouse, but each branch must be tied up. The crown flower is plucked at the seedling stage.
This delicious and beautiful pepper is loved by both gardeners and farmers. With good care, it produces a stable crop of fruits suitable for any use.
For more information on growing Madonna F 1 peppers, see the video:
