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Sweet, or as it is often called, Bulgarian, pepper has been widely used in Our Country for a long time. But in recent years, its popularity has especially increased. One of the reasons was the ongoing work of breeders to develop new varieties of vegetable crops with even more attractive properties and characteristics.
Also, methods and methods of growing a healthy and tasty vegetable are constantly being improved. It is these two factors – high-quality breeding work and the improvement of agricultural cultivation technology that played the main role in the next round of gardeners’ passion for bell pepper.
Description and properties of bell pepper
Sweet pepper is known in Our Country under many names, among which the most common are: bell pepper, vegetable pepper, paprika, and even red or green pepper.
The appearance of the plant is known to everyone, even people far from gardening. From the point of view of botany, sweet pepper is an annual garden vegetable crop, which has a relatively low bush, usually up to 1,5 meters, single or group leaves in the form of rosettes, painted in green and its various shades of color. The plant has relatively large flowers, the fruits are hollow false berries of various sizes and colors. Peppercorns can be red, yellow, orange, green or brown.
Pepper, in addition to excellent taste, has a number of useful properties. It has a healing and preventive effect, significantly reduces the risk of many serious diseases, stimulates appetite and activates the digestive system. It is possible to list the useful properties of sweet pepper for a long time, especially since their number, thanks to the ongoing research of scientists, is constantly increasing.
Selection Criteria for Bell Pepper Seeds
Currently, any specialized store contains just a huge selection of sweet pepper seeds for planting. To navigate in this diversity, it is necessary to clearly understand the criteria by which to make a choice.
First of all, it is necessary to carefully study the properties and characteristics of the proposed variety, a description of which is always placed on a bag of seeds.
The main attention should be paid to the following properties:
Variety ripening time. According to this criterion, all plants are divided into:
- early maturing varieties and hybrids. They are best suited for planting in unprotected ground, as they have time to ripen even in suboptimal conditions of a short period of consistently warm and sunny weather. It is these conditions that are most characteristic of the domestic middle zone;
- mid-season varieties and hybrids. They can be used both in greenhouses and in unprotected soil. In the second case, they will require a little more attention and care necessary to ensure a good and stable crop;
- late-ripening varieties and hybrids. The most suitable for greenhouse conditions, since in the open field in most cases they simply do not have time to ripen to the required stage.
Variety resistance sweet pepper to diseases and pests common in a particular region.
Zoning a variety or hybrid for the specific region where it is planned to grow it.
One of the important criteria for choosing sweet pepper seeds is the establishment of priority between varieties and hybrids.
The main advantage of the variety is the possibility of independent preparation of seeds for future planting. In addition, varietal varieties, as a rule, are less whimsical and more resistant, if we take the totality of their properties and characteristics.
It makes no sense to harvest seeds of hybrids, since their properties are not saved for the next harvest. However, hybrids have their advantages: higher yields and excellent taste properties.
Following these criteria will help the grower make the right choice of variety or hybrid when purchasing sweet pepper seeds.
Sweet pepper – varieties and hybrids
As noted above, there is a huge variety of very different varieties and hybrids of bell pepper.
Cardinal F1
The presence of the F1 marking makes it easy to find out that the Cardinal is a hybrid of bell pepper. In terms of ripening, the vegetable plant is early ripe. The first peppercorns reach the stage of technical maturity 90-95 days after the seedlings were planted. The hybrid has a compact form of a relatively low (up to 0,5 meters) bush. The shape of peppercorns is a classic regular cube with sides of 9-10 cm with a normal fruit wall thickness of up to 8 mm.
Peppercorn in the stage of technical maturity acquires an extremely attractive and original dark purple color. Then, with further ripening, the fruits become bright red.
The main advantages of the hybrid are as follows:
- high and extremely stable plant yield;
- taste properties and versatility of the method of use. The hybrid can be used both fresh for salads, and for canning and cooking by heat treatment;
- the ability to resist one of the most common and dangerous diseases of peppers – tobacco mosaic virus.
As with most other varieties and hybrids, Cardinal seeds are recommended to be planted for seedlings in March. At the same time, they do not need to be soaked, since the necessary preparation of hybrid seeds is always carried out in the seed farm.
Big Papa
A variety with such an original name appeared relatively recently. It is considered an early ripe plant, bringing the first peppercorns in about 100-105 days. Big Papa has a low bush and medium spreading. Peppercorns are cone-shaped, have a small size. And the mass, as a rule, does not exceed 100 grams with sufficiently thick walls of the fetus – 8 mm.
The main advantage of the sweet pepper of this variety is its high and fairly stable yield. It is also relatively disease resistant. And experts note the taste qualities of the Big Papa variety. They are expressed, among other things, in the juiciness and special aroma of peppercorns, which is preserved during various processing during the preparation of certain dishes.
Orange
Variety Orange has several distinctive features that distinguish it from the general range of features.
Firstly, the fruits of the variety are small in size, almost never exceeding a weight of 40 grams. At the same time, a very large number of them ripen on the bush at the same time, which allows the variety to show good yields.
Secondly, the Orange variety is characterized only by its especially sweet taste of fruits and their very pronounced aroma. This taste is preserved not only fresh in salads, but also when canning or preparing a classic lecho.
Thirdly, the Orange variety has, thanks to the work of the breeders who developed it, the most suitable qualities for growing in unprotected open ground. It is unpretentious in terms of care and climatic conditions, resistant to low temperatures, and is able to withstand most diseases common in Our Country.
The remaining properties of the Orange bell pepper variety are not so remarkable:
- in terms of maturation – early ripening;
- bush height – average, up to 0,45 meters;
- the color of the fruit is either bright orange or red-orange;
- the shape of the fruit is round, elongated.
Agapovsky
The Agapovsky variety was bred by breeders a little over twenty years ago. During this time, it has become widespread, having managed to become popular among domestic gardeners. This is not at all surprising if you study its properties.
Agapovsky allows you to start harvesting the first crop in 100-105 days, referring to this indicator as an early ripening plant. Like most peppers, it has a compact bush shape, relatively low. It is distinguished by the characteristic bright dark green color of numerous large leaves.
The shape of peppercorns is prism-shaped, with slightly pronounced ribbing. Fruits almost never weigh more than 110-120 grams, while having a wall thickness of about 7 mm.
The main advantage of the Agapovsky bell pepper is, without a doubt, its high yield. Subject to the rules of care and the implementation of the necessary agrotechnical measures, it can be in the region of 10 kg / sq. m. In addition to such an extraordinary yield, the Agapovsky variety also has significant resistance to many diseases. But even this does not end his merits. Most gardeners who have cultivated it highly appreciate the taste, combined with the versatility of the method of use.
Hercules
In terms of maturation, the Hercules variety is mid-season. This means that you can start harvesting no earlier than after 110-120 days. The color of fruits at the stage of technical maturity is dark green. Upon reaching biological maturity, peppercorns gradually change their color to red.
The fruits are cube-shaped, 11 * 12 cm in size, quite large. Often their weight exceeds 250 grams. The surface of the peppercorns has a barely noticeable ribbing. The wall thickness is usually 7-8 mm.
The main advantage of the Hercules variety is its excellent taste and versatility of the method of use. In addition, the bell pepper variety is quite resistant to most diseases.
California miracle
Bulgarian pepper variety California miracle is one of the most popular among domestic gardeners. Its properties and characteristics allowed it to become widespread in the southern regions of Our Country, as well as in the middle lane. Being mid-season, it provides an opportunity to start harvesting the first crop of peppercorns after 110 days. The bush of the plant has a compact shape, but rather high. Often it grows up to 1 meter, and sometimes even higher. The variety is different in that it does not need to tie up the branches – this is because they are very powerful and resilient.
The fruits of the California Miracle variety are relatively small, only some of them reach a mass of 150-160 grams. Peppercorns have a characteristic fleshy structure of the insides. The fruits have a bright red saturated color. Their shape is a cube with almost equal sides and a slightly ribbed surface.
The main advantages of the variety is its versatility, which manifests itself in two indicators at once:
- according to the method of use – the excellent taste properties of the variety are manifested both fresh and canned, as well as in the preparation of various dishes;
- at the place of cultivation – the properties of the variety allow its cultivation both in greenhouses and in unprotected soil.
In addition to all the above advantages, the variety is also quite resistant to diseases.
Cockatoo F1
One of the hybrids of Bulgarian pepper, which has original and remarkable properties. Its name is most likely associated with the bright red color of the most common hybrid variety, somewhat reminiscent of the coloring of the beak of a well-known parrot species.
The second distinctive feature of the hybrid is the large size of its fruits. They have a somewhat elongated shape up to 30 cm long. As a result, their weight is often 0,5 kg.
As a result, the yield of sweet pepper hybrid is quite high and often reaches 3 kg from each bush.
The third remarkable property of the hybrid is the existence of two of its varieties. Above we talked about the first, most common. The second is less common. Its fruits are somewhat smaller, but nevertheless reach a mass of 300-400 grams with half the length (up to 15 cm). Their color is yellow.
Siberian prince
It is easy to guess, if the word “Siberian” is present in the name, then, probably, we will talk about a variety for open ground. It is for such growing conditions that this variety of bell pepper is intended. Being early ripe, it has a low bush of a semi-spreading structure.
The color of the peppercorns is a rich bright red, the insides of the fruit are very fleshy, and the skin is smooth and glossy. Peppercorns grow quite small in size, rarely reaching a mass of 100 grams. They are cone shaped.
One of the features of agricultural technology is the need to periodically cut off the side shoots of the plant, otherwise their growth will slow down the formation and ripening of peppercorns.
The variety stands out for its excellent taste properties. It is versatile in the way it is eaten.
Conclusion
The variety of varieties and hybrids of sweet pepper makes choosing one or more a difficult task. But if you follow the recommendations and criteria, it will be somewhat easier to make it. And the right choice, combined with careful care and the implementation of the necessary agrotechnical measures, is a guarantee of a high yield of such a healthy and tasty vegetable as bell pepper.