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Sweet pepper belongs to extremely heat-loving plants, which is not at all surprising, given that it comes from the warmest and most humid regions of Latin and Central America. Despite this, domestic gardeners have long learned to get good yields of this crop in seemingly unsuitable conditions for this. Moreover, this statement applies not only to the southern regions. Consistently high yields are also obtained in central Our Country, but this requires growing pepper in protected ground, which is why most gardeners prefer to plant pepper seeds on seedlings, which are then planted in greenhouses.
Sweet pepper – properties and benefits
Sweet pepper refers to annual vegetable crops. The plant in Our Country is known under several names at once, for example, red pepper, bell pepper, vegetable pepper and paprika. The sweet pepper bush usually has single or rosette leaves of a characteristic green or bright dark green color. The vegetable has fairly large fruits, which are false hollow berries of various and bright colors: red, green, yellow, orange or brown.
Quite often, eating a vegetable for food, a person usually does not think about its beneficial properties. And there are actually a lot of them, and some of them deserve special mention:
- traditional for many vegetables high content of useful vitamins and other substances. According to the content of extremely useful vitamin C, sweet pepper is far ahead of all other vegetables, being the undoubted leaders. Among all, its plants are slightly superior in this component only to wild rose and blackcurrant. Standing apart is the rare vitamin P contained in bell pepper. It is very useful for normalizing the functioning of the heart and blood vessels. According to scientists, the constant use of pepper almost halved the likelihood of getting a stroke. In addition to those listed above, sweet peppers also contain many other useful substances, from B vitamins to silicon, iron, etc .;
- the presence of the original and rare substance capsoicin. It helps to increase appetite and activate the processes associated with digestion. Therefore, the vegetable is highly recommended to be taken in any form at the beginning of lunch or dinner. Even more capsoicin contains distant relatives of sweet pepper – black pepper and hot chili;
- health effect. Some of the useful and therapeutic and prophylactic properties of the considered vegetable crop have already been listed above. In addition, regular consumption of bell pepper significantly reduces the risk of any cancer, primarily breast cancer, which makes the vegetable preferred for women. Also, the substances found in pepper contribute to the prevention of neuralgia;
- excellent taste properties. You can list the useful, healing and health-improving qualities of pepper for as long as you like, but all this would not be so important for its popularity and wide distribution if it did not have an excellent taste and was not part of a variety of dishes that always bring gastronomic pleasure.
As can be seen from the above, it is not at all difficult to explain why sweet pepper is grown in almost every domestic garden.
How to choose the best variety of sweet pepper
Experienced gardeners know perfectly well what to look for when choosing a variety. For beginners, the following main criteria can be distinguished:
- variety ripening time or a sweet pepper hybrid. Proper planning of sowing dates often allows you to get a crop of a plant when it is grown in the most suitable polycarbonate greenhouses until the middle of winter;
- bush height vegetables and their compactness. The larger the area of the greenhouse, the less relevant this criterion. However, proper planting and placement of the plant requires this factor to be taken into account;
- amount of light needed. This indicator is very different for different hybrids and varieties of sweet pepper. When choosing them, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the region in which it is planned to grow bell pepper;
- resistance and ability to resist pest diseases. The most important criterion that must be taken into account when choosing a variety or hybrid. You should also have information about which diseases and pests are most common in the region where you plan to grow vegetables.
variety or hybrid
The importance of this criterion requires its separate and more detailed consideration. It is especially relevant for gardeners who try to use self-collected seeds.
They should understand that in the case of planting seeds of a bell pepper hybrid labeled F1, self-harvesting of seeds is not advisable, since such hybrids produce seeds without inheriting the traits of the variety. Hence the conclusion: if you want to grow such fruitful and tasty hybrids, you will have to purchase seeds every year. A fairly large part of gardeners go for it, since the advantages of hybrids are obvious and obvious: extremely high and stable yields with excellent taste properties, as well as often higher disease resistance than conventional varietal bell peppers.
The best varieties of sweet pepper for greenhouses
To answer the question of which varieties of peppers are best for a greenhouse, it is enough to study their properties below and choose the most suitable one.
Cardinal F1
By the presence of markings, it is easy to determine that Cardinal sweet pepper is a hybrid. It is a high-yielding plant, early ripe. Allows you to get the first fruits in 86-97 days after planting seedlings. The vegetable has a low (0,5-0,6 meters) bush of a compact structure. The fruits of bell pepper are cube-shaped, rather large, overall dimensions – 9 * 10 cm, wall thickness reaches 8 mm. Pepper has an extremely attractive appearance, with a dark purple color at the stage of technical maturity, gradually turning into bright red when fully ripe. A huge plus of the hybrid is its very high resistance to the common tobacco mosaic virus.
Experts also highly appreciate the taste properties of the Cardinal F1 hybrid. Most of them recommend starting sowing seeds for seedlings in March. Like most hydride seeds, Cardinal pepper seeds do not need to be soaked or similarly prepared for planting.
Atlant F1
Sweet pepper Atlant is also a hybrid, which is easy to establish by marking. He is rightfully considered one of the most popular and well-known among domestic gardeners. The reasons for this are the outstanding characteristics inherent in the hybrid. These are both high taste properties and an extremely attractive appearance – bright red fruits that stand out against the general background. A hybrid vegetable crop is a universal one, that is, the fruits can be eaten in any form.
The Atlant hybrid is early ripe, allowing you to start harvesting in 110-115 days. In addition to the listed advantages, it also has a sufficiently high resistance to diseases, the most common in domestic conditions.
Hercules
Sweet pepper Hercules refers to mid-season, allowing you to start collecting the first fruits 120-130 days after the appearance of the first sprouts. At this time, the fruits have a dark green color, but after 20-25 days, when they reach biological maturity, they turn red.
Peppercorns have the shape of a cube measuring 12 * 11 cm, quite large, their weight reaches 250 grams. On the surface there is a barely noticeable ribbing. The walls of the fetus have a usual thickness of 7-8 mm. The high taste qualities of the variety are preserved with any method of preparation and fresh in salads.
The sweet pepper variety Heracles is highly resistant to most diseases and relatively undemanding to growing conditions.
Apricot Favorite
A popular and well-known variety obtained by breeders at the end of the 20th century. Since then, it has spread widely throughout domestic territories due to the presence of a number of advantages. Sweet pepper Apricot favorite is an early ripe crop that allows you to start harvesting after 100-110 days. The vegetable crop bush is small and compact enough, has a significant number of relatively large leaves of dark green color.
Peppercorns are prism-shaped, smooth with slight ribbing. They are medium-sized, rarely exceeding 120 grams in weight, with a typical wall thickness of 7-8 mm. The main advantage of the variety is its high yield, reaching 9,5-10,3 kg / sq. m. In addition, sweet peppers are highly resistant to most common diseases and pests. In addition, the variety has high taste properties, which are often valued by gardeners even above the yield. The variety is most common as a greenhouse, but can also be grown in open ground.
Latino F1
The sweet pepper hybrid is an early ripe plant, after 100-120 days it is quite possible to start harvesting. The hybrid is characterized by an extremely high yield, which distinguishes it even among bell pepper hybrids. Subject to agrotechnical rules and quality care, it may well exceed 16 kg / sq. m. Latino hybrid peppercorns have a characteristic cuboid shape of a rather large size of 12 * 12 cm with a wall thickness exceeding the usual for most peppers and reaching 1 cm. The color of the fruit is clearly expressed red.
Bred for growing in greenhouses, the Latino hybrid can also be planted in open ground, which is often done by gardeners in the southern domestic regions. In addition to productivity, the bell pepper hybrid is extremely resistant to various common diseases. Although he needs protection and protection from pests – aphids and spider mites.
Dennis F1
This hybrid belongs to the ultra-early ones, starting to bear fruit after 85-90 days. The plant has relatively large fruits, reaching a normal weight of 0,4 kg with fairly thick walls of 0,9 cm. The shape of the fruit is cuboid, but somewhat elongated. Overall dimensions are impressive – 18 * 10 cm. The bush of a vegetable plant is medium-sized, rarely reaching a height of 0,6-0,7 m. The Denis hybrid is excellently cultivated both in open and protected ground, in the second case its productivity, for obvious reasons , much higher. Experts recommend it as ideal for salads, although other uses are also possible.
Isabella F1
The Isabella bell pepper hybrid is medium-sized, bearing the first fruits suitable for harvest after 120 days. The vegetable bush is relatively tall, often exceeding 1 m. The fruits of the hybrid are relatively large in size, reaching up to 160 grams in weight with a normal wall thickness of 8-10 mm. The shape of the peppercorns is prism-shaped, the color is a characteristic bright red.
It is most valued for its excellent taste properties, and it is universal, that is, it can be eaten in any form, including canned. The yield of the Isabella hybrid reaches 10 kg / sq. m. It is also worth noting that the sweet pepper hybrid is extremely unpretentious and undemanding to growing conditions and care.
Conclusion
Any gardener who decides to start growing sweet peppers faces a difficult dilemma – which variety is best to choose for planting. Making a choice is actually not easy, as there are hundreds of different varieties and hybrids of sweet pepper on the market. However, this variety ensures that everyone will find the most suitable option for themselves in order to be able to take advantage of the delicious and extremely healthy fruits of the sweet pepper vegetable crop.