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The birthplace of sweet pepper is the same as bitter: Central and South America. There, it is a perennial plant and weed, essentially maintenance-free. In more northern areas, it is grown as an annual.
In the CIS, sweet pepper is called Bulgarian, although there is no such definition anywhere else in the world, even among the Bulgarians themselves. The secret of such a unique phenomenon is revealed simply: warmer Bulgaria was the main supplier of this southern culture to the USSR.
Over the past hundred years of active distribution of sweet pepper in the world of cooking, more than 1000 varieties of this vegetable have been bred. Moreover, a special variety of pepper varieties has arisen in the last thirty years. If back in the eighties of the last century, bell peppers were only yellow, red or green (the technical stage of ripeness), now you can choose peppers of almost any color.
The color of peppers varies from almost white to almost black. There are dark brown, lilac, purple, two- and three-color peppers.
By appointment, modern varieties of sweet peppers are divided:
- for salad;
- for conservation;
- for salting;
- for drying;
- for freezing;
- for stuffing.
The best varieties of thick-walled peppers
For salads, juicy thick-walled peppers are used. There are a lot of sorts. Some of them in past seasons were recognized by gardeners as the best in terms of taste, resistance to diseases and adverse weather conditions, and yield.
Grade Fat Man
Mid-season variety with attractive bright fruits. It takes 120 days before harvest. It can grow in open beds and greenhouses.
Bush height 55 cm, semi-spreading. Form it by removing side shoots. The variety has bright green leaves and red fruits when mature. The view is quite decorative.
Peppers are almost equal in size in length and base diameter. The length is 10 cm, the diameter of the base is 8 cm. The weight of the pepper is usually up to 130 g, sometimes it can reach 200 g. The thickness of the pericarp can reach 10 mm, usually about 8 mm.
The advantage of the variety is its excellent taste and good keeping quality.
The yield of the variety is 4-4,5 kg / m², subject to the correct agricultural practices.
To obtain strong seedlings, the seeds of this variety are sown on seedlings in the last two weeks of February. Picking, if required, is carried out at the cotyledon stage. Seedlings are planted in a permanent place in May, after the onset of stable warm weather. Planted according to the scheme 0,4×0,6 m.
Variety Siberian bonus
A very interesting pepper variety that has orange-colored fruits in the full ripening stage. You can joke about northern dwarf oranges, since the bush is only 80 cm high. At the stage of technical ripeness, the color of the pepper matches the color of the foliage. After the fruit ripens, the bush transforms, attracting attention with a combination of green foliage and large bright orange peppers.
One bush brings up to 15 large fruits of a cubic shape and almost the same size. The weight of peppers reaches 300 g, the wall thickness can be up to 1 cm.
Peppers do not contain capsaicin, retaining their peppery flavor. The pulp is tender and sweet. The fruits ripen well, retaining elasticity.
The average yield of the variety is 3 kg per bush. This significantly exceeds the performance of many other varieties, the yield of which is preferred to be calculated per square meter. Bushes are planted at the rate of 6 plants per 1 sq. m. The variety can grow in open beds and in closed ground.
To increase the yield of a variety, it is necessary to observe agricultural technology, apply top dressing on time, observe the irrigation regime and take fruits at the stage of technical maturity in time.
For seedlings, the Siberian Bonus variety is sown in late March – early April. Seed germination requires a constant temperature of +27°C. They are transplanted to a permanent place at the end of May, when the frosts finally end and the earth warms up.
To accelerate the germination of seeds and increase the ovaries, you need to use specially designed growth stimulants.
Variety Red Giant
Contrary to the ambitious name, the fruits of this variety cannot be said to be very large. Rather larger than average. Their weight is 250-300 g. The fruits are somewhat similar to a raspberry-red parallelepiped with measurements of 20×10 cm and a pericarp thickness of up to 1 cm. Up to ten such peppers can be obtained from one bush.
The bush reaches a height of 120 cm. The best option for planting plants in the ground is 0,7×0,4 m. The variety is adapted for open ground, but growing in a greenhouse is possible. Seedlings are planted in a permanent place 2,5 months after sowing the seeds.
Variety Cow’s ear
Based on the shape, it would be more logical to give this variety the name “Horse Ear”, but, probably, it seemed dissonant to the creators.
The variety is mid-season, bearing fruit a month and a half after planting seedlings in a permanent place. A bush grows up to 70 cm. You can grow it in shelters and in open beds.
The fruits are long cone-shaped, red in color when mature. The length of peppers is usually up to 12 cm. Under favorable conditions, they grow up to 20 cm. The average fruit weight is 150 g. The thickness of the pericarp is 7 mm.
The advantages of the variety are good keeping quality and resistance to viral diseases.
The methods of growing seedlings of Ox’s ear are the same as other varieties. Some differences are already in the period of growth of pepper in a permanent place.
Features of agricultural technology
Being a large-fruited variety, Cow’s ear requires increased soil fertility. Agro-producers of seeds recommend taking additional measures to improve soil fertility. In particular, plant peppers in places where carrots, cabbage, beets, pumpkins or legumes were previously grown, except for beans. Peppers should not be planted where other nightshades have grown before, as plants of the same family need the same trace elements. The composition of the soil after nightshade will be depleted.
Cow’s ear is recommended to be planted according to the scheme 40×40 cm. During planting, rotted organic matter is laid in the holes. Without the addition of organic matter, the fruits will grow small. Two weeks after planting, during budding and fruit ripening, the bushes are fed with special fertilizers or organic solutions. You can use potassium sulfate, urea and superphosphate in an aqueous solution at the rate of two teaspoons of each element per bucket of water.
Shrubs should be protected from the summer midday sun. Watering should be regular and plentiful. Do not forget about weeding and loosening the soil. Subject to agricultural technology, up to 3 kg of peppers can be collected from one bush of the Ox ear variety.
Variety Alba
Variety of Moldovan origin, excellent heat tolerance. Ripe orange-red fruit weighing up to 200 g. Wall thickness 7 mm. The shape is conical. Fruits differ in good keeping quality and excellent taste.
Bush up to 70 cm high with a very high yield. With proper care gives up to 8 kg / m².
Belozerka variety
The birthplace of the variety is Bulgaria. Mid-early. The growing season is 4 months. Recommended for open beds and greenhouses. Shtambovy bush, up to 60 cm high.
At the stage of technical ripeness, cone-shaped fruits have an interesting light yellow color. They turn red as they mature. Fruit length 12 cm, base diameter 6 cm. Pepper weight 100 g. Pericarp thickness 7 mm.
The advantages of the variety include: resistance to the most common diseases, good keeping quality of fruits, excellent taste, stable high yield, not dependent on weather conditions. 8 kg of fruits are harvested from one square meter.
Variety Shorokshara
An early ripe variety, fully maturing in 120 days. Ripe red peppers, having the shape of a quadrangular truncated pyramid with smoothed corners. Weight up to 150 g. Pericarp 7 mm. The main advantages of the variety are resistance to blossom end rot and high yield.
Vertex Rot
On pepper, this disease does not appear at the top, as in tomatoes, but on the side surfaces of the pod. First, fluid-filled areas appear, later these areas increase, become black / brown, leathery and dry. Gradually, the affected surface becomes concave. Plots can be up to 8 cm in size. Peppers affected by the disease ripen prematurely and may be secondarily infected with pathogenic fungi.
Causes of appearance
The disease occurs when there is a lack of calcium in the fruit. The plant cannot provide the fruits with a sufficient amount of calcium in case of sharp fluctuations in soil moisture (drought / waterlogging), with an excess of nitrogen in the soil, or if the roots are damaged during loosening.
The combination of too high temperature (more than 25 degrees) and low air humidity (less than 50%) is also very undesirable. This combination usually occurs in early spring, when monthly peppers are very sensitive to these factors, and diurnal temperature fluctuations are very large.
Protection
- Adjustment in greenhouses of temperature and air humidity.
- Regular watering, preventing the soil from drying out, but without waterlogging.
- Spraying plants with calcium nitrate.
The benefits of bell pepper
Sweet pepper is a pantry of vitamins and minerals. The content of vitamin C in it is higher than in blackcurrant. Lemon, inferior in content of this vitamin even to an orange, is at the end of the list.
The main advantage of bell pepper is the combination of vitamin C with vitamin P, which reduces the permeability of the walls of blood vessels.
Forty grams of pepper is enough to get a daily dose of beta-carotene.
Peppers are rich in B vitamins.
The mineral composition of pepper is even more impressive. It contains all the trace elements necessary for life.
Sweet pepper is recommended for people engaged in intellectual work and the elderly. It is useful for those suffering from diabetes.
Harm of sweet pepper
Only here you should not get carried away with the healing properties of pepper either. Vitamin C is not stored in the human body. Its excess is excreted in the urine during the day. With the constant intake of large doses, the body gets used to dumping vitamin C. After stopping the intake of this vitamin, the body continues to excrete the same amount. The result is hypovitaminosis.
An excess of vitamin A is bad for the liver. An overdose of B vitamins leads to fatty liver and impaired renal function. An overdose of B vitamins also causes allergies.
Peppers are harmful to people with stomach or duodenal ulcers. It should not be used by those who have low blood pressure, because thanks to pepper, the blood thins and the pressure drops even lower.
The old saying “everything is good in moderation” is very true for pepper.