Red Peppers

I have never grown Red Peppers or any veg for that matter. So would be grateful for any info on them.

The reason is that Homebase, near me, is selling reasonable sized plants, with the large sweet red peppers, at 49p each - some plants have even got three peppers on them! Now that's my kind of price. If its a perennial I would be interested in keeping one over the winter - just as an ornamental for next year.

So my questions are
1) does Capsicum cover both the hot chili peppers and the large sweet peppers as well ? and are they the same or different species ?
2) are they annual or perennial ?
3) if perennial - are they easy to overwinter under glass - frost free ?

 

See this link Peter -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum

We grow both sweet and chilli. The 'sweet' seem to be summer only fruiting and our final picking will be over in a week or so, but 'chillis' last much longer and can be over wintered.
The best by far 'sweets' we've grown come from seeds saved from the long pointed 'sweets' we've bought in Tesco!
At a guess I'd say the Homebase sweet peppers won't last long.

 

Many thanks Dave. I did have a Google before I posted - but there was so much about food that the plant content got lost. Your Wilkipedia reference was much better than I could find in Wilkipedia especially when I looked under 'List of Capsicum cultivars' on your page. :gnthb:

It appears that both sweet peppers and chili peppers are cultivars of Capsicum annuum - which, inspite of its name, is a perennial. Also there are some edible peppers in other species such as C. chinesis and C. frutescens.

You were right - all the Homebase sweet peppers had gone when I looked again, which is really just as well as I have too many plants already. :D

 

C.Chinense are usually very hot .....

 

Thanks Iggyboy.

I have had a look at your site - very interesting. I never realised that there was a forum devoted to growing Chili plants.

 

Nah, Peter, its just a whatchmacallit-waving club!

I don't understand growing umpteen different chilli plants. I grow half-a-dozen or so, I give a few plants away to friends, and the crop from the rest more-than keep me in chillies for the 12 months until next harvest.

If Chilli-growing is one's hobby that's fine by me .... but I still don't "get it" !!

 

Hi PeterS. You've had some good answers there and all I would add is that although some plants are classified as perennials it might not be worth the time and space to get them through the winter as they will come easily from seed in spring.

I agree with DaveW that seeds from those long bulls horn peppers - corno de torro? - grow perfectly good peppers.

 

I think Peppers are termed a "short lived perennial"?

I have tried to get Chilli Peppers through the winter once, and I definitely did NOT look after them well; they didn't make it. I can understand the wish for an early crop. For my Chillies I personally don''t see the need; I have dried chillies that will last a year for sure, so new ones earlier in the season wouldn't really make much difference (to me).

The seed is expensive, but I bought packets in the Wyevale 50p-a-packet sale, so next year's plants are cheap.

However, Sweet Peppers I would like to have earlier in the year. I still have two plants in the greenhouse that have a few fruit to (maybe) fully ripen before the frosts come. Perhaps I should try the overwintering thing again. Decisions decisions ...

 

Many thanks to you all for your helpful replies. I take the point that, like many plants, it is as easy to grow them from seed than worry about overwintering them. So can I grow them from the seed of supermarket produce rather than buying a packet of seed? But then Kristen's 50p packet is going to be difficult to beat. :D

On a slightly different note. A old neighbour, who was a delightful Indian doctor, used to love hot chillies. But he told me that he thought competitions to see who could eat the hottest chillies were extremely stupid. He explained that chillies contain various alkaloids which are poisonous. And it is these poisons that effect the human body and give the hot sensation. Consequently competitions to see who can eat the hottest chillies are in reality competitions to see who can get closest to death without actually dying.

 

"So can I grow them from the seed of supermarket produce rather than buying a packet of seed?"

Beware that the parents might have been F1 and all that ...

 

Thanks Kristen - yes I forgot all about F1

 

TUT TUT !! I totally resent that comment ! when we grow a chill plant, we try and grow a " perfect plant " some of the plants we grow are purely ornimental, and are inedible... however they are a beautiful plant ! most of the plants we grow, are not suited to our climate.,.. therefore we have to provide light and nutrients for the plant to survive... I plant my seeds on Halloween night, and may get ripe pods the following October, having nurtured that plant for a year ! So please don't mock me and say I'm a member of "whatchmacallit-waving club!", just because I grow something different to you.

 

I apologise for offending you, that was certainly not my intention, I was making a light hearted comment but it was a poor choice of phrase.

 

What I love about this forum is how it stimulates you to find out more.

http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/SeedOrders/contents/en-uk/d34.html
I was looking at Jungle Seeds last night and found the above page. Now the silly thing is that I must have looked at this page several times before and never taken any notice. Suddenly last night I saw a range of Peppers with their names and that dreaded word hybrid - which means that Latin names (and the information you can get from them) are meaningless.

Iggyboy - would I be right in assuming that sweet peppers are generally hybrids?

 

Apology gratefully accepted, maybe I should have taken the comment as light hearted :gnthb: