Peppers

Hi Would somebody please recommend a good variety of Peppers for me to grow in my greenhouse, I did grow some years ago but never got many edible fruits.

I am in the South and grow Tomatoes, Chillies & Cucumber's in the greenhouse I plan to grow peppers in.

Thanks

Dave

 

Hi Dave.
If you can get them, I found topepo rosso to give lots of thick-walled red sweet peppers about the size of a very small apple.
In fact I've successfully also planted seeds saved from supermarket peppers for the last few years.
I just dry the seeds out in the airing cupboard. Most common shop-bought peppers appear to be of the annuum type - which can easily cross fertilise . I got a lovely brown pepper from the market, that appears to have fertilised a red one last year.
A friend is growing seeds from the new pepper in isolation, to see if it breeds true. Should be interesting....
Long mediterranean peppers will grow in the greenhouse, but they're not so good for roasting - the flesh is too thin. OK for stuffing or slicing raw in salads though.
The very first peppers I grew back in 03 or 04 were from seeds from baby sweet orange peppers from waitrose. Very tasty.

There are some dangers - my mild jalapeno chillis appear to have been cross fertilised by some mouth scorching Cayenne peppers- which is a shame as the jalapenos were a lovely flavour, and not too hot. The other pain is The Dreaded greenfly. They *love* peppers, and have to be controlled at the first sign of them.


cheers,
Dave

 

Hi Dave

Thanks for all the info, I think I will try and plant some of the seeds from a supermarket variety that is how I grew my Chillies last year and they were great, I have even saved 2 plants by bringing them indoors for the winter.

My wife and I have decided to eat more healthily and a slimming diet for the wife hence the need to grow more salad stuff. It seems there is quite a variation of choice in growing Chillies and Peppers so look forward to the new season.

Do Peppers prefer it humid or not? I was planning to grow them near the door in the greehouse.

Thanks again
Dave

 

Hi Dave.

I don't know about humidity, but peppers are certainly thirsty plants. I didn't seem to have any problems that might have been caused by overwatering - underwatering caused the greenfly to get a hold though. All types of sweet pepper I grew got to about 2'-3' high, and needed supporting with canes when the fruits turned up. They were arranged in tiers in the G/H so as to catch the sun. The chillis got a bit taller - particularly the cayennes which seem to thrive in a british greenhouse.

cheers,
Dave