FairWeatherFeather
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Bell Pepper Color Varieties - Different Seeds or Same Seed?

Grocery stores typically carry four kinds of Bell Peppers (red, yellow, orange and green). I want to grow these bell peppers in my backyard garden. My question is, do these four kinds of Bell peppers each come from a different seed or is it all the same seed and the different bell peppers are just varying degrees of ripeness? Like is a green bell pepper just a bell pepper that hasn't quite ripened yet and a red bell pepper is completely ripe.
I just want to buy the right seeds.

Stourme
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Yes. They start out green, but there also green bell peppers as a variety. If you want red bell peppers you'll need a red bell pepper seed.

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applestar
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Usually they start out green, then change directly to one of those colors -- red, yellow or orange. green is immature/unripe.

But some varieties take a long time to fully ripen, so there are varieties that ripen more quickly.

Grocery store peppers tend to be hybrids. If you get an open pollinated variety, then you can save seeds from the ripe peppers. However, often hybrids are more productive, change colors all at once, etc. have traits that are convenient for market growers.

There are other kinds of varieties too -- sweet but not bell shaped. Then there are peppers that start out green and turn purple, ones that start out purple then turn red, etc. (these are not necessarily sweet peppers.)

Depending on where you live, you may want varieties that ripen very early.

Another issue is not all fully ripe/colored peppers are really sweet. I just had a yellow long pointy Doux Long d'Antibes for lunch and was blown away by the sweetness and juicy thick walls.

The I had an unidentified green one that I thought was horrible -- thin, tough, and tasteless. I'll need to pay more attention and never pick that one as a green pepper.

For early maturing red bell pepper, I'm trying King of the North this year, but Donkey Ears -- and Peperone di Senise, two other not bell-shaped sweet red when ripe peppers have been earlier.

imafan26
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Most bell peppers do start off green but the chocolate and purple bells start of brown and purple. Green peppers do become red and yellow. I grew lilac bells once, but I don't remember what color they started out.

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kayjay
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Hi. It would be helpful if you add your location to your profile, and tell us more about your growing conditions (eg large property vs urban/small/balcony, sun vs part shaded)... then we can probably suggest good seed varieties to try.

Where I am, the peppers need to be started as seeds indoors before the last frost date or purchased as transplants. The ones I started in March (or April, I forget) only now have peppers on them, though I had my own issues with slugs and my yard barely gets enough sunlight. I doubt I'll let them ripen. Last year, they took forever to ripen, and the problem with letting them ripen is that the plant won't bother making more flowers and fruit. I don't have much space, so it makes more sense for me to buy a case of red peppers this time of year and chop/freeze them for cooking.

Cheers.

2peaornot2pea
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You can get seeds for any color, need more info on the type of garden you have, depending on weather you want year round or seasonal?? When I farmed peppers I used Monsanto seeds. The seed grew green then grew through colors until it got to red. I time the harvest depending on the needs of my buyers. Sometimes I harvest 20% at orange and then harvest the rest at red. Or I harvest ten% at yellow (early), then some at orange and some at red. One year my buyer wanted it all orange so I had to be careful to pick at the right time. Some of them had already become red and it was too late so I found someone else who wanted the red.

If you just have a garden at home you can buy hybrid seeds that go straight to orange without being yellow. Or straight to red without being orange/yellow. It all depends on what you want. You need to be a big buyer to get Monsanto seeds, but that's where most grocery bell peppers come from. You mentioned the types of peppers in the grocery store so I thought maybe your looking for that exactly.

FairWeatherFeather
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Hi everybody! Thank you all for getting back to me, I really appreciate your responses!! This was my first time posting in this forum and you all are very helpful.

I have a house in a suburban community in southern California and I have dedicated a small section of my backyard to growing vegetables. The section gets lots of sunshine and ideally I would like to grow bell peppers year round.

I use a lot of bell peppers in my cooking and I love the taste of the bell peppers that I get from the grocery store, however to be honest I've never tried any other variety of bell pepper. It sounds like Applestar and 2peaornot2pea { I got a good laugh out of your username : ) } are saying that the bell peppers at grocery stores are either Monsanto or Hybrid depending on the store. Since it sounds like Monsanto seeds are only sold in bulk, I'm thinking the hybrid seeds are probably my best bet.

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MichaelC
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I've got one big, good-looking fruit growing on my Orange Sun plant, which I planted in April, for many weeks now, waiting for it to turn from green. Considering yield per sq. foot, I think next year I'll leave the bell peppers to the grocery store suppliers.

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rainbowgardener
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If you want ripened peppers , the plants are not very productive . All this time while you are waiting for the pepper to ripen , the plant is pretty slowed down from setting new fruit . I only let them stay on the plant to ripen at the end of the season , when there isn't time for new peppers anyway . Picking them green , I get 8 to 10 peppers from a plant.


You said you planted it in April. Was that seed or transplant ? In my cold winter area, I start pepper seed indoors late Jan to early Feb . I put them in the ground as soon as it is warm enough , mid to late April . Sounds like where you are , you could have planted them sooner .

Peter1142
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I have gotten 10+ ripe red bell peppers from each of my Ace plants. They really are Ace!

The Biscayne I have grown has also been highly productive... but they are thin walled and not as good as Ace.

A single row of Ace and Biscayne and I am giving ripe peppers away.



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