Recommend a good sweet pepper variety

PunkRotten · Sat Aug 17, 2013 2:12 am

Hello,

I am hoping to grow another 2-3 different sweet peppers next year. I am growing 10 variety of peppers now. Most are hot peppers, and the few sweets I have I am getting bored of them. Some varieties I might try are Marconi (red or gold) and Corno di Toro. I like sweet peppers for salads, fresh eating/snacking, frying/roasting for pita sandwiches/wraps. Any varieties you could recommend? If you have any for trade let me know. I got a bunch of different hot and sweet peppers I could trade you.

Thanks

gunsmokex · Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:46 pm

Hmm I'm new at all of this its my first year trying gardening but I'm not a real fan of hot peppers so I bought a bunch of mild peppers called "fooled you" I love them they taste like green pepper with just a tiny hint of hotness yet turn out looking exactly like jalapeno peppers.

gixxerific · Tue Aug 27, 2013 7:15 am

Corno di Toro is my favorite this year. On my pepperheads group on Facebook it a is favorite as well.

Mysterious Gardener · Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:13 am

Have you considered growing mini sweet peppers? I've grown mini bell chocolat/red/yellow and tinkerbell this year, and they're great as snacks or to fill with cheese.

Harvest was about 10-15 per plant.

imafan26 · Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:18 pm

I like banana peppers. They are easier to grow, crisp and a good frying pepper. They just do better than bells.

digitS' · Sun Sep 15, 2013 5:17 pm

I have grown some of these.

The "red" Marconi never made it to red in my garden. I harvested them green, late in the season. They may just be "regular" Marconi and described differently by different seed companies. One of my favorites!

Corno di Toro must have been just about the most productive pepper I've ever grown. However. . . the strain I had were thin-walled. I wasn't too happy with that. Banana peppers (sweet) were nearly as prolific and I like them real well.

Fooled You jalapenos did just fine but I'd get them mixed up with regular old Jalapeno M while harvesting! Not so great to have to taste every pepper to find out if they are hot or not! My own fault . . .

I've grown a mini-pepper, Yummy. No, that's their name, Yummy. I thought they were wonderful. Some were bells, some not.

Back to the Marconi ~ sort of. It is a hybrid pepper and said not to be a true Marconi, anyway. Giant Marconi is tender, sweet and thick-walled. It is a favorite.

The Italian sweet peppers are easier for me to grow than the bells. I have The Big Early bell this year. It did fine in 2012 but NO pepper is doing very well for me in 2013. June had just too many days of cold wind & rain and the peppers didn't recover from that well. I can't remember such a poor pepper season but I've got some so had best be happy with that.

Steve

imafan26 · Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:14 pm

I've grown mini bells. They are sweet, but I found them to be fussy. If anyone has any hints on how to get them to live longer, I could use a few tips. It might be a local problem since I also do not get most bell pepper to live except for Kaala which is a locally developed small bell pepper. (1/3 the size of a regular bell). All the other ones succumb to fungal or bacterial diseases and nematodes.

I can grow the Asian Shishito pepper. It is a sweet pepper, but it is usually added to soups and stews, but can also be stir fried. It is crisp but not like western peppers.

Although not technically sweet peppers, I like Hungarian wax, Anaheim, and peperocini peppers. They don't have a lot of heat, but they do have a nice flavor and crispness.

digitS' · Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:17 pm

Shishito . . ? I am gonna have to look for that!

It was a few years after I started growing them that I learned that Anaheim is a hot pepper

. It could be that my tastes have changed but I also know that the peppers change from year to year.

If I would have answered this question a couple of years ago, Fushimi would be a 1st choice for something different to try as a sweet pepper. They were delicious! Then, there was 2 years when Fushimi was just too hot to be thought of as a sweet pepper. I don't know - I didn't need another hot pepper.

Kitazawa Seed has Shishito! That is where I got the Fushimi. It was real good in a simple stir-fry. Now, I'm back to Italian peppers in stir-fries . . . That's okay - no need to feel sorry for me, mixing my culinary genres. Cooking can be more of an art than a craft. As if I'd know

.

Steve

imafan26 · Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:44 pm

I haven't tried Fushimi yet, just the Shishito. Anaheim is classed as a hot pepper but at 500 scovilles it really is more spicy than hot and most of the time, I would not really call them hot. They do have a good flavor and are great for chile rellenos. I don't grow as many Jalapeno's anymore, I prefer Serrano. The Jalapeno's have been bred so much that I have had issues with peppers varying in degrees of heat from zero to med hot on the same plant. That was a Jalapeno M, which was supposed to be hot, only 1 out of 5 had any heat at all. It was very disappointing. I do like the Biker Billy Jalapeno but Burpee is about the only place I can find it.

lily51 · Mon Sep 16, 2013 5:54 am

I like the Carmen pepper. It's a very large sweet horn pepper that can be picked and eaten when green or red or in between. The plants are prolific producers and very hardy.

rkunsaw · Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:41 am

I am growing the red Marconi for the first time this year and they are doing very well. They turn red much quicker than other sweets I've tried.
I'm saving some seed but they are growing next to some Habernos so I don't know what might come from the seeds.

Maybe I'll get some hot Marconis.

PunkRotten · Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:26 pm

lily51 wrote:I like the Carmen pepper. It's a very large sweet horn pepper that can be picked and eaten when green or red or in between. The plants are prolific producers and very hardy.

I heard good things abouot Carmen. But they were trying to sell a pack of seeds for nearly $8. I went with Tequila Sunrise and Tolli peppers.

lily51 · Wed Sep 18, 2013 2:32 am

I heard good things abouot Carmen. But they were trying to sell a pack of seeds for nearly $8. I went with Tequila Sunrise and Tolli peppers.

Here are some sources and prices: stokes seed 25 for $5.75
Park seed. 15 for $2.95. Two packets for $5.30
Totally tomatoes. 15 for $2.85. Two packets for $5.15

You will have to check shipping and handling prices. That's where they get you.

imafan26 · Wed Sep 18, 2013 4:57 am

I get a lot of pepper seeds from Pepper Gal. It is a small operation, but she has a good selection of seeds at reasonable prices. I also get a lot of seeds from Tomato growers Supply and Park seed. Kitazawa seeds are good for Asian seeds.

Taiji · Sat Sep 21, 2013 1:28 pm

I grew some California Wonders this year and they did great. They're probably not very exotic if you want something different, in that they pretty much resemble the ones you buy in the store. Maybe most green peppers in the store are this type, I don't know. Thick walled, big blocky peppers, but seem to do well without disease setting in and are pretty prolific. (for me anyway) I wanted to let them turn red, then harvest them, but I'll be gone for 3 wks, and probably won't risk leaving them on the plant.