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Bell peppers are extremely heat-loving plants, which is not surprising, given that they come from the warmest and wettest regions of Latin and Central America. Despite this, domestic gardeners have long learned to get good harvests of this crop in seemingly inappropriate Russian conditions. Moreover, this statement applies not only to the southern regions. Consistently high yields are also obtained in central Russia, but this requires growing peppers in greenhouses, which is why most gardeners prefer to plant pepper seeds for seedlings, which are then planted in greenhouses.
Sweet peppers - properties and benefits
Bell peppers are an annual vegetable. The plant in Russia is known under several names at once, for example, red pepper, bell pepper, vegetable pepper and paprika... Sweet pepper bush usually has single or rosette leaves with characteristic green or bright dark green colors. The vegetable has rather large fruits, which are false hollow berries of various and bright colors: red, green, yellow, orange or brown.
Eating a vegetable often enough, a person usually does not think about its beneficial properties. And there are actually a lot of them, and some of them deserve special mention:
- high content of useful vitamins and other substances, traditional for many vegetables... In terms of the content of extremely useful vitamin C, sweet peppers are far ahead of all other vegetables, being the undoubted leaders. Among all, the plants are slightly superior in this component only to wild rose and black currant. The rare vitamin P contained in bell peppers stands apart.It is very useful for normalizing the functioning of the heart and blood vessels. According to scientists, the constant consumption of pepper almost halves the likelihood of getting a stroke. In addition to those listed above, sweet peppers also contain many other useful substances, ranging from B vitamins to silicon, iron, etc.;
- the presence of the original and infrequently found substance capsoicin... It helps to increase appetite and enhance the processes associated with digestion. Therefore, the vegetable is highly recommended to be taken in any form at the beginning of lunch or dinner. Even more capsoicin is found in the distant cousins of sweet peppers, black pepper and hot chili;
- health-improving effect... Some of the useful and therapeutic and prophylactic properties of the vegetable crop in question have already been listed above. In addition, regular consumption of bell peppers significantly lowers the risk of any cancer, primarily breast cancer, which makes the vegetable preferable for women. Also, the substances found in pepper help prevent neuralgia;
- excellent taste... You can enumerate the useful, medicinal and health-improving qualities of pepper for as long as you like, but all this would not have mattered so much for its popularity and widespread distribution, if it did not have an excellent taste and was not part of a variety of varied, but invariably delivering gastronomic pleasure, dishes.
As you can see from the above, it is not at all difficult to explain why sweet peppers are grown in almost every domestic garden.
How to choose the best sweet pepper
Experienced gardeners know very well what to look for when choosing a variety. For beginners, the following main criteria can be distinguished:
- ripening time of the variety or a sweet pepper hybrid. Competent planning of sowing dates allows you to often get a crop of a plant when it is grown in the most suitable polycarbonate greenhouses until mid-winter;
- bushes height vegetables and their compactness. The larger the greenhouse area, the less relevant this criterion. However, proper planting and placement of the plant requires this factor to be taken into account;
- the amount of light needed... This indicator is very different for different hybrids and varieties of sweet peppers. When choosing them, it is imperative to take into account the peculiarities of the region in which it is planned to grow bell peppers;
- resistance and the ability not to succumb to pest diseases... The most important criterion that must be taken into account when choosing a variety or hybrid. You should also have information about which diseases and pests are most common in the region of the planned vegetable cultivation.
Variety or hybrid
The importance of this criterion requires its separate and more detailed consideration. It is especially relevant for gardeners who are trying to use self-collected seeds.
They should understand that in the case of planting seeds of a hybrid of bell pepper marked with F1, self-harvesting of seeds is impractical, since such hybrids give seeds without inheriting the characteristics of the variety. Hence the conclusion: if you want to grow such fruitful and tasty hybrids, you will have to purchase seeds every year. A fairly large part of gardeners go for this, since the advantages of hybrids are obvious and obvious: extremely high and stable yield with excellent taste properties, and also often higher resistance to diseases than ordinary varietal bell peppers.
The best sweet peppers for greenhouses
To answer the question which varieties of peppers are the best for a greenhouse, it is enough to study their properties below and choose the most suitable one.
Cardinal F1
By the presence of the marking, it is easy to determine that the Cardinal sweet pepper is a hybrid. It is a high-yielding plant, early ripe. Allows you to get the first fruits within 86-97 days after planting the seedlings. The vegetable has a low (0.5-0.6 meters) bush of compact structure. The fruits of bell pepper are cube-shaped, large enough, overall dimensions - 9 * 10 cm, wall thickness reaches 8 mm. The peppercorn has an extremely attractive appearance, with a dark purple color at the stage of technical maturity, gradually turning into bright red when fully ripe. A huge advantage of the hybrid is its very high resistance to the common tobacco mosaic virus.
Experts highly appreciate the taste properties of the Cardinal F1 hybrid. Most of them recommend starting sowing seedlings in March. Like most hydride seeds, Cardinal pepper seeds do not need to be soaked or similarly prepared for sowing.
Atlant F1
Sweet pepper atlant is also a hybrid, which is easy to identify by marking. He is rightfully considered one of the most popular and well-known among domestic gardeners. The reasons for this are the outstanding characteristics inherent in the hybrid. These are both high taste properties and an extremely attractive appearance - bright red fruits that stand out against the general background. A hybrid of a vegetable crop is universal, that is, the fruits can be eaten in any form.
The Atlant hybrid is an early ripe hybrid, allowing you to start harvesting in 110-115 days. In addition to the listed advantages, it also has a sufficiently high resistance to diseases most common in domestic conditions.
Hercules
Sweet pepper Hercules belongs to the mid-season, allowing you to start collecting the first fruits 120-130 days after the appearance of the first shoots. At this time, the fruits are dark green in color, but after 20-25 days, when they reach biological maturity, they turn red.
The peppercorns are in the shape of a cube with dimensions of 12 * 11 cm, rather large, their weight reaches 250 grams. Subtle ribbing is present on the surface. The walls of the fetus are usually 7-8 mm thick. The high taste of the variety is preserved with any method of preparation and fresh in salads.
The sweet pepper variety Hercules has a high resistance to most diseases and is relatively unpretentious to growing conditions.
Apricot Favorite
A popular and well-known variety was obtained by Russian breeders at the end of the 20th century. Since then, it has spread widely throughout the domestic territories due to the presence of a number of advantages. Sweet pepper Apricot favorite is an early ripening crop that allows you to start harvesting in 100-110 days. The vegetable bush is small and compact enough, has a significant number of relatively large dark green leaves.
The peppercorns have a prismatic shape, smooth with a weakly visible ribbing. They are medium-sized, rarely exceeding 120 grams in weight, with a typical wall thickness of 7-8 mm. The main advantage of the variety is its high yield, reaching 9.5-10.3 kg / sq. In addition, sweet peppers are highly resistant to most common diseases and pests. In addition, the variety has high taste properties, which are often appreciated by gardeners even higher than the yield. The variety is most common as a greenhouse variety, but can also be grown outdoors.
Latino F1
The sweet pepper hybrid is an early ripening plant, after 100-120 days it is quite possible to start harvesting. The hybrid is characterized by an extremely high yield, which makes it stand out even among the bell pepper hybrids. Subject to agrotechnical rules and high-quality care, it may well exceed 16 kg / sq. m. The peppercorns of the Latino hybrid have a characteristic cuboid shape of a rather large size of 12 * 12 cm with a wall thickness exceeding the usual for most peppers and reaching 1 cm. The color of the fruit is clearly pronounced red.
Derived for growing in greenhouses, the Latino hybrid can also be planted in open ground, which is often done by gardeners of the southern domestic regions. In addition to the yield, the bell pepper hybrid is extremely resistant to various common diseases. Although he needs protection and protection from pests - aphids and spider mites.
Denis F1
This hybrid belongs to the ultra-early, starting to bear fruit after 85-90 days. The plant has relatively large fruits, reaching the usual weight of 0.4 kg with fairly thick walls of 0.9 cm. The shape of the fruit is cuboid, but somewhat elongated. The overall dimensions are impressive - 18 * 10 cm.The bush of the vegetable plant is medium-sized, rarely reaching a height of 0.6-0.7 m.The Denis hybrid is perfectly cultivated both in open and closed ground, in the second case its yield, for obvious reasons , is much higher. Experts recommend it as ideal for salads, although other uses are also possible.
Isabella F1
The hybrid of bell pepper Isabella is medium-sized, bearing the first fruits suitable for harvesting after 120 days. The vegetable bush is relatively tall, often exceeding 1 m. The fruits of the hybrid are relatively large, reaching 160 grams in weight with a typical wall thickness of 8-10 mm. The shape of the peppercorns is prismatic, the color is characteristic bright red.
It is most appreciated for its excellent taste properties, and it is universal, that is, it can be eaten in any form, including canned. The yield of the Isabella hybrid reaches 10 kg / sq. m.It is also worth noting that the sweet pepper hybrid is extremely unpretentious and undemanding to growing conditions and care.
Conclusion
Any gardener who decides to start growing sweet peppers faces a difficult dilemma - which variety is better to choose for planting. The choice is actually tricky, as there are hundreds of different varieties and hybrids of sweet peppers on the market. However, this variety ensures that everyone finds the most suitable option for themselves, so that they can take advantage of the delicious and extremely healthy fruits of the sweet pepper vegetable culture.
