Capsicum annuum (80 days) Open-pollinated. Looking more like a lipstick than an apple, these shiny 4" fruits are elongated, with wide shoulders narrowing to a point, and fairly flat, like an ancho. Irresistibly appealing even before the ripe fruity sweetness touches your tongue. When we judge peppers at Common Ground Fair these red beauties always stand out. Delicious fresh and also roasted, they are reliably productive in our cool northern summers and pretty much guaranteed to fully ripen. Dependable and problem free on 2' plants. ①
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Days to full-color maturity are from transplanting date.
Capsicum comes from the Greek kapto which means ‘bite.’
Culture: Start indoors in March or April. Minimum germination soil temperature 60°, optimal range 68-95°. Set out in June. Very tender, will not tolerate frost, dislike wind, will not set fruit in cold or extremely hot temperatures or in drought conditions. Black plastic highly recommended. Row cover improves fruit set in windy spots. Pick first green peppers when they reach full size to increase total yield significantly. Green peppers, though edible, are not ripe. Peppers ripen to red, yellow, orange, etc.
Saving Seed: Saving pepper seed is easy! Remove core of the fully ripe pepper (usually red or orange) and dry on a coffee filter. When dry, rake seeds off the core with a butter knife. To ensure true-to-type seed, grow open- pollinated varieties and separate by 30 feet. Use only the first fruits for seed; allow only 3–4 fruits per plant to grow and remove all others. Fewer fruits = larger seeds = greater seed viability. Later fruits often have germination rates of only 60%.
Diseases:
BLS: Bacterial Leaf Spot
CMV: Cucumber Mosaic Virus
TMV: Tobacco Mosaic Virus
Germination Testing
For the latest results of our germination tests, please see the germination page.
Our Seeds are Non-GMO
All of our seeds are non-GMO, and free of neonicotinoids and fungicides. Fedco is one of the original companies to sign the Safe Seed Pledge.
This item is certified organic