Backyard Gardener: The beautiful bell pepper

Jun 9, 2023

(Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

Hello Mid-Ohio Valley farmers and gardeners! This first week of June finds us pretty dry and in need of rain. Luckily, temperatures have been mild but we definitely could use some precipitation. Continue watering the garden vegetables and scout for insect or disease issues.

Early June is a good time to plant sweet corn, winter squash, cucumbers, beans and of course peppers.

This week we are talking about bell peppers (Capsicum annuum). Bell peppers may also be referred to as sweet peppers because they contain very little of the compound capsaicin, which gives jalapenos, cayenne and habaneros their heat.

My favorite is to chop them with onions and cook with sausage, but you can eat them fresh, freeze them, pickle or pressure can and make dozens of great recipes in the home kitchen.

First cultivated in Central and South America, bell peppers are grown worldwide and derive their name from the Spanish pimiento. Florida and California grow the most in the U.S.

Peppers are part of the Solanaceae plant family or nightshades and are related to other veggies such as tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants. Bell peppers have some similar pest problems and should not be rotated with these crops.

Bell peppers offer many health benefits. They contain over 30 different types of carotenoids including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and lycopene. Carotenoids are a phytonutrient family that is responsible for the bright red, yellow and orange coloring in many fruits and vegetables.

One cup of sliced red bell peppers can give you 157% of your daily vitamin C content and are also a good source of B6 (pyridoxine) and fiber. Bell peppers are popular with gardeners for their crunchy, clean flavor and lacking the bite and heat of hot peppers. Many varieties sweeten as they mature and turn red.

There are many varieties of bell peppers to choose from in a rainbow variety of colors, but they all start out green and mature into reds, yellows, oranges and purples. Bell peppers are dried and ground into powder to make the characteristic red spice paprika. This is used in a variety of dishes, including my mother's famous paprika chicken.

Growing bell peppers actually requires more attention than tomatoes. First, they require warmer growing temperatures than tomatoes and usually are transplanted about two weeks later than tomatoes. Choose short and stocky plants with strong root systems. I have seen many transplants that already have blooms and fruit on them.

I recommend pinching off all flowers and small fruit present on transplants before planting so they will use their energy to establish a good root system. Bell peppers do not like periods of cool, wet weather, and will perform poorly. Using black plastic or other mulches can increase soil temperature for early plantings.

Bell peppers are slow germinators, so it is highly recommended to plant good transplants or start your own seeds indoors about 6-8 weeks before planting. Peppers love full sun and warm temperature and perform best in a well-drained, loamy soil with a pH ranging from 6.0 to 7.0. Space bell peppers 12 to 24 inches between plants with each row or bed 4 to 5 feet on center.

Similar to tomatoes, bell peppers are heavy feeders and love a high phosphorus fertilizer. Apply 2 to 3 pounds of 5-10-5 fertilizer per 100 square feet for peppers. It is a good idea to soil test for specific recommendations.

Do not overfeed plants with nitrogen or you will get too much lush leaf growth and smaller fruit. Peppers have a shallow root system so it may be a good idea to stake them or use cages. Staking peppers maintains an upright plant, prevents the plant from splitting during a heavy fruit load, and reduces the incidence of sunscald on fruit.

Heavier clay soils like we have here in West Virgina can be quite productive, provided they are well drained. A soil borne fungal disease called Phytophthora root rot can be a serious problem in soils that stay wet for long periods of time.

There are hundreds of bell peppers varieties to choose from depending on what you are looking for. Most bell peppers typically mature in 60-80 days, depending on the variety. There are many heirloom varieties available including my favorite, "California Wonder." It has a tender and sweet fruit that will ripen to a brilliant red and is resistant to the tobacco mosaic virus.

For a traditional sweet bell pepper with bacterial leaf spot resistance, try "Alliance," "King Arthur" or "Revolution," an option with Phytophthora resistance as well. They are all red at full maturity. "Chocolate Beauty" ripens to a rich chocolate-brown and "Valencia" matures to a bright orange pepper with a great tangy taste.

Great heirloom choices include "Keystone Resistant Giant," a tall, high yielding plant with large sweet fruit and "Jupiter," a shorter season, good yielding plant with dense foliage to protect fruit from sunburn.

There are many other good hybrid choices such as "Bell Boy" (70 days) which is a large, meaty, All-American selection resistant to most diseases and "Gypsy" (65 day) a sweet tender, excellent flavored All-America Selection.

"Red Knight" (62 days) a red, blocky, thick-walled pepper with good resistance to bacterial leaf spot) and "Ace" (60 days) which provides huge yields of medium sized fruits and tolerance to blossom drop are additional recommended hybrid varieties.

Pests can be a problem in bell pepper production. Insects such as aphids, flea beetles, pepper maggots, thrips, and European corn borers can all cause crop losses. Monitoring insect populations with traps and scouting will help you determine when you should use pesticides and how often you should spray.

Several diseases affect peppers including bacterial leaf spot, phytophora blight, anthracnose fruit rot, and bacterial soft rot, and viruses such as potato virus y, and tobacco mosaic virus. These diseases can be controlled by using disease-resistant varieties and by having a good crop rotation system.

Blossom drop is common in bell peppers, caused by excessively high or low air temperatures (above 94 degrees F or lower than 50 degrees F) reducing fruit set due to flowers dropping from the plant. Contact the Extension office for disease and insect identification and control options.

Bell peppers are usually picked when they are full-grown and mature which is about 3 to 4 inches long, firm and green. When the fruits are mature, they will break easily from the plant but many gardeners prefer to cut off the fruits to prevent damage to the plant.

The fruit may be left on the plant to ripen fully to a red, yellow or purple color. Colored bell peppers are sweeter than mature green bell peppers and have higher levels of vitamins A and C.

Peppers have a storage life of one to two weeks and can be preserved by freezing or pickling. Looking for more information? A great website for more information is the WVU Extension Gardening page at extension.wvu.edu/lawn-gardening-pests/gardening.

Contact me at the Wood County WVU Extension Office at 304-424-1960 or at [email protected] with questions. Until next time, Good Luck and Happy Gardening!

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