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Sweet Non-Bell Pepper Variety TrialTimothy
E. Elkner Sweet bell peppers are commonly grown on many farms throughout Pennsylvania. With the increased consumer interest in fresh produce, an opportunity exists to grow additional types of peppers. Some growers have started growing hot peppers to meet the demand for this product. There is another group of peppers - the sweet non-bell types - that may provide an additional crop to be grown to satisfy consumer interest and increase farm income. The purpose of this trial was to evaluate sweet non-bell peppers for yield and quality. Six week-old transplants were set in raised beds covered with black plastic on July 9, 2004 at the Penn State Southeast Research and Extension Center in Landisville, PA. The beds were on 8 ft. centers and the plants were set 18" apart. There were 12 plants per replicate and three replicates per variety (when there were sufficient plants). The plants were irrigated when needed with trickle irrigation. Standard fertility and pest management practices were followed. Peppers were harvested when color developed or at full maturity (depending upon cultivar) on the following dates: September 9, 23, 30 and October 11. A final harvest that included colored and all green mature fruit was done on October 20. Fruit were counted and weighed at each harvest and graded into marketable and non-marketable fruit. The complete listing of varieties and types of peppers planted can be found in Table 1. Yield data can be seen in Table 2. Yields for many of the later season varieties are probably lower than can be expected because the plants in this trial were started late and transplanted to field later than normal. In addition, the cool, wet season delayed maturity so some of the later maturing cultivars never developed colored fruit. The final harvest included green mature fruit from all plants in order to get a reasonable estimate of yield potential. Phytophthora became a problem in some sections of the field by the end of the season and contributed to lowered overall yields as well. Super Greygo was the highest yielding cheese pepper. The yields for this entire group of peppers were lowered by severe corn borer losses in earlier fruit. Growers trying this type of pepper need to scout carefully and maintain a good spray program to reduce yield losses to this pest. The cheese peppers seemed to be the preferred host among all the pepper types in this trial. The average fruit size in this group was also low. This was likely a result of a heavy fruit set and growers should monitor fruit set in their plants and may need to thin the fruit in order to get the more desired large fruit. Lipstick and Antohi Romanian were the highest yielding peppers in the pimento types. Antohi Romanian fruit developed yellow and then turned red at maturity. A mix of mature and immature fruit of this variety made an appealing package and might be a useful way to market this pepper. Super red pimento and yellow cheese pimento were more like the cheese types in shape and suffered from heavy borer damage as well. The Sweet Italian group of peppers contained fruit of different sizes and shapes so it is difficult to make direct comparisons. Growers should investigate potential markets before planting and choose their varieties based on preferences in their market. Navarone produced the largest peppers in this group while Nardello Sweet was the smallest. Giant Marconi had the highest yield per plant. Biscayne was the highest
yielding Cubanelle pepper. Key West was a nice medium green color
but was the lowest yielding cultivar. Pageant was the only banana
pepper in this trial but it was a very attractive fruit and had
high yields. Growers with a market for this type of pepper may want
to trial this variety. Table 1: Pepper varieties, source, maturity (catalog listing), actual maturity and general comments for 28 sweet pepper varieties grown at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Landisville, PA - 2004
* Hybrid
Table 2: Marketable yield, weight, average number of fruit per plant and average weight of fruit per plant for 28 sweet pepper varieties grown at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Landisville, PA - 2004
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