I will be starting green bell pepper (new ace variety) by seed very shortly. I have grown other various peppers including green bell before such as jalapeno, hungarian, habenaro etc.. from seedlings with success but I seem to never get very big green bells so I figured I try the seed route. Are there any helpful tips or advice from my fellow stewers for bigger green bells ??
Peppers like it dry when they are once established. Don't over fertilize with nitrogen, either. Potassium and phosphorus are important, though. Heat helps too, but there is little you can do about that if the weather isn't helping, we plant in black plastic mulch and this helps keep down the weeds and keep up the ground temperature. The variety of pepper makes a difference, too. Look for a variety that makes big peppers. Green peppers are the immature stage of colored peppers. Big Bertha, Jupiter, Goliath, California Wonders are all nice sized green bell peppers, too. I haven't grown the Ace before.
As always Carolyn has such good advice. I can add little to what she says, but I will say that (for me) the key sentence in her text was the one about "the variety of pepper" making a difference. What I am saying is that if you buy seed varieties that produce large fruits, then you are already starting off on the right foot. Fruit size is primarily determined genetically. In the past I have simply gone to the supermarket and looked over the fresh peppers and selected the largest ones I could find. Took them home and prepared the peppers for freezing-in and then gathered the seeds and dried them.I would use them in the coming year. I have always had great success with this....and the big plus point here is that I can actually see and handle the big peppers, which means I know what to expect when I plant the seeds of these big monsters. When I am germinating, I place my germination tray onto a small heating pad with a couple of pages of folded newspaper between the the pad and the bottom of the germination tray. Heat at this time in the process works best for me. Like Carolyn said they like it dry and hot thereafter. So often with peppers and toms, it is the heat that is important, not so much the presence of direct sunlight. The tip about phosphorous and potassium are also noteworthy I feel. With these two elements, you get good root development and increased flower development. Why is this important? Well, because with all plants....it's the roots that are important--they determine the quality of the plant that will develop and how well that plant will feed. Once developed, the amount of flowers that plant has translates into the amount of fruits. The more flowers--the more fruits (if all goes normally in the development cycle). Here's wishing you great success, mate!
Ace is a great pepper--we grew them when we were in upstate NY. They aren't the biggest by any means, but they are prolific! California Wonder is the type we plant now and they do get big. If you want really big peppers, remove all the little ones from a bearing plant and leave just two or three to develop. One year when we had too many pepper plants (long story!) I did this to two as an experiment. It worked and we had huge peppers for stuffing. Also, stake the plant. Pepper plants are brittle and the weight of a large pepper can break a stem.
Clay_22, Jane is very good to mention the staking. Peppers are brittle and we do put ours in cages. The stems seem to break if it rains or the fruit is getting heavy. I know someone else who plants their pepper x2's so they support each other. Also, use clippers or pruners to remove the peppers. I have broken many a stem off being in a hurry and didn't have my clippers with me.
