Best bell peppers?

keylimin · April 2, 2012

This year my quest is to find the best bell pepper to raise here in coastal NC. I love thin walled but fair sized bells. Any suggestions? I have my seven varieties in ground already for trial this year, so I'll let you know how that goes. Many of them are already blooming!

RebelRidin · April 2, 2012

I am in coastal Maryland and understand your quest. Our climate is a littel tough here.

"Best" is a word with n dimensions. However you did give some indication in "thin walled". Unfortunately I can't help as I like them big and thick walled.

What varieties are you growing now?

keylimin · April 3, 2012

Currently I have Bell Boy, Camelot, California Wonder, Rainbow Gourmet hybrid, King Arthur, King of the North, and Karma. I also have a couple of banana types as well, which suffice for the thin skinned ones to cook with. I like to dice thin walled ones into fritters, corn pudding, etc. Thick walled are good too for munching raw!

livinonfaith · April 3, 2012

Bells haven't done that well for me, but I've only tried about four kinds. (I'm also in NC.) They seem to be more prone to sun scald and they sometimes grow so close to the stem that they get tangled up in each other.

If you're not stuck on bells, my favorite sweet pepper is the Marconi pepper. It has a perfect thickness to me. Nice and crisp for salads, chopping, and other fresh use, but thick enough to grill and peel for pepper strips. It's also tasty for stuffing, if you have a stuffing that doesn't require high sides to keep it in the pepper.

The only thing I don't like about it is that is is later than some of my smaller peppers. But it's worth the wait for me! Now that I've figured out that you can keep them alive inside during the Winter, I'm going to keep one of these so that it will start producing earlier!

RebelRidin · April 3, 2012

I have had great success with Big Bertha hybrid. The plants are vigorous with dense foliage, no sunscald issues. reat big blocky,thickwalled peppers and incredibly productive two yaers running. I spaced them 18" x 24" and they self support and shade their own feet as the season went on. I have been growing them under black plastic mulch inground. This year I will be putting them in raised beds. These are a must grow for me.

b54red · April 4, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by keylimin

Currently I have Bell Boy, Camelot, California Wonder, Rainbow Gourmet hybrid, King Arthur, King of the North, and Karma. I also have a couple of banana types as well, which suffice for the thin skinned ones to cook with. I like to dice thin walled ones into fritters, corn pudding, etc. Thick walled are good too for munching raw!

I think you will like the flavor of Karma. It is the best flavored of all the bells I have tried but I quit growing it because of its tendency to break. A good heavy rain followed by a little wind and most of your peppers and the limbs they grew on can be on the ground. The last year I grew it we had a couple of days of bad thunderstorms and all I had left of my Karmas was the main stem and a few leaves while the rest of my bells had only some minor damage.

My main crop bell now is one called Socrates that I get from TGS. It is a very productive pepper that tolerates the heat and humidity better than most. The flavor is right up there with Karma without so many of the problems and for me much better production. The walls are not super thick but neither are they thin.

I agree with livingonfaith that the Marconi type peppers would be great for you. They have reasonably thin walls, get fairly large, and are great for dicing and using in recipes. They are also one of the best peppers on the grill. I grow a couple every year and use them in just about everything that any bell can be used for except stuffing.

Ruth_10 · April 4, 2012

My new favorite big blocky hybrid bell is Socrates. It replaces Red Knight and Yankee Bell in my garden. Socrates is delicious, very productive and did well in a hot and humid summer here. My favorite bell for eating red and raw is Round of Hungary. They are like candy. They are also good dried.

I use miniature versions of my tomato cages for my peppers. When they get loaded down with fruit, they can use all the support they can get.

April 2, 2012	#1
keylimin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Outer Banks, NC Posts: 15	Best bell peppers? This year my quest is to find the best bell pepper to raise here in coastal NC. I love thin walled but fair sized bells. Any suggestions? I have my seven varieties in ground already for trial this year, so I'll let you know how that goes. Many of them are already blooming!

April 2, 2012	#2
RebelRidin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Maryland's Eastern Shore Posts: 993	I am in coastal Maryland and understand your quest. Our climate is a littel tough here. "Best" is a word with n dimensions. However you did give some indication in "thin walled". Unfortunately I can't help as I like them big and thick walled. What varieties are you growing now? __________________ George _____________________________ "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure." Thomas Jefferson, 1787

April 3, 2012	#5
RebelRidin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Maryland's Eastern Shore Posts: 993	I have had great success with Big Bertha hybrid. The plants are vigorous with dense foliage, no sunscald issues. reat big blocky,thickwalled peppers and incredibly productive two yaers running. I spaced them 18" x 24" and they self support and shade their own feet as the season went on. I have been growing them under black plastic mulch inground. This year I will be putting them in raised beds. These are a must grow for me. __________________ George _____________________________ "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure." Thomas Jefferson, 1787

April 4, 2012	#7
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	My new favorite big blocky hybrid bell is Socrates. It replaces Red Knight and Yankee Bell in my garden. Socrates is delicious, very productive and did well in a hot and humid summer here. My favorite bell for eating red and raw is Round of Hungary. They are like candy. They are also good dried. I use miniature versions of my tomato cages for my peppers. When they get loaded down with fruit, they can use all the support they can get. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

April 3, 2012	#4
livinonfaith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina Posts: 1,332	Bells haven't done that well for me, but I've only tried about four kinds. (I'm also in NC.) They seem to be more prone to sun scald and they sometimes grow so close to the stem that they get tangled up in each other. If you're not stuck on bells, my favorite sweet pepper is the Marconi pepper. It has a perfect thickness to me. Nice and crisp for salads, chopping, and other fresh use, but thick enough to grill and peel for pepper strips. It's also tasty for stuffing, if you have a stuffing that doesn't require high sides to keep it in the pepper. The only thing I don't like about it is that is is later than some of my smaller peppers. But it's worth the wait for me! Now that I've figured out that you can keep them alive inside during the Winter, I'm going to keep one of these so that it will start producing earlier!