Favorite Pepper Varieties to Grow?

[TooCheep]

By what I've read, pepper plants (like tomato plants) are capable of self pollinating themselves and will on their own natural coarse.

Cross pollination occurs when bees (or other pollinators, such as hummingbirds and butterflies), pollinate one of the plant's flower with pollen from another plant of the same family (such as a nearby pepper plant of another variety). Wind can sometimes even blow the pollen from one plant to another. So, when multiple varieties of peppers are planted near each other, there's a very high chance that some of the flowers will have been cross pollinated, and therefor carry hybrid seeds.

Now it would seem unlikely that all of the flowers were cross pollinated, but the trouble (when trying to collect only pure seed) is that you can't tell which peppers carry pure seed, and which carry a hybrid variety.

The technique to maintain distinctive breeds or even best of breeds for your area (largest fruit, most fruit, strongest grower, etc) is fairly straightforward for insect-pollinated plants.

1. Before the flower opens, enclose 2-3 buds in some kind of bags to protect them. I like organza bags which are see-through, but can keep the bugs out.
2. When 2+ flowers open for the desired plant, remove the bags, use a q-tip to manually pollinate back and forth between the two flowers and re-cover.
3. When the flower dies and the fruit is growing, then you can remove the bag, but mark the specific fruit (I use a ribbons), so you can harvest them for seeds later.

I didn't follow my own advice last year and got a totally unexpected type of squash this year. Going to have to purchase new seeds to get back to the original type.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

The technique to maintain distinctive breeds or even best of breeds for your area (largest fruit, most fruit, strongest grower, etc) is fairly straightforward for insect-pollinated plants.

1. Before the flower opens, enclose 2-3 buds in some kind of bags to protect them. I like organza bags which are see-through, but can keep the bugs out.
2. When 2+ flowers open for the desired plant, remove the bags, use a q-tip to manually pollinate back and forth between the two flowers and re-cover.
3. When the flower dies and the fruit is growing, then you can remove the bag, but mark the specific fruit (I use a ribbons), so you can harvest them for seeds later.

I didn't follow my own advice last year and got a totally unexpected type of squash this year. Going to have to purchase new seeds to get back to the original type.

That's some great advice! Sounds like a pretty fool proof system of saving pure seed.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

My climate isn't conductive to peppers so small ones do better for me. Shishitos are my favorite, they're not spicy but have a distinct flavor. They're super delicious as a snack pan fried with a bit of oil, salt and pepper, or sliced and fried slightly in chili oil as a topper for other dishes.

We do have shishito pepper seeds for next year! Thanks for sharing!

This is more of a not-recommendation:
"Nadapeno" and "Coolapeno" do not taste like jalapenos.

They are supposed to be jalapenos with no heat, but I don't think they manage. They seem more like a bell pepper in flavor. Green ones taste rather like green bell peppers, although ripe (red) ones are not as sweet as most ripe bell peppers. To me, actual jalapenos have a different flavor than bell peppers, and these just don't have it.

For looking like jalapenos, they were both fairly close, but the Nadapenos were a little better than the Coolapenos.

As generic not-hot peppers they were fine, but I was disappointed because I was hoping for actual jalapeno flavor.

Thank you for the advice, I'll try to avoid those varieties!

I tried the Marconi this year and I loved them!!! I roasted some and jarred them in olive oil, then pickled some with mustard seed. I can't decide which I like best so next year I have to do both again. I think every bit of the pickled ones went on turkey sandwiches. I liked the roasted ones diced up on hummus with a little of the oil and some roasted garlic.

Thank you for sharing!

Anaheim has been my go-to in the garden. High productivity, medium heat and works in everything I want to put peppers in. I tried Corno di Toro this year (sweet pepper) and it produced almost as well as Anaheim, so that will likely be my sweet pepper going forward.

Thank you for sharing, I'll keep an eye out for Anaheim pepper seeds!

 

[007Sean]

The technique to maintain distinctive breeds or even best of breeds for your area (largest fruit, most fruit, strongest grower, etc) is fairly straightforward for insect-pollinated plants.

1. Before the flower opens, enclose 2-3 buds in some kind of bags to protect them. I like organza bags which are see-through, but can keep the bugs out.
2. When 2+ flowers open for the desired plant, remove the bags, use a q-tip to manually pollinate back and forth between the two flowers and re-cover.
3. When the flower dies and the fruit is growing, then you can remove the bag, but mark the specific fruit (I use a ribbons), so you can harvest them for seeds later.

I didn't follow my own advice last year and got a totally unexpected type of squash this year. Going to have to purchase new seeds to get back to the original type.

Had a 'chuckle' out of this one!....

I didn't follow my own advice last year and got a totally unexpected type of squash this year. Going to have to purchase new seeds to get back to the original type.

I made the mistake of planting gourds too close to my squash....I had gourash!!

 

[saysfaa]

I'm just getting into peppers because the few we planted the last couple of years did really well. We've grown a few different bells, a couple different bananas, a couple of different jalapeños, an Italian bulls horns type, a different one labeled "Italian Sweet". Other than the jalapeños, The differences in taste seem pretty small. We like them all.

I would like to try more flavors but the descriptions aren't very helpful. They mostly just say sweet or how hot they are. Part of the problem is flavor is quite hard to describe or at least for me to inderstand, anyway. I also lost some of my sense of smell, so can't taste as well as most people.

Would any of y'all be willing to list some of the peppers that have distinct tastes? If you want to try describing them, that is ok too, but I don't want to ask for time consuming things.

We like jalapeño heat. We've eaten and sometimes enjoyed serrano but are looking for the zero up to mild end of moderate range.

Fyi, Seed Savers Exchange has their end of year sale of 40% off. It is my first visit there so I don't know if they do real sales.

 

[TooCheep]

Habaneros are pretty hot and have a distinctive, smoky flavor.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Pablano are a medium heat like a medium jalapeno with a smoky flavor after roasting. I prefer them over Anaheim for Chili Rellenos.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

I'm just getting into peppers because the few we planted the last couple of years did really well. We've grown a few different bells, a couple different bananas, a couple of different jalapeños, an Italian bulls horns type, a different one labeled "Italian Sweet". Other than the jalapeños, The differences in taste seem pretty small. We like them all.

I would like to try more flavors but the descriptions aren't very helpful. They mostly just say sweet or how hot they are. Part of the problem is flavor is quite hard to describe or at least for me to inderstand, anyway. I also lost some of my sense of smell, so can't taste as well as most people.

Would any of y'all be willing to list some of the peppers that have distinct tastes? If you want to try describing them, that is ok too, but I don't want to ask for time consuming things.

We like jalapeño heat. We've eaten and sometimes enjoyed serrano but are looking for the zero up to mild end of moderate range.

Fyi, Seed Savers Exchange has their end of year sale of 40% off. It is my first visit there so I don't know if they do real sales.

As far as sweet peppers go, I would probably say that the King of the North bell pepper had the most distinct taste (of the few varieties we grew). They had a more intense sweetness, I liked them a lot. They start out green and ripen to red. You can eat them green but they definitely taste best when they ripen.