Wisconsin Lakes Sweet Bell Pepper
Botanical Name: Capsicum annuum
Description
75-85 days. Classic sweet bell pepper great for northern growers. Eat it green or red ripe. Medium sized (4-5” long), all-purpose bell pepper with very sweet and crunchy walls. This pepper is productive and early maturing. Another great Midwest variety out of the University of Wisconsin, Madison! Bred by O.B. Combs in 1954 before our public universities switched exclusively to hybrid pepper breeding. Dwarf plants don’t need staking unless they have so many peppers that they begin to fall over! We eat this pepper in salads, stir fries and prepared any kind of way that sweet bell peppers are traditionally used. On our farm, extra peppers get frozen and turned into sweet pepper sauce – made just like hot pepper sauce imparting the fruity and savory flavors without the heat. This sauce warms up any cold February day. NN
Growing
Growing Instructions (for USDA Zone 5b):
All peppers are warm-weather loving plants. Sow seeds indoors 3/15-4/1 into good seed starting mix (we recommend Vermont Compost’s Fort Light). Ideal temperature for germination is 80-90° (use heating mat). Days to germination: 6-28. Once leaves appear, grow plants at 72°. Be sure seedlings have adequate light (a windowsill will not do for peppers) and keep plants from becoming pot-bound because this will permanently stunt plants. If seedlings are getting too big for their pot but the weather is still too cold outside, transplant them into bigger pots. Plant seedlings outside late May into fertile garden soil with lots of compost or decomposed manure. If your soil pH is greater than 7 (which is typical of clay soils in Southeast Michigan) add sulfur to acidify soil. Space plants 1 ½ - 2ft apart. If plants begin to flower when plants are less than 1ft tall, hand remove early flowers for 2 weeks until plants are bigger. Stake pepper plants if they begin to fall over.
Harvest:
For full flavor, harvest peppers green or fully red ripe.
Seed Saving Instructions (for gardeners):
Peppers are primarily self-pollinating but insects will cause significant cross pollination between pepper varieties. To keep variety pure, cover plants with low tunnels (using thin row cover fabric) to exclude pollinators. Or, isolation distance: 300 ft. Always save seeds from the best plants. Save seeds from fully ripe peppers. Process hot pepper seeds outdoors wearing rubber gloves; rinse and dry seeds.
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