Even experienced gardeners, going into a seed store, lose their heads, because every year there are more and more colorful and beautiful packages of pepper seeds, and it is becoming more and more difficult to make a choice.
Let's look at the general rules for choosing sweet pepper seeds to easily navigate the variety of elegant packages.
1. What is better, to buy a variety of pepper or a hybrid?
The main rule applies here: if you plan to collect your own seeds, then only varieties, at the end of the season you can prepare a lot of quality seeds for planting next year. Hybrids are not suitable for such purposes, they will, of course, sprout, but they do not inherit the qualities of their parents and you can get something completely different from what you wanted.
Hybrids are distinguished by higher yields and tolerance to pests and adverse conditions.
You can plant several hybrids and varieties and compare the results; often after such an experiment, gardeners make a final choice in favor of a variety or hybrid.
2. What ripening periods should be taken into account?
If the climate is cold, it is better to choose early ripening varieties, since under unfavorable weather conditions, peppers may not ripen until the end of the season, this also applies to growing this crop without shelter.
When growing in a greenhouse or in southern regions, it is better to take peppers with different ripening periods, this will help to always have a harvest.
3. The shape and size of the pepper, is there a difference?
In this case, the rule applies that peppers differ in taste and color, but if the main part is planned for consumption fresh, thick-walled bell peppers of a spherical or slightly elongated shape are best suited.
Thick-walled peppers are also good for freezing in a variety of ways.
The so-called ground pepper has thinner walls, many use it for stuffing, but when eaten fresh and frozen, it is inferior in taste, while having a big plus in its arsenal, it is more unpretentious and always gives a stable rich harvest, in turn, thick-walled peppers may not ripen at all.
4. Which color ripens faster?
Bright yellow, red, purple and orange peppers look very decorative and elegant in the garden beds.
The color appears depending on the degree of ripeness, initially almost all peppers are green, at technical ripeness the pepper acquires the color declared by the manufacturer, but purple and orange shades very often at the next stage of ripeness begin to change their color to red shades.
5. Where will the pepper live?
The choice directly depends on this.
If the peppers are purchased for growing in containers, then you need to choose options for growing at home or on the balcony; these plants will grow better, stretch less and will please you with a harvest faster than peppers for open ground or greenhouses.
It is also worth paying attention to whether the pepper is intended for open or closed soil; many novice gardeners make this mistake, which will affect the volume of the harvest.
If you are not sure where the bush will be planted, you can buy universal options that can be grown both in open ground and in a greenhouse; information about this can be found on the packaging.
6. Additional selection characteristics
The height of the pepper can vary, in a greenhouse it can reach up to 170 cm, such plants are quite difficult to care for, but in open ground all peppers will be significantly smaller.
Therefore, when you see beautiful peppers on the package, you need to look at the height of the plant: is it a cute dwarf of 35 cm or a powerful giant of more than 1.5 m.
If you have limited time for the garden and need to plant and forget or devote a minimum of time, then you need to choose peppers that do not require constant bush formation and removal of excess leaves. This will significantly save time on caring for and watering plants.
