Hot pepper seeds for growing outdoors and on a windowsill

Heat-loving hot pepper migrated to the European continent more than a hundred years ago from the southern coast of America, where it still grows happily in the wild. Not only is bitter capsicum an essential spice, but it is also a colorful ornamental plant that can add original color to any windowsill.

Description of bitter capsicum

The plant is a herbaceous biennial, growing from 15 to 95 cm tall. However, there are also varieties of hot pepper that, with proper care, will delight their owners with their decorative beauty for 3-4 years. Hot peppers are distinguished by good branching, rich green foliage, and fruits of various shapes:

• elongated;
• conical;
• spherical;
• prismatic;
• enigmatic.

At the stage of technical maturity, hot pepper fruits can have a variety of colors and shades, ranging from light green to dark purple.

Containers with planted hot pepper bushes look so beautiful and attractive that they are successfully grown not only for food purposes in open ground, but also as a decorative element for interiors.

Selecting the required variety or hybrid of hot pepper

Before purchasing the right variety or hybrid of hot pepper, it's important to learn a little about the existing varieties, decide on the purpose for which you'll be growing it, and understand its characteristics. The most popular varieties and hybrids of bitter capsicum among gardeners are:

The principle of choosing varieties

When choosing seeds for a variety or hybrid, remember that successful cultivation requires adhering to all agricultural requirements. For example, seeds should be planted indoors no later than the first or second ten days of February.

To achieve a good harvest in open ground or greenhouses, hot peppers must be grown from seedlings. Maintaining a temperature of around 26-28°C (80-82°F) is essential. Sweet peppers are a very heat-loving plant. If transplanting is not possible, sow 2-3 capsicum seeds in each container, eventually leaving only the most vigorous and robust plant.

If you'd like to keep the plant after its outdoor season, you can dig it up and transplant it into a pot, successfully continuing to grow it on a windowsill. Of course, compact varieties or hybrids are best for this purpose, such as:

• Hungarian yellow;
• gnome;
• bun;
• Goldfinger.

The most bitter varieties

The pungency of hot peppers is determined by the substance capsaicin, which has not only nutritional but also medicinal properties. The most pungent varieties of bitter capsicum include:

• Bhut Jolokia;
• Fire;
• White Habanero;
• The Devil's Tongue;
• Scorpio of Trinidad;
• Chinese fire.

Imported varieties

Among the imported varieties and hybrids, peppers suitable for cultivation both in open ground and on home windowsills have proven themselves exceptionally well:

• Tabasco;
• Habanero;
• Flying butterfly F1;
• Octopus F1;
• Mirasol;
• Thai pepper;
• Cherry;
• Hungarian hot paprika.

Rules for growing hot peppers in open ground

When grown outdoors, bitter capsicum thrives in fertile, well-fertilized soil. Therefore, it requires at least two applications of a complete fertilizer throughout the growing season. If dry, windless weather sets in during the flowering period, the plant should be pollinated by hand, using a gentle shake.

Reviews

According to reviews from summer residents and gardeners, the following varieties are noted as the most unpretentious in cultivation:

• Cayenne pepper;
• Thai Dragon;
• Astrakhan;
• ram's horn;
• mother-in-law's tongue;
• Ukrainian spicy.

All of these varieties are successfully used fresh, canned, and in all kinds of homemade preserves. Their fruits can be dried to produce paprika, which has a pungent flavor and a spicy aroma.