biodiversity homepage
biodiversity pop-up menu
click for contacts
 search biodiversity pages.

plant sale.

 

Peppers

Peppers are notoriously difficult to germinate, even under ideal conditions. They prefer warm soil temperatures of more than 70 degrees F and even then germination can be spotty. Some research suggests that some hot peppers that are bird dispersed have evolved tough seed coats to allow them to pass thrrough birds digestive systems. These seeds can take several weeks to germinate in the garden. We germinate our seeds on heating pads, but this cold spring was not good to our seedlings.

This year we have 1400 peppers to sell. Please note the number for sale next to each variety to plan your arrival at the sale. We generally sell out of peppers within 2 hours.

Pepper plants are $1.50 each.
Type Variety
Number for Sale
 Description (from Totally Tomatoes)
Bell Baby Belle
72
 These tasty, tiny, 2" by 2-1/2" sweet bells will certainly be the hit of any salad bar and are just the extra touch for that special gourmet dish. These mostly 4-lobed, emerald green beauties waste no time in turning mature bright red! Resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus.
Bell Golden calwonder
132
 Deep green to a beautiful golden yellow thick-walled with an attractive glossy flesh. Fruits are medium-sized, 4" by 4", 3 to 4-lobed, smooth and blocky. A nice stuffer, with high yields, on 28" high plants.
Bell Jupiter
135
 One of the best open-pollinated varieties. Large, blocky, 4-lobed, sweet-flavored fruits have thick green walls that ripen to red. Widely adapted and Tobacco Mosaic Virus tolerant. Sturdy, 30" plants with dense leaf canopies protect high yields.
Bell Keystone
36
 Large fruits, 4-1/2" x 3-1/2", are 4-lobed and thick-walled - perfect for stuffing! Plants bear heavily, even when under stress. Tobacco Mosaic tolerant.
Bell King of the North
112
 Excellent in short-season gardens of Northern climates, due to early bearing and the huge, blocky shape of its thick-walled, bright red, 6" by 4" fruits. Great for stuffing. Mild taste becomes even more mellow as the fruits mature.
Bell Purple Beauty
52
 Special purple color for gourmet chefs. Fruits are blocky, thick-walled and dark purple. Compact plants set heavily, with good cover to protect fruits from sunscald.
Hot Aji Crystal
16
 Waxy fruits, with hot citrus flavor, originally hails from Curico, Chile. Heavy yields of 3-1/2" long fruits, about 1-1/2" across, ripen from pale green to yellow to a light reddish-orange. This variety's flavor is best when the fruits are still immature.
Hot Cayenne
61
 Quite hot, thick fleshed fruits, 6" by 3/4". A favorite for using dried, pickled or in sauces. Concentrated sets of fruits - wrinkled, tapered and curved - are pendantly borne on strong upright plants. Ripens from a lustrous dark green to a brilliant scarlet.
Hot Chiltipen
16
 We rank this one among the top 3 hottest peppers on the market, although some rate it even higher on the heat scale. Don't be fooled by the unassuming size of these pea-like, 1/2" fruits - they pack a wallop! Prolific, 8 to 10" bushes produce extremely hot fruits whose small size is very versatile in recipes.
Hot Fish
16
 An heirloom considered by many to be the best variety to use when cooking fish and shellfish. Plants, 18 to 24", feature decorative green and purple foliage splashed with white. High yields of very hot, pointed fruits, about 1-1/2" long, range from white with green stripes, to orange with brown stripes, to a brilliant red - some deep purple, too.
Hot Jamaican Scotch Bonnet
16
 Hotter than Habanero? You judge! Definitely later and not as long. The bonnet-shaped fruits are bright orange when ripe; flavor is smoky and fiery hot. Plants, 30" tall, are excellent in containers in the North.
Hot Lemon drop
20
 This terrifically hot, citrus-flavored heirloom pepper is a popular seasoning in Peru, its country of origin. Bright yellow, crinkled, cone- shaped fruits are about 2-1/2" long and 1/2" wide, with less than 15 seeds per pepper on average. Dense plants grow to about 2 ft. high and wide, and are typically covered with neon-bright fruits, making this an excellent choice for container gardening.
Hot Pretty Purple
4
 All purple - leaves, stems, flowers and unripe peppers! Plants hold color from seedlings until maturity at 30" tall. Extremely hot fruits ripen to red.
Medium Ancho 101
36
 Ancho's heart-shaped fruits, 4" by 2-1/2" at the shoulder, have medium-thick walls and turn from blackish-green to rust red as they mature. The richly- flavored mature peppers are often dried and ground into chilli powder. Fruits taper to a blunt point, and wrinkled skin is even more distinctive when dried. Plants are 30 to 36" tall with a spreading habit. Dried peppers may be strung into long ropes or wreaths.
Medium Beaver Dam
15
 A Hungarian heirloom named for Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where it first settled in American soil around 1929. Tapered fruits are crunchy and mildly hot, with excellent flavor, and sturdy enough to lend themselves to stuffing. Fruits mature from bright green to deep red.
Medium Big Jim
60
 Released by New Mexico State University, and the largest of the chile peppers, with medium-hot fruits measuring 10 to 12" long and weighing up to 4 oz.! The best we've found for Chiles Rellenos. An old "tried and true" variety, now making a comeback. Sturdy 24-36" plants yield 24-30 pods per plant which tend to ripen all at the same time. Flowers well, even when hot.
Medium Pasilla Bajio
12
 The popular "chile negro" pepper. While classified as a hot pepper, Pasilla ("little raisin") has almost no heat. Fruits have a berry, almost herbal, flavor, and strong, upright plants produce heavy yields of uniform, 8 to 10" peppers, thin walled, slender, very dark blackish-green maturing to a dark brown. Very easy to grow, with good resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus.
Medium Pizza
15
 Pendulous, cone-shaped, 3 to 4 inch peppers are mildly hot, with just enough spark to spice up all kinds of dishes. Sturdy, 14 to 18" plants bear loads of fruits, with heavy walls, up to 1/2" thick, making them ideal for slicing. Hottest when green, growing milder as they mature to red.
Medium Sweet Cayenne
52
 Sweet and Cayenne...two words that aren't typically used together! Unique, cayenne-shaped sweet peppers grow up to 12" long, with crunchy, thin-walled fruits that are excellent in stir-fries. Plants produce prolific harvests of fruits that mature green to red. This variety has it all-- except the heat.
Medium TAM jalapeno
72
 This mildly pungent pepper matures early, and is just right for pickling. Semicompact, 22 to 24" plants yield plenty of the cylindrical fruits, colored medium green to red. Tam Jalapeno is widely grown, in part because it's widely adaptable.
Medium Yellow Hungarian
16
 Spicy, fairly hot banana shaped fruits, 6" long and 1-1/2" across - perfect for pickling. Matures from light yellow to bright red. Best hot pepper for cooler climates. Ever-bearing plants are 16 to 24" tall, strong, upright.
Mild Alma Paprika
80
 Paprika is a kitchen staple that's easy-to-grow and process. One of the best paprika for drying, grinding, or picked straight from the prolific plants and eaten fresh. Thick-walled, sweet fruits start out creamy-white, then mature to orange, and finally red.
Mild Corno di Toro
52
 Heirloom "Horn of the Bull" pepper imported from Italy. Fruits are 8 to 10" long, curved much like its namesake. Ripens to a gorgeous red cone at maturity, with superb taste and size. Tall plants are very vigorous.
Mild Cubanelle
64
 Sweet Italian frying type with delicious taste. Long, green, thick-skinned fruits have 2 to 3 lobes and turn yellow, then bright red at maturity. Peppers measure about 5-1/2" by 2-1/2" and are tasty when fried in olive oil.
Mild Sweet Banana
108
 One of the most popular non-bell sweet peppers, excellent both fresh and cooked! Thick-walled fruits with sweet, mild, waxy flesh are prolifically produced on 16 to 24" plants with pendant fruits. Fruits start out a pale green, ripening to yellow, then red.
Mild Tennessee Cheese
94
 An ancient heirloom recovered from seeds donated by a couple living in Kingston, Tennessee. Originally from Spain, where it is still used as a staple in many dishes. Fruits are perhaps the best we've seen for stuffing. Round, apple or tomato-shaped, with a flattened base and a thick, delicious skin. Use it fresh like a bell, pickled, canned, or dried for paprika!
Mild Tolles sweet
36
 An heirloom, Italian type sweet pepper that has a real following among home gardeners who value versatility in their choice of varieties. Sweet, red fruits are a favorite for fresh eating, canning and making sauces. Plants are easy to grow, producing dependable yields of 4 to 5" tapered fruits that start out green and ripen to a deep red.

Biodiversity Topics: Introduction . Plants . Animals . Mammals . Birds . Reptiles & Amphibians . Arthropods . Spiders . Insects

© 2001-2004 The Cofrin Center for Biodiversity and the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, All Rights Reserved
Last updated on May 14, 2008