Pepper is present in many different parts of the world.

Its fruits are of different shapes and colors.

We can find peppers that are the size of small berries to large fruits shaped like tomatoes or horns.

Peppers can be dark green, light yellow, yellow, orange and red. Peppers are sweet, half-hot and hot.

This useful and highly nutritive food was brought to Europe by Spaniards in the 15th century.

In later periods it spread from Africa to Turkey and then to Hungary.

Today, there are over 50 varieties of peppers cultivated worldwide.

Pepper – vitamin treasure chest

Pepper is very nutritive food item.

It contains 4 times more vitamin C than orange. Quantities of vitamin C depend on pepper's variety, climate in which pepper was cultivated and some other factors.

Red pepper is famous for its vitamin C and beta-carotene content and it is a good source of vitamins B6 and A.

Apart from the aforementioned vitamins, other vitamins can be found in pepper, but in lesser quantities. When it comes to minerals, it mostly contains potassium. 

By freezing peppers a loss of potassium, Zinc, vitamin C, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamins B6 and E occurs.

When pickled, peppers loose a small amounts of vitamins, but still enough vitamins remain for meeting all needs of our organism.

An energetic value of red pepper is only 20 kcal on 100 grams.

One hundred grams of red pepper contain 92% of water, 6 grams of carbohydrates, 0.99 grams of proteins, 0.3 grams of fats and 1.2 grams of dietary fibers.

Planting peppers

Start planting peppers in open spaces when average daily air temperatures reach 15 degrees C and the danger of late spring frosts has passed.

The best temperature for pepper growth and development is around 25 degrees C.

If the temperature exceeds 35 degrees C, peppers will stop growing. If the temperature drops below 0 degrees C, the plant will die.

Pepper’s root does not grow at low temperatures and rooting becomes more difficult, which prevents normal growth and development.

All plants have difficulties recovering from bad weather conditions.

Peppers can be planted on flat surfaces or in flower beds. Planting form depends on pepper’s variety and picking period.

Plants that are picked at short intervals are planted in denser manner, while those that are picked at prolonged intervals are planted sparsely.  

When planting peppers, make sure that you sufficiently drenched the soil with water. 

Preparation of soil for planting

Soil rich in nutrients helps pepper’s growth and development.

The best are warm and deep humus soils and soils that do not retain rainfalls.

In autumn, a preparation of soil begins by digging at the depth of 30-35 cm. In spring, before planting, the soil is additionally crushed and flattened. 

Open field planting begins when the soil is sufficiently warm and when the danger of late spring frosts has passed. 

Peppers are planted into rows, spacing between them should be around 70 cm and the distance between individual herbs should be 30 cm.

Soil fertilization before planting will increase the yield. Peppers use much of phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen from the soil and they require additional fertilization prior to planting. 

If you plant pepper on the open field, you have to fertilize it 2-3 times. First time 10 days after planting, second time just before big fruits are formed and the third time one month after that.

It is best to plant peppers on locations where pulse cultures (peas, beans and such) had been planted.

After peppers, plant root crops and brassica vegetables in the same soil.

Exchange cultures during a certain period in order to prevent drops in pepper yields.

It is not recommended to plant peppers on locations where potatoes and tomatoes previously grew because there is a threat of disease transmission.

Pepper diseases

Of all fungus diseases that afflict peppers, powdery mildew is the most common one. Small white and dirty-looking cover spreads on the downside of pepper leaves, leaves start turning yellow, wither and fall off.

Due to the loss of leaf mass, the blossom is reduced and yields fail.

This disease spread during the summer when temperatures exceed 32 degrees C. Application of preventive natural mixes for disease prevention is recommended when temperatures exceed 32 degrees C.

Apart from powdery mildew, peppers are prone to several other fungus diseases such as Phytophthora capsici (an oomycete plant pathogen that causes blight and fruit rot of peppers and other important commercial crops).

Diseases can occur in all stages of the plant’s life. Roots of infected plants turn brown which is followed by necrosis and rooting. Afflicted plants lay down, as if cut, and die. 

Damages appear after watering, when diseases start spreading over the soil. That way, it is possible to infect a very large number of plants and cause the greatest damages. 

Fruits that are lying on the ground can be infected directly, but, the disease can also be carried trough the stem. Watery foam with white cover that covers all fruits appears on locations where diseases appeared during moist weather. In dry weather, infected fruits wrinkle and lose color and start resembling parchments.

In the second half of July or at the beginning of August, during the biggest heats, developed pepper fruits often wilt very fast. That is caused by fungus diseases called esca disease. 

Pepper fruits wilt during the night, after excessive watering. 

The disease appears abruptly, small or great number of healthy plant wilts by the next morning. Leaves on those plants become dry and fruits turn red and just hang on the plant.

If we cut such plants, we can easily see brown-black ring on the root collar, which is a sign of clogged conducting passageways. 

In many cases, only one side of the plant wilts. That side continues to develop slowly and gives unhealthy fruits.

High moisture of the soil accompanied by high air and soil temperature helps fungi development.

But, the most dangerous pepper disease is bacterial scab.

This disease appears at the end of July, after rainfalls. For bacteria development, high relative air moisture and temperatures between 24 and 30 degrees C are needed. 

Symptoms became visible on the upper leaf side in a form of small dark green moist spots that have an irregular shape. With time, those spots become bigger and round with yellowish edges.

Spots start to interconnect and soon they cover the whole leaf.

Infection spreads from the bottom leaves to the top ones. Severely infected lower leaves turn yellow and fall off. 

Necrotic brown spots appear on fruits around which fruit tissue cracks.

Fruit deformation follows and scars form around the cracks.  The seeds turn black around infected areas.

Pepper disease prevention and healing

Pepper protection is mainly performed by preventive measures such as crop rotation lasting 3 to 4 years, regular removal of infected plants and burning them.

Feed organic fertilizers and quality compost to peppers. That way plants become more resilient and they give healthy fruits.

Do not forget to plant your peppers alongside compatible plants. Peppers benefits of  tomato presence, but dislikes beans, cabbage and kale. 

Use natural herbicides regularly – use preparations made of nettle, black and white onions, horsetail etc.

Remove and burn infected plants, do not throw them into compost.

Taking pepper seeds

Pepper seeds are kidney-shaped, smooth and pale-yellow in color. 

Seed length is 3-4 mm, width 2-3 mm and thickness is 1 mm. In one gram there are 150-200 seeds.

Seeds can maintain germination up to five years if stored properly. 

Use ripe fruits of red, orange or dark-yellow peppers for taking seeds.

Use fully developed fruits that have a characteristic shape and size for cultivated sort. Also, always use healthy fruits from healthy plants only.

It is easiest to extract seeds from fresh fruits. Use meaty part of the fruit for eating after you remove the seeds.

Dry extracted seeds. Spread them out on paper or cotton cloths that can easily adsorb moisture and put it on dry, aired and shaded place.

When seeds are dried, it is best to store them in marked paper bags and store them in a dry, cold and dark place.

Picking and storing

First pepper fruits can be picked 50 days after planting. During picking, make sure you do not damage the plant.

The picking period also depends on weather conditions after peppers were planted.

Pick peppers on a sunny day, after dew. Never pick peppers shortly after rainfalls, because moist fruits start rooting and develop molds very fast.

It is best to use scissors when picking peppers.

Never leave picked peppers in the sun for more than one hour.

You can store fresh peppers in your fridge for 5 days. You can also freeze, pickle or preserve them in oil.

Peppers can also be dried – cut peppers into stripes or rings, remove seeds and put peppers into boiling water for 10 minutes.

Remove them from water and dry them. You will need more heat than with other vegetables. When peppers are sufficiently dried, grind them.

Pepper's healing properties

Apart from a being nutritive food item, peppers have certain healing properties that cannot be disregarded.

Pepper is useful against atherosclerosis because it contains citrine that influenced capillary passability and makes them more elastic. 

Peppers also induce excretion of digestive fluids and enhance appetite and digestion. 

Pepper contains approximately 20 compounds from the group carotenoids that are natural antioxidants and have an important role in health protection because they protect us against the influence of free radicals.

But, the most important is the alkaloid capsaicin that has very hot taste. We find most of this compound in hot peppers, inner parts of the fruit and around the seeds.

Capsaicin does not give just hotness to peppers; it also gives them special healing properties that makes peppers one of the healthiest food items in the world.

 

According to researches, capsaicin:

• has anti-inflammatory effects
• prevents pain
• enhances cardiovascular system health
• prevents any forms of cancer
• enhances digestion
• enhances weight-loss
• protects against stomach diseases
• helps against type 2 diabetes

It is a really good idea to start ecological cultivation of this miraculous vegetable!

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