Peppers

Peppers are fast becoming one of the most popular of all vegetables to grow, second only to tomatoes. With their bright colors and vibrant flavors, peppers can perk up any dish.

They can be eaten cooked or raw and are easy to freeze and store. Bell peppers are loaded with vitamin C and are an excellent addition to your diet.

The most popular peppers are the sweet bell and banana types, but many people are experimenting with the stronger flavors of the exotics like the the Habenero or Kung Pao.

Regardless of your taste in peppers, we can help you find the right pepper and get you started on the path to growing your own.

Bell Peppers

Variety	Days to Maturity	Description	Uses
Bell Boy…TMV	70 days green 92 days red	Produces large, blocky, 4-lobed, dark green, 4 ½” x 3 ½” fruits. Sweetly delicious, turns red early, on 24″ high plants. They’re great for stuffed peppers, in cooking and in salads.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Big Bertha Hybrid…TMV	70 days green 92 days red	Noted for its large size and superior quality. Long 7″x4″ fruits featuring thick walls and 4 lobes.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Blushing Beauty…BLS	72 days green 92 days red	Completely unique fruits start out ivory white, then brighten to a soft gold, blushing to a bright gold with a red dusting, deepening to a glossy orange red and finally darkening to a bright red at full maturity when 4″ x 4″ fruits are thick and extra sweet. Peppers can be used at any stage of maturity. Plants that grow to the height of 18″ set heavily over a variety of conditions. This is the closest thing to a foolproof pepper!	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Chinese Giant	73 days green 95 days red	A very good pepper of the mild, midseason type and a good choice for home gardens. Produces thick-walled blocky fruits that average 6″ across and 5″ deep. An ideal pepper for stuffing and roasting.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Goliath Sweet Hybrid	71 days green 91 days red	Produces 4″ x 7″ thick-walled flavorful fruits on vigorous plants and will set fruit under a variety of conditions. The bonus to this variety is that the mature peppers contain more Vitamin C than an average orange.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Intrepid…BLS 1,2,3	67 days green 77 days red	This pepper has great disease resistance and is one of the first peppers to turn red. Strong plants produce 4½” x 4½” thick-walled blocky peppers. The name Intrepid may not be well known, but this is an excellent pepper.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Keystone Giant…TMV	72 days green 95 days red red	Large 4-lobed, thick wall peppers 4 ½” x 3 ½”. Heavy bearer even under stress.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
King Arthur…TMV, PVY, TEV, BLS-2	67 days green 88 days red red	This pepper is the choice of many truck farmers due to its superior disease resistance, great flavor and high yields on dwarf plants. The jumbo blocky peppers measure 5″ x 5″. If you’re growing only one type of bell pepper, make it King Arthur.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Lady Bell F1 Hybrid…TM	71 days green 93 days red	An all-time favorite pepper of the home gardener, producing 4½” x 3½” thick-walled uniform peppers throughout the summer.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Red Beauty	68 days green 83 days red	This highly adaptable red bell pepper produces 4 ½” x 3 ½” sweet peppers that set early and are full of flavor. Red Beauty can be counted on for good production.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Staysgreen…TMV	75 days green 110 days red	Not everyone wants their bell peppers to turn red, yet they want the sweetness of a red bell pepper. Staysgreen is the answer! Produces a medium-sized 3 ½” x 3 ¾” dark green bell with high sugar, thick flesh and stays green from mid-August to mid-October with great flavor that tastes like a red pepper.	fresh, salad, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces
Whopper Improved Hybrid	71 days green 93 days red	Thick-walled, large, blocky bell peppers turn from green to red and are dependable for large yields. Vigorous plants provide a thick canopy, shielding developing fruit from sunscald. This is a classic home-garden pepper, popular for its high quality fruit and reliability.	fresh, stuffed, roasted, canned, sauces

Sweet Specialty Peppers

Variety	Days to Maturity	Description	Uses
Apple Sweet Pepper (heart pimiento)	57 days green 73 days red	Mild, juicy & sweetly fruity, Apple Sweet Pepper is at its best flavor just as the mature fruits are turning green to red. The 4″ top-shaped fruits are more rounded, are a little heavier, and mature a few days later than Lipstick. The medium-sized plants yield well in diverse climates.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Cherry Pick Hybrid (Cherry)	68 days green 79 days red	Cherry Pick Hybrid has great uniformity in fruit size and good disease resistance, not like the older varieties of cherry peppers. Fruits measure 1 ¼” x 1 ¼” and are so uniformly rounded and sized, they could have come out of a mold! The yield is superb. Usually picked in the green stage, let some mature to totally red for great pickled peppers.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa, fresh
Cubanella (large horn)	65 days 85 days red	If you like fried peppers, then plant Cubanella Peppers. This long, greenish-yellow, two to three-lobed thick-skinned pepper is made for frying. If you don’t think there is a difference in frying a regular bell pepper compared to a pepper bred for frying, then plant some Cubanella Peppers and see for yourself.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
False Alarm (small horn)	65 days green 80 days red	You like the taste of Jalapenos, but don’t like the heat? Well, False Alarm Pepper is the answer to your problem! Not pungent, not hot, but still enormously flavorful. Plants grow 24″ tall, bearing loads of large thick-walled fruits measuring about 1 ¾” wide at the shoulder.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa, stir-fried
Giant Aconcaqua (large horn)	70 days green 85 days red	Longest of all the sweet peppers – up to 11″ long with flavor as sweet as apples. Long fruits can weigh up to 12 oz. Best flavor is at the light green stage.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa, stir-fried
Godfather Hybrid (large horn)	64 days green 78 days red	We didn’t grow this pepper one year and got lots of complaints. So it’s back!!! A versatile, large horn pepper that produces 7″ long fruits that are often used green but are exceptionally sweet red. A very high-yielding pepper.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Gypsy Hybrid (small horn)	60 days yellow 75 days orange to red	A very prolific pepper that produces 4½” x 3½” fruits with outstanding flavor. These compact plants will even tolerate partial shade.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Italia (long horn)	55 days green 75 days red	Early, productive, delicious horn-type that produces 21/2″ x 8″ long fruits. This pepper is great in sauces & stir fry.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Italian Roaster Hybrid (long horn)	70 days green 85 days red	Supposed to be the best variety for pizza. Technically a chile pepper, with a tiny hint of heat to accent its wonderful texture & flavor. Medium-large plants set loads of long, dark green peppers measuring 8-9″ in length by ¾” across. Fruits are thin-walled making them equally good for salads and grilling.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Lipstick (heart pimiento)	53 days green 73 days red	Shiny, smooth, top-shaped sweet pepper. Many consider Lipstick the most delicious sweet pepper. Heavy, attractive, dark green fruits are about 4″ long, taper to a blunt point, and ripen to a glossy, rich red. Dependable, early, heavy yields, even in a cool summer season.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Luigi Hybrid (long horn)	62 days green 75 days red	Bred for Italians, sweet and crisp enough to enjoy raw, but at its very best when lightly cooked. In field trials, Luigi averaged an astounding 45 peppers per plant. Fruits are cylindrical, elongated (4-5″) and tapered, most often used green, but will turn red.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Marconi (large horn)	70 days yellow 85 days red	Traditional ,long, red and yellow sweet peppers, imported from Italy. Large plants bear tasty, 3-lobed fruits that grow up to 12″ long and 3″ across at the shoulders. Good green and even better red!	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, stuffed, salsa
Paprika Supreme (long horn)	55 days green 80 days red	Great fresh but grown especially for drying and grinding into the deepest red paprika powder for coloring and seasoning. This pepper has a sweet flesh with some heat in the ribs!	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, salsa
Pepperoncino (small horn)	72 days green	You’ve seen these little beauties pickled in gourmet shops. This strain is imported directly from Athens, Greece and is unsurpassed for purity and productivity. Abundant yields of thin, yellowish-green fruits, 2 to 4″ long, stay sweet until late maturity. Harvest when fruits are at the green color stage.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, salsa
Robustini Hybrid	62 days	These are flat, mildly warm yellow peppers often seen pickled at salad bars. Harvest immature when yellow-green and 2″-3″ long and pack them in a jar, cover with white vinegar and let them set for up to 6 months. The flavor gets better the longer they pickle.
Super Sweet Cherry (cherry)….TMV	75 days green 87 days red	Extra large 1 ¾” dark cherry red or dark green fruits that are easy to pick and have good crack tolerance.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, salsa, stuffed
Sweet Hungarian Banana (large horn)	75 days yellow 87 days red	One of the most popular non-bell sweet peppers. Thick-walled fruits with sweet, mild, waxy flesh are prolifically prodiced on 16″-24″ plants. Fruits start out a pale green, ripening to yellow then to red.	fresh, salad, fried, roasted, canned, sauces, salsa, stuffed

Hot Peppers

Variety	Days to Maturity	Description	Uses
Caribbean Red (blunt-tapered)	75 days green 110 days red	May be the world’s hottest pepper!! Blunt-tapered 1 ½” fruits. Fruits can be harvested green, although they will be a little less hot and firm.	fresh, cooking, dried, ground, sauces
Cherry Bomb (cherry)	65 days green 75 days red	This is the first hybrid hot cherry, with 30-50% greater yields. The 2 ½” x 1 ½” cherry fruits are thick-walled and can be picked green or red.	fresh, stuffed, pickled
Delicias (small horn)	65 days green 85 days red	A mild jalapeno with very little pungency yet retains the characteristic, chile taste. Strong plants are heavy producers.	fresh, pickled, sauces, salsa
Habanero (lantern)	75 days green 110 days orange	The super hot 2″ x 1 ¼” very wrinkled fruits ripen from dark green to salmon orange. Is a good producer but sometimes can be erratic in our area.	fresh, salsa, sauces, dried
Hot Paper Lantern (lantern)	70 days lime green 90 days red	Earlier and much more productive in our area than habaneros! Magnificent, elongated and wrinkled lantern-shaped fruits are 3″-4″ long. Bigger than regular habaneros they pack the same mouth-blistering heat. Tall plants put on a colorful display through the summer as the fruits grow from bright lime green through shades of orange to scarlet red.	fresh, salsa, sauces, dried
Hungarian Hot Yellow Wax (large horn)	58 days yellow 83 days red	Dependably productive, yellow hot pepper with 5½” x 1½” smooth waxy fruits tapering to a point. An early producer and widely adaptable.	fresh, sauces, stuffed, pickled, fried
Jalapeno (small horn)	60 days green 80 days red	Best-known chile pepper of them all! Medium-sized plants produce 2″ x 1″ blunt fruits.	fresh, sauces, stuffed, pickled, salsa
Joe’s Long Cayenne (long thin horn)	60 days green 85 days red	Producing 8-10″ long, thin-fleshed fruits that taper to a skinny point giving them a somewhat gnarly appearance.	fresh, sauces, salsa, dried, ground
Kung Pao (long thin horn)	70 days green 85 days red	Big 30″ plants produce an abundance of 4 ½” long peppers that mature from green to red with no loss of taste. The thin walls of this pepper make it great for drying. This pepper is essential for Oriental cooking.	fresh, sauces, dried, ground
Mucho Nacho Hybrid (medium horn)	68 days green 85 days red	A JUMBO Jalapeno pepper measuring 4″ long. Fruits are fatter, thicker, heavier and a bit hotter than regular jalapenos. Plants are vigorous and high yielding.	fresh, sauces, salsa, pickled, stuffed
Pasilla Bajio (long horn)	78 days blackish green 90 days brown	While classified as a hot pepper it has almost no heat. Fruits have a berry, almost herbal flavor and strong upright plants produce heavy yields of uniform, 8-10″ peppers, thin-walled, slender, very dark blackish-green maturing to a dark brown.	fresh, fried, sauces
Robustini Hybrid (small horn)	62 days green	The first hybrid pepperoncini. These are the flat, mildly warm, pickled, yellow peppers often seen at salad bars. Harvest immature when yellow-green and 2-3″ long and pack them in a jar. Cover with white wine vinegar and let them set for up to six months – the flavor gets better the longer they pickle!	fresh, pickled
Super Chile Hybrid (small horn)	75 days green 88 days red	One of the hottest chiles! This pepper is also an ornamental selection. It’s semi-compact 24″ plant bears plenty of 2 ½” elongated fruits with plenty of hot chile flavor. Bred for increased yields, ripens from green to orange to red. Ideal for patio and container gardens—bring plants indoors and have continued picking through the winter.	fresh, sauces, dried, ground, salsa
Thai Hot (small horn)	40 days green 65 days red	A Thailand original. Its stocky 8″ plants are covered with peppers that starts out deep green and mature to red and grow to about 1 ½” long.

PEPPERS

Kiski Garden Center, 991 S Leechburg Hill Rd, Leechburg, PA 15656

724-845-8201