Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2006Good Qualities
Customers loved them mixed in bouquets; Small peppers were nice addition to bouquets and arrangements; We had a cool wet spring so we got a late start on peppers, was the best pepper I have grown in many years, colored up well and easy to strip leaves by hand; Bronze was a nice color, but so was the immature purple, the branching habit provided twice the number of usable stems; Nice, interesting addition to fall bouquets; Loved the color! So did my customers, we grew it in plastic and it did great, no problems, easy to grow, nice long stems; Easy of harvest, novelty item for markets, good interest; Attractive black pointed fruits when immature, dull red when mature, Fruits borne at end of branches to produce moderately long stems.Problems
Too short (2); I sell to a summer market - these would do better for fall; Peppers dropped before fully colored; Bad germination, both Bronze and Red were black! And thus pretty ugly, gave a few to a restaurant account just for novelty, did take to market, half loved it for novelty, half hated it for “weird” black; Mine were black not bronze, so still saving a few to see if they change color as they age; Removing leaves - slow; Mostly a dark bronze - expected more orangish color; Too short; Hornworm; Toppled - need support net; Has some insect problems in summer, but thrived as September approached; Didn’t plant sooner in season, didn’t get full color, next year plant earlier; Main stem shorter than basal branches, not useful if long stems are desired, mature ripe fruits not attractive: wrinkled, scarred; Didn’t seem to have any good qualities, very woody, most short 10 inches, some 15 inches tall; Unable to grow/sell.Postharvest
No special handling needed; More than 2 weeks in water, keeping in water initially keeps fruits from wrinkling.Trial Data
| Plants flowering (%) | Plants dead at end of summer (%) | Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||||
| Average | 3.6 | 18.1 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 4.4 | 96.3 | 12.1 |
| Range of Responses | 1-10 | 12-23 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 1-5 | 2-5 | 36-144 | 4-21 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
They sold late season bouquets when the market is slow; I would grow again; The plants grew to 32 inches, flowered and then sent up new growth to 44 inches, so there were two layers of peppers; I will need to grow a lot more of this next year; Topping of plants at 6 or 8 main stem nodes might be useful; I liked the peppers better when they were still black – the bronze looked rotten.