Share photos of these varieties?

[WoodSprite]

I'm planning to grow the following peppers this year but am having trouble finding good photos or more detailed information about them. Most are from Sand Hill Preservation Center. Some are from other sources.

If you have grown any of these pepper varieties, would you share photos of them, please? Comments on plant size, fruit size & shape, flavor and accuracy of days to maturity would be appreciated, too.

I've read the websites that I ordered from, checked other websites with limited success and Googled. I'm looking for more information from people that grew them. Thanks!

Frank's (56 days)
Nick's Thin Skin (56 days)
Gypsy F1 (60 days)
Earlired (70 days)
Jupiter (75 days)
Red Wonder (65 days)
Italian Sweet Frying (50 days)
Little Bells (__ days)
Early Jalapeno (66 days) (I use to grow this but haven't for years. I forget how big the plants get.)

[Toomanymatoes]

I have grown Frank's.

It looks like a mix between a bell and a 'horn' type of pepper (not sure what else to call it). They are more thin walled than a bell and I did not like the taste of them green. When ripe to red, they tasted sweet and were quite good. Not super prolific, but probably more productive than a typical bell and similar to other horn types I grew.

Plant size was compact and bushy. It grew maybe 2 feet for me. However, I grew it in a 30 gallon container with two other plants. So, that may have affected it. Although, I had others grown in identical conditions that grew 4+ feet.

The only photos I have are screen captures from a video. So, they are not that great, sorry.

The plant in the back is King of the North (which is about a foot taller). The plant to the left is Oda.

Franks02.jpg

Franks03.jpg

Franks04.jpg

I have not grown any of the others. However, I am growing Jupiter this season.

[Spike]

Bet ya @pepperhead212 would know these!! I have purchased the Italian Sweet Frying Pepper off a lady at an Amish farm. I know they are delicious but that is all I know.

[WoodSprite]

Thank you, @Toomanymatoes ! That helps a lot. I appreciate you taking the time to write all of that and share photos. I don't like peppers when the are green as a general rule (they taste bitter to me) so I'll definitely wait until they are fully ripe. Good to know the plants are (or may be) on the small side. That helps me a lot. Thank you!

Thanks, @Spike.

[Tormato]

No pictures, and no DTMs (long story).

Frank's is my one mainstay, never failed. Most years it is loaded down on very short plants that are always under 2 feet. Earlired is OK, success maybe two out of three years. Jimmy Nardello's is the only other variety where I get good success over 50% of the time.

My experience is that green peppers will be bitter when they are a long way from breaking color. Just before turning, they completely lose the bitterness. But, try tracking your greenies for that. It's just about impossible unless you keep records of each pepper on each plant.

[WoodSprite]

Thanks, @Tormato. Your previous posts about Frank's is the reason that I checked out Sand Hill Preservation Center's website and wanted to order it. (They won't have new seed for it until early February.) While looking for that I ended up buying some others, too. I appreciate your comments.

I've read a lot about Jimmy Nardello in past posts and am tempted by it but don't care for how thin it is. I may (or may not) order some when I order Frank's in February.

I use to grow a hybrid bell called 'Jingle Bells.' It was a small plant with small (maybe 2"?) bell peppers that ripened quickly and early and were perfect for one salad without having leftover pepper to store. I loved that variety but it's not available anymore.

Then I grew another bell variety called 'Cute Stuff', also a hybrid. It was a bit larger, maybe 3 or 4" fruits, and the plants weren't overly large. I liked that one, too, for it's earliness, productivity and taste. I discovered last year when I wanted to order more seeds (finished my previous pack) that it is no longer available either.

So I'm going to try Little Bells this year and hope it is as early, flavorful and small (but not too small) as them. I'm hoping Frank's and/or Nick's Thin Skin would fill that slot, too.

[Acer Rubrum]

Then I grew another bell variety called 'Cute Stuff', also a hybrid. It was a bit larger, maybe 3 or 4" fruits, and the plants weren't overly large. I liked that one, too, for it's earliness, productivity and taste. I discovered last year when I wanted to order more seeds (finished my previous pack) that it is no longer available either.

I hear you about the Cute Stuff. I loved growing those things and I was so annoyed when they discontinued them. I have a couple of seeds left from the year before they quit producing them and some day I'm going to try growing those out in isolation and saving seed from them to see if I can de-hybridize them. Or maybe they'll come true to type or close to true to type (hopefully). It's on my list of future projects.

We grew Gypsy several years ago. I don't remember how tall the plant was but it produced a boat load of little peppers, kind of like short banana peppers. I liked them well enough but my partner said he'd rather we just do banana peppers. It seems like the Gypsy turned color sooner than the banana peppers, though.

[WoodSprite]

Sorry, @Acer Rubrum, I'm just now seeing your comment.

Yes, Cute Stuff was an awesome pepper. Last year I grew one plant from my old seed (F1) and 5 plants from F2 seeds (that I collected from Cute Stuff F1 last year). None of them did well for me this year. I think maybe because I normally bury part of my pepper stems when I plant out but didn't last year. I don't know. They all ripened much later and produced only a few peppers per plant late in the summer. The peppers themselves on the F2 plants were slightly different shapes and sizes and the plants were taller. I was very disappointed.

However we did grow Gypsy (and 5 other varieties that I purchased as plants) in our "field" (a clearing in our woods) instead of in my garden at the house where my other peppers were. My husband tended to the plants in the field while I tended the plants in the garden. He said of all 6 varieties in the field, Gypsy did the best. He doesn't think Summer Sweet produced anything. All of the others there (Big Bertha, Lady Bell, Red Knight X3R, Revolution) only had small, green peppers.

Anyway, thanks for your feed back. I'll be growing one of each of the varieties on my list in my garden by the house and maybe on of each in the field if my husband wants them there, too. I'm looking forward to comparing all of these pepper varieties this year, as I looked forward to comparing the varieties last year. I hope I picked better this year and it's not a bust.

[Tormato]

Thanks, @Tormato. Your previous posts about Frank's is the reason that I checked out Sand Hill Preservation Center's website and wanted to order it. (They won't have new seed for it until early February.) While looking for that I ended up buying some others, too. I appreciate your comments.

I've read a lot about Jimmy Nardello in past posts and am tempted by it but don't care for how thin it is. I may (or may not) order some when I order Frank's in February.

I use to grow a hybrid bell called 'Jingle Bells.' It was a small plant with small (maybe 2"?) bell peppers that ripened quickly and early and were perfect for one salad without having leftover pepper to store. I loved that variety but it's not available anymore.

Then I grew another bell variety called 'Cute Stuff', also a hybrid. It was a bit larger, maybe 3 or 4" fruits, and the plants weren't overly large. I liked that one, too, for it's earliness, productivity and taste. I discovered last year when I wanted to order more seeds (finished my previous pack) that it is no longer available either.

So I'm going to try Little Bells this year and hope it is as early, flavorful and small (but not too small) as them. I'm hoping Frank's and/or Nick's Thin Skin would fill that slot, too.

Generally, it's the thin walled peppers that turn color quickly. Maybe some of the mini bells do, too.

[zeedman]

The only pepper of the list that I grow is Early Jalapeno. My seed is due for renewal, so it is planned for this year. I use very little fertilizer, other than leaves & wood ashes turned under in the Fall. The plants were not very tall for me (about 24") but stout, and did not need much support. The peppers are smaller than most jalapenos, but the yield is decent. The plot is much improved since I last grew them & last year's peppers did extraordinarily well, so I'm looking forward to the results this year.

Oh, and if you are looking for thin-walled peppers that are sweet & ripen quickly, I would recommend Melrose or Apple.

[ddsack]

I have pictures of Gypsy F1 from some years ago. A nice early sweet pepper, not huge but great for northern gardens. They start out pale yellow and ripen red.





The other one I've grown on your list, Early Jalapeno, does not have anything unusual about it, it may be a little earlier than other Jalapeno's but I also grow Mucho Naucho, and of the two, Mucho Naucho has better production. Early Jalapeno did not get very big for me, but it might have been growing in a subpar garden spot.

[WoodSprite]

Thank you for your responses (and photos) @Tormato, @zeedman and @ddsack. I apologize for my late response. (I don't check this forum as often as I should.) I'm looking forward to growing 11 varieties of peppers this year. I normally grower fewer varieties but this is my year to compare peppers and hopefully pick some new favorites.