Worth knowing:
The smooth and longish, block-shaped growing Sweet Chocolate Pepper brings a new colour to your summer salad. Its medium-sized fruits with the tasty fruit pulp ripen with an initially dark-green colour to chocolate-brown coloured peppers. The plant produces its fruits rather early and in abundance. The Sweet Chocolate is suited for a barbecue or a vegetable ratatouille, but it really shows to advantage in a delicious summer salad.
Natural Location:
Cultivation:
Since the plant produces fruits already in its first year, it is advisable to start the seed propagation between January and March. To increase the germinability, you can place the seeds initially for about 24 hours in a bowl with lukewarm water for priming. Plant the seeds about 0,5 cm to 1 cm deep into moist potting compost. Keep the earth moist, but not wet, preferably by daily using a water sprayer to moisten the soil. Cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out. Don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 22° and 30° Celsius. The first seedlings should already come up after three to ten days. Now, you can remove the clear film and keep the sprouts somewhat cool and as bright as possible, but not in the full midday sun. As soon as the seedlings develop the second pair of leaves, you can prick out until the first leave pair, and plant the sprouts into small 10 cm pots with a bottom hole and potting earth for tomato plants or vegetables. Be gentle with the fine roots and don’t forget to modestly water the fresh soil. Over the next couple of weeks you can always shift up the young plants into bigger pots as soon as the old ones are penetrated by the roots.
Place:
Care:
Chili and pepper plants always prefer a warm and moist location, but not wet. Water the plant only when the upper layer of the earth has dried out, and spray your indoor plants from time to time. As soon as the temperatures rise, you can keep the plants outdoors during the day with at least 5° Celsius for acclimatization. After the “Ice Saints” in mid May, you can plant the Sweet Chocolate Pepper at a full sunny spot into the garden bed or in a bigger pot. Other than with tomato plants, in chilis and peppers you don’t need to constantly cut the sideshoots. Contrary to popular belief, even the pruning of the first blossoms doesn’t affect the growing of the plant. If the Sweet Chocolate is cultivated in a good vegetable soil, fertilizing with fertilizer for tomato plants is only necessary after the first buds show up. Always use the dosage as written on the package and don’t fertilize more.
During the winter:
During winter the plant can be kept in a somewhat darker and cooler place with a temperature around 10° Celsius and with only moderate watering. When it hibernates in a warmer place, the plant needs the same care as usual. If desired, pruning back is now possible - the stronger you prune the plant the more bushy it will grow with the new sprouts.
Picture credits:
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- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
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