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Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports Purdue Fruit and Vegetable Connection 1-10-2022 Colored Sweet Bell and Tapered Pepper Cultivar Evaluation for High Tunnel Production in West-Central Indiana, 2021 Petrus Langenhoven Purdue University, plangenh@purdue.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/mwvtr Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the Horticulture Commons Recommended Citation Langenhoven, Petrus, "Colored Sweet Bell and Tapered Pepper Cultivar Evaluation for High Tunnel Production in West-Central Indiana, 2021" (2022). Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports. Paper 230. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/mwvtr/230 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact epubs@purdue.edu for additional information.
Colored Sweet Bell and Tapered Pepper Cultivar
Evaluation for High Tunnel Production in West-
Central Indiana, 2021
Petrus Langenhoven, Purdue University, Department of Horticulture and Landscape
Architecture, 625 Agriculture Mall Dr., West Lafayette, IN 47907, plangenh@purdue.edu
Small and medium-sized farms in Indiana growing sweet bell peppers are benefitting from this
very lucrative crop. Sweet colored peppers, bell-shaped or tapered, are a great summer crop for
farms selling to specialty markets or doing direct-to-consumer marketing. The average farmland
allocated to the production of bell peppers in Indiana is 0.7 acres (USDA NASS, 2019). Pepper
production in high tunnels during the summer is very popular. The high tunnels lower the
incidence of foliar disease, protect the crop against severe weather conditions and it extends the
production season into the fall. High-quality peppers can still be harvested well into October.
Production is generally high in an unheated high tunnel. However, information is lacking about
varieties that are adapted for high tunnel production in Indiana. In this paper, we report on five
sweet bell and five tapered pepper entries (Table 1; Figures 9 – 18) that were evaluated at the
Purdue Student Farm, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Materials and Methods
The trial was conducted on a Mahalasville (Md), silty clay loam. The spring soil test showed
9.6% organic matter, pH 7.5, and 194 ppm phosphorus (P), 247 ppm potassium (K), 820 ppm
magnesium (Mg), and 3500 ppm calcium (Ca). The cation exchange capacity was 25 meq/100
gram. Nitrogen, 100 lb./A N from Sustane® 8-2-4, was applied by applying all fertilizer
preplant.
The trial was set up in a high tunnel that was 30 feet wide and 96 feet long (Nifty Hoops, MI) as
a randomized complete block design with six replications (Fig. 2-4). The high tunnel was
equipped with louvered gable vents (one at each end wall) and roll-up sidewalls. The gable vents
were permanently open, but the side walls were opened when inside temperatures reached 75 °F
and closed when temperatures dropped below 60 °F. Sweet pepper entries were assigned to
individual plots containing one row of five plants that was 7.5 feet long. Peppers were seeded
April 16, 2021, and transplanted on May 18, 2021, with an in-row spacing of 1.5 feet and
between-row spacing of 4 feet. (7,260 plants per acre). The entire area between the raised beds (4
feet center-to-center) was covered with a black woven polypropylene ground cover (DeWitt
SunbeltTM). Additionally, a 3 feet wide white woven polypropylene groundcover was placed
between the rows to increase light in the lower plant canopy. Irrigation was applied once per day
using 2 gallons per hour pressure-compensated emitters (Netafim), flex vinyl spaghetti tubing,
and 90-degree angle stakes. Irrigation volume was increased according to plant growth, soil and
climatic conditions.
Peppers were trellised using the HD trellis support (8 inches wide, 37 inches high plus 13 inch
long legs at the base, Nolts Produce Supplies LLC, PA) and trellis twine (Fig. 5 and 6). No
pruning was done during the growing season. Weed control was minimal and done by hand.
Yellow and blue sticky cards were used for scouting and monitoring and to attract and capture
the adult life stage of insect pests. Pest pressure was very low and therefore no foliar pesticide applications were done during the growing season. Each plot was harvested after the peppers reached their mature color. Harvesting continued once a week between 91 and 168 days after transplanting. For each plot, the marketable and unmarketable number of fruits, fruit weight, and fruit size (length and width) were recorded. During the last harvest (November 2, 2021) all mature colored and mature green fruit were harvested and recorded. The marketable yield was expressed as yield per plant or yield per acre. Data were analyzed using ANOVA followed by treatment means separation using Tukey- Kramer’s least significant difference at P≤ 0.05. Results Marketable Yield Marketable fruit yield and weight results are presented in Table 2. The marketable fruit count per plant, fruit weight, and yield differences among entries were highly significant (P
(0.74 lb per plant) due to a much heavier individual fruit weight. Goliath Gold Rush had some BER (0.6 fruit per plant) but the majority of fruits were affected by a physiological disorder pepper stip (Fig. 8), also called color spotting or black spotting (Johnson, 2012). None of the other bell and tapered pepper entries were affected by pepper stip. Socrates (bell pepper) was the only entry that exhibited fruit with shoulder cracks (Fig. 7). Tapered pepper entry Carmen produced the most culls associated with BER, 1.5 fruit per plant. Almost 36% of unmarketable fruit had BER symptoms (Fig.1). Overall, the incidence of BER was low, with Flavorburst producing no BER fruit. Goliath Gold Rush produced a significantly higher unmarketable yield (18,113 lb/A) than any of the other pepper entries. Oranos produced the lowest unmarketable yield (2,866 lb/A). Discussion All entries, except Goliath Gold Rush, performed well under high tunnel conditions. The improved trellis system performed well, although vigorous varieties such as Red Sword (red bell pepper) and Oranos (orange tapered pepper) could have been trellised higher. Flavorburst (yellow bell pepper) has been a consistent performer in our variety trials. Once again, it was the top bell pepper variety in terms of marketable fruit number (136,246 fruit/A). Flavorburst is a relatively compact plant and is one of the early maturing varieties. It is the least affected by BER (no BER culls in 2021) and continues to produce fruit all season long. Midas (yellow bell pepper) with its heavy, very uniform and elongated fruit was a top performer, producing the highest bell pepper entry yield (70,248 lbs/A). The microclimate in the high tunnel in combination with plant nutrient issues might have led to Goliath Gold Rush’s poor performance (33,209 lb/A). This is the second year that this entry has shown symptoms of pepper stip and it is also prone to getting BER. King Arthur (red bell pepper) is a very reliable, large-fruited (9.3 oz) variety that delivers a high-quality yield (59,759 lb/A). Socrates (red bell pepper) produced a significantly lower yield than Midas, King Arthur, and Flavorburst mainly due to a fruit quality issue. Exciting entries of the season were Yellow Crest (yellow tapered pepper) and Oranos. Both varieties are very prolific, producing between 300,000 and 315,000 fruit per acre. In addition to that, Yellow Crest produced the highest yield of all pepper entries (72,161 lb/A). Both Oranos and Yellow Crest are very sweet, but Oranos have exceptional flavor, have a vibrant orange color, very few culls, and produce about 3.9 fruit per plant every week for 10 weeks (growing season was 12 weeks). Carmen (red tapered pepper) is usually a top performer but during this evaluation, it was outperformed by Yellow Crest and Red Sword. Red Sword has a vibrant red color, the fruit is very firm, and produced the second-highest yield of all tapered pepper entries. Growers have a wide selection of varieties to choose from. Assess your market and choose varieties accordingly. Acknowledgments Chris Adair and Purdue Student Farm summer interns and students who provided on-farm support.
Reference Johnson, G. 2012. Stip disorders in peppers. Weekly Crop Update from UD Cooperative Extension. Accessed on January 6, 2022. https://sites.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=4780 USDA NASS 2019. 2017 Census of Agriculture. Accessed on January 5, 2022. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/index.php
Table 1. Colored sweet bell and tapered pepper cultivar characteristics*.
Days to Immature Mature Fruit
Cultivar Type
Maturityz Fruit Color Color
King Arthur Bell Pepper 72 green red
Goliath Gold Rush Bell Pepper 75 green yellow
Flavorburst Bell Pepper 87 lime green golden yellow
Socrates Bell Pepper 75 dark green red
Midas Bell Pepper 80 dark green yellow
Yellow Crest Tapered Pepper 70 green yellow
Carmen Tapered Pepper 80 green red
Gatherer’s Gold Tapered Pepper 90 green golden orange
Oranos Tapered Pepper 75 green orange
Red Sword Tapered Pepper 70 green red
*Data obtained from seed company listed information
z
Days to maturity from transplanting to mature fruit color
Table 2. Marketable yield of colored sweet bell and tapered pepper cultivars.
Number of Number of Fruit
Yield Yield
Cultivar fruits per fruits per Weight
(lb/plant) z (lb/Acre) z
plant z Acre z (oz) z
King Arthur 14.2 de 103,092 de 9.3 a 8.2 abc 59,759 abc
Goliath Gold Rush 10.5 e 75,988 e 7.0 b 4.6 d 33,209 d
Flavorburst 18.8 d 136,246 d 7.0 b 8.2 abc 59,348 abc
Socrates 12.4 de 89,782 de 9.1 a 7.0 bcd 50,781 bcd
Midas 17.8 de 129,470 de 8.7 a 9.7 a 70,248 a
Yellow Crest 41.5 ab 301,048 ab 3.8 de 9.9 a 72,161 a
Carmen 29.2 c 211,750 c 4.7 c 8.6 abc 62,080 abc
Gatherer’s Gold 29.1 c 211,508 c 3.3 e 6.1 cd 44,070 cd
Oranos 43.4 a 315,326 a 2.4 f 6.6 bcd 48,086 bcd
Red Sword 33.9 bc 245,872 bc 4.1 cd 8.8 abc 63,712 abc
Pr > F
Table 3. Colored sweet bell and tapered pepper fruit characteristics.
Fruit Length Fruit Width Fruit Fruit Shape
Cultivar
(inch) z (inch) z Shape y Classification y
King Arthur 4.0 e 3.8 a 1.05 d Elongated
Goliath Gold Rush 3.9 e 3.6 ab 1.08 d Elongated
Flavorburst 4.4 e 3.6 ab 1.24 d Elongated
Socrates 3.9 e 3.7 a 1.03 d Blocky
Midas 6.1 d 3.3 b 1.83 c Elongated
Yellow Crest 6.7 c 2.7 cd 2.52 b Elongated
Carmen 7.0 c 2.7 c 2.53 b Elongated
Gatherer’s Gold 7.4 a 2.3 e 3.19 a Elongated
Oranos 5.5 d 2.2 e 2.52 b Elongated
Red Sword 7.8 a 2.4 de 3.26 a Elongated
Pr > F
Table 4. Unmarketable yield of colored sweet bell and tapered pepper cultivars.
Total number of Number of BER Yield Yield
Cultivar
fruits per plant z fruits per plant z (lb/plant) z (lb/Acre) z
King Arthur 1.4 c 0.1 b 0.61 b 4,442 b
Goliath Gold Rush 5.1 a 0.6 ab 2.49 a 18,113 a
Flavorburst 1.8 bc 0.0 b 0.53 b 3,847 b
Socrates 2.1 bc 0.4 b 1.01 b 7,347 b
Midas 2.0 bc 0.3 b 1.05 b 7,627 b
Yellow Crest 3.4 abc 1.0 ab 0.64 b 4,618 b
Carmen 4.4 ab 1.5 a 1.09 b 7,914 b
Gatherer’s Gold 5.1 a 0.3 b 0.74 b 5,378 b
Oranos 3.6 abc 0.5 ab 0.39 b 2,866 b
Red Sword 3.0 abc 0.8 ab 0.67 b 4,884 b
Pr > F
40
Pr > F 0.0003 35.7
35
PERCENT BLOSSOM END ROT
29.6
30
25 22.7
20
16.4
15.1
15
10.4
10.0
10 0.0 6.8
4.6
5
bc bc c abc abc abc a bc bc ab
0
Unmarketable Fruit
King Arthur Goliath Gold Rush Flavorburst Socrates Midas
Yellow Crest Carmen Gatherer's Gold Oranos Red Sword
Figure 1: Percent of unmarketable fruit classified as fruit affected by blossom end rot
Figure 2: Soil preparation in 30’ x 96’ high tunnel.Figure 3. Irrigation, crop support, and landscape fabric installed. Peppers were planted on May 18, 2021. Figure 4. Crop progress, 6 weeks after transplanting
Figure 5. Crop 5 weeks after transplanting. Figure 6. Crop 8 weeks after transplanting. Plants are boxed in with string. Plants reached top of box trellis. Figure 7. Shoulder cracking on pepper Figure 8. Necrotic spots (stip) on pepper variety Socrates. variety Goliath Gold Rush.
Figure 9. King Arthur Figure 10. Goliath Gold Rush
Figure 11. Flavorburst Figure 12. Socrates
Figure 13. Midas Figure 14. Yellow Crest
Figure 15. Carmen Figure 16. Gatherer’s Gold
Figure 17. Oranos Figure 18. Red Sword
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