Hey... I have a question y’all might be able to help me with.
I’m in eastern North Carolina, just east of I-95. The soil here is a deep, sandy loam. It could drain better, but overall is great soil for growing stuff.
I have had very good luck with hot peppers, but success with sweet Bell peppers has mostly eluded me. I can’t seem to get the big, blocky (expensive!) peppers you see at the grocery store. Mine are usually fairly small, thin-walled, tending toward bitter, and not that many of them.
What’s the secret to growing a good green pepper?
I don’t grow really big peppers. They taste good, but not large. I use Mel’s mix and the 2cnd year I added a lot of compost and a few shovels of top soil to the raised beds.
Last year I grew grocery-store size bell peppers for the first time ever. I grew them in Earthboxes. I don’t know if it was the continuous soil moisture (no water stress, ever) or the way the fertilization is set up. But since it worked, I’m planting peppers in Earthboxes again this year.
When I have done peppers in the ground, my results were like yours: small, thin-walled, not many, and not very tasty. Maybe it was nematodes (definitely have those), a nutrition issue, or water stress.
We’ve had the same problem. We’re trying seeds this year as opposed to transplants.
I've had the best luck growing bell peppers in the fall garden. I had some last year that dwarfed the ones at HEB.
Wish I could help, but I’ve got the same problem. The hotter the pepper, the better they grow, and the better they produce.
Variety doesn’t seem to make any difference, heat factors being equal; we’ve tried just about every variety of sweet pepper available; and used both seeds, direct & early sown, as well as purchased plants.
That has been true in southern California, Oregon, and here in South Dakota. I’ve tried every tip & trick I could find; and none made a bit of noticeable difference.
Some years are “better” —less bad— than others, but none have been decent, let alone good. Small, malformed, thin walled, etc. Best sweet pepper luck was with pimientos.
Foilar feeding a little ebson salt mixed with water
If they are ripe and still bitter they might not be getting enough water .
They are pretty easy to grow in self watering containers where you can keep them pretty evenly moist .