Nature's Choice Biodynamic Peppers

Sweet or hot, there is a pepper for almost every culinary need. They may have different characteristics, but they have very similar growing habits. They do best in slightly acidic soil, full sun, and need plenty of moisture. If peppers do not get enough moisture, they tend to drop their flower sets. Pepper fruits tend to set up when nighttime temperatures are between 60-70 degrees. Be careful when harvesting. Peppers tend to have delicate branches, use a knife to remove the fruits to avoid snapping off a branch when picking. The following are what we have for 2020.

2 1/2 inch pots $2.50 each

• 4 to 8 inch plants
• sweet peppers hot peppers and chili peppers

Gypsy

Full sun and 4 inches by 2 inches. Matures in 60 days.

This elongated, 3-lobed beauty performs well in hot and cool regions. Great for frying or in salads. Ripens from light greenish yellow to orange to red. A sweet pepper similar to Romanian Sweet. Resistant to tobacco mosaic virus.
If you love your peppers sweet, then there are none better than the gypsy pepper. There’s a sugary sweetness here, almost floral, not shocking since the gypsy is a no-heat sweet pepper, but surprising for its intensity as the fruits mature. Gypsies, with their thin skin, are perfect frying peppers, though the walls are thick enough for stuffing, too. There’s a visual charm to the gypsy, as well, as the peppers take on a hodgepodge of mixed flower-like colors as they age. They look exceptional in a landscaped edible garden or container. 

Keystone Green

79 days. A California Wonder type with large, blocky, pendant fruit (3½” x 4”). Mosaic resistant. Heavy foliage reduces susceptibility to sunscald. Thick stems hold up under heavy fruit load. Well suited to the Mid-Atlantic but not recommended for the Deep South. A perfect stuffing pepper. Suitable for home garden and market growers. Disease Resistant to the Tobacco Mosaic Virus.

Orange Peppers

All-America Selections winner with great flavor and remarkable disease resistance.We're sweet on this sweet orange bell pepper, the AAS 2011 winner. Orange is a winner for great flavor, early maturity, easy-growing personality and remarkable disease resistance. Beauteous 2-3 lobed fruits are 4'' long and 1.5'' wide-optimally sized for peak sweet flavor and texture at harvest. 65-70 days to maturity.

Red Beauty

An early, prolific variety bearing very sweet peppers with thick walls. Glossy green fruit turning to red when mature. Adds color and flavor to salads and cooked dishes. The fruit can be used when green and are also great in salsas. Fertilize with liquid slow release plant food for best results. Resistant to tobacco mosaic virus. 68 days until mature green; red about 2 weeks later. 

Sweet Banana

In full sun they get 6 inches by 1.5 inches. They matures in 75 days. Named for its banana-like shape, this variety bears sweet, mild banana peppers that mature from yellow, to orange, and then to crimson red. Plants fruit prolifically, easily producing up to 25 to 30 pods per plant. Banana peppers are great for frying and pickling, and are an excellent choice for making pepper rings for sandwiches. Great for containers. This classic, sweet wax pepper that has been grown by generations of gardeners. Sleek, tapered fruits are a translucent ivory color when immature, ripening quickly to stunning red-orange. Superb in pickles or stuffed, in salads, and more. 

Yellow

In full sun they get 4 to 5 inches long and matures in 70 to 80 days. They get 24 to 36 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide. Yellow, thick-walled, sweet fruits add appetizing color and vitamins to fresh salads, and are superb for stuffing as well as fresh use. Plants can get quite large, so be prepared to support them, especially when carrying lots of fruit. Ripens green to yellow. Yellow peppers are harvested at the midpoint of maturity and therefore fall in between green and red bell peppers on the “ripeness” spectrum. These bell peppers lack the bitterness often associated with green peppers. Although they contain same type of nutrients as that in red and green bell pepper, their quantities are different. 

Anaheim

Harvest starts 77 days after plants are set out. CAUTION: Use rubber gloves or clean hot peppers under running water to avoid skin burn from the juice. Green Anaheim chile peppers are defined by their elongated curved lime green pod and their mild, sweet flavor. The chile's skin is waxy, glossy and semi thick. Inside the pod is a thin white seeded membrane. Raw Anaheim chiles are bright, succulent and slightly peppery in flavor. Cooked Anaheim chiles, whether slow roasted or grilled obtain a depth of rich, sweet and tangy flavors. Anaheim chiles are harvested immature anywhere between four inches and ten inches in length. If allowed to reach maturity, Anaheim chiles will eventually turn a deep red color, lose their moisture and shrink significantly in size. A mild-flavored pepper it ranges from 500 to 2,500 Scoville units.

Big Jim chili 

This giant chili pepper was introduced by New Mexico State University in the 1970s as a cross between a few different types of local chiles and a Peruvian chile. They measure 10-12” and mature to red, but are usually harvested and used when green. The peppers have actually been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest chile ever grown. Big Jim chili peppers are about as hot as a milder jalapeno pepper, so you’ll get a bit of heat, but not very much, depending on your heat tolerance and preference. The Big Jim has a mildly spicy flavor and is great for chiles rellenos because of its size. They could also be used in salsa or on salads, or the red ones could be dried to make beautiful ristras. They’re also great for roasting, pickling or just about anything else you can think of. Scoville Heat Units: 2,500-3,000 SHU

Orange Habanero

It ripens from green to a bright orange hue. Its skin is thin and waxy with slight exterior wrinkling. Their pods have a distinctive lantern-like shape and are petite measuring typically no bigger than two inches in length and one to two inches in width. A close relative of the Scotch bonnet pepper, the Orange Habanero has a similar shape, flavor and heat as the Scotch bonnet. An aromatic chile pepper the Orange Habanero has a subtle apricot aroma and offers an intense and pungent heat at 200,000 – 300,000 Scoville units. The orange variety Habanero is also one of the hottest varieties of Habanero peppers.

Hungarian hot wax

These peppers produce an abundance of peppers with a somewhat herbaceous, agreeably stimulating flavor. Produce fruit in just 70 days after sowing, making them an excellent garden crop for short season areas, where they will bear fruit all summer long. The plants are fairly care-free. However, routine care will increase yields. The Hungarian Hot Wax pepper is a variety of conical yellow chiles that are 4–5 times hotter than the jalapeno pepper. Sturdy plants grow 18-24" tall and 16” wide. Peppers are on average 5-6” long and 1½” wide at the shoulder. They start out as a greenish yellow and become more yellow to orange and finally a bright red when they are mature. Peppers are waxy, smooth skinned and thick fleshed. 1,000-15,000 Scoville units.

Jalapeño Grande

Meet the newest Whopper -- a highly productive, easy to grow, absolutely delicious jalapeno that stands up to just about any disease Mother Nature can throw its way! If you like hot peppers, or if you just want a great natural pest repellent in the garden, the Whopper Jalapeno is the one to grow!

This is the pungent little dark green pepper found in rings atop nachos and chopped in Mexican sauces. Very popular fresh, canned, or pickled, it livens up any dish!

This Jalapeno Pepper has thick walls which hold up great on the grill. Perfect for making salsa and anyone who loves a good Jalapeno Pepper. They can grow up to 4 1/2" long and 1 1/2" wide!

Jalapeno M

Dark green, medium-hot, thick-walled peppers 3" long, 1" wide, with rounded tips. Matures to dark red. Days to maturity are from time plants are set in garden. For transplants, add 8-10 weeks. Space plants 18-24" apart. CAUTION: Use rubber gloves or clean hot peppers under running water to avoid skin burn from the pepper juice. Annual. 75 days. 4,150 24-48" height. Produces tapered hot peppers that mature from dark green to red. 2,000-5,000 Scoville units.

Poblano

They are peppers that typically grow to the size of a medium bell pepper. Poblanos are picked before they're ripe. So though we think of poblanos being green, mature poblanos are actually red and contain a bit more heat. But in what I like to call "Poblano Roulette" sometimes even a green pepper will be super spicy. Poblanos are delicious and versatile and used in a ton of Mexican dishes. They're particularly good when they're roasted and skinned because the pepper takes on a smokey, meaty quality. Chiles rellenos is a well known dish where poblanos are stuffed with cheese and meat and deep fried. In fact poblanos seem the perfect anecdote to roasted bell pepper fatigue. 1,000 - 2,000 Scoville units.

Red Cayenne Thick

75 Days Quite hot, thick-fleshed fruits, 6" by 3/4". A favorite for using dried, pickled or in sauces. Concentrated sets of pendant fruits - wrinkled, tapered and curved - are borne on strong upright plants. Ripens from a lustrous dark green to a brilliant scarlet. The Cayenne Thick is a variant of the classic Cayenne. It’s high yielding and the peppers are larger than the classic Cayenne and have a thick fruit wall. They are long and wrinkled. The hot peppers have a wonderful aroma. Perfect for salsas or to use fresh. Also good for drying and for seasoning dishes. 3,000 - 5,000 Scoville units.

Serrano Chili

Small finger-shaped hot peppers picked green or red. Serrano will give you dozens of medium-thin walled fruits per plant. Pick them early when the peppers are green and more mild or wait until they're mature and "red hot". Days to maturity are from time plants are set in garden. For transplants add 8-10 weeks. Space plants 18-24" apart. Serrano is pronounced: suh rah noh. Serrano chiles generally tend to have thin skin. They don't need to be steamed or peeled before using, making it one of the easiest peppers to use for salsas. Serranos are a green color, but ripen to red, brown, orange, or yellow. Serrano peppers don't dry well, because they are very meaty. The serrano chili pepper can be up to five times hotter than the jalapeño.  8,000 and 23,000 Scoville units.

Thai Hot

This plant produces large numbers of 1-inch green fruits that mature to blazing red color with heat and flavor to match! These are extremely hot. This variety grows well in hot, humid regions. Plants are compact, about a foot tall. Great ornamental value. The colorful peppers last a long time on the plant.

Thai Hot Red Cluster Chilli – A Beautiful Spicy & Glossy Red Asian Hot Pepper. If you love hot chilli then you will love this! This plant produces very hot & spicy chillies for months. They are very popular in South-eastern Asia & also in China for cooking. They are very heavy yield and grow in cluster. The chilli turning from dark green to beautiful glossy red when ripe. This is a very compact plant so can easily be grown in pots and patios. 50,000 to 100,000 Scoville units.

Carolina Reaper

This is an extremely hot variety developed by a grower named Ed Currie. It is also called HP22B pepper. As of 2013 it is over 7 generations old. Ed created this chile plant variety by crossing a Pakistani Naga with a Red Habanero type from St Vincents Island in the West Indies. It is similar in looks to the Trinidad 7 Pot Primo. These chile plants grow slow in the beginning like Nagas but are very productive. The Carolina Reaper chile plant has a nice fruity flavor similar to other superhots like the 7 Pot. The Carolina Reaper can grow to a height over 4 feet tall. ~1,400,000 Scoville units.

White Ghost

90 day Blow your brains out hot The Ghost Pepper is quickly becoming the hottest selling hot pepper on the market. The ripe fruits are ivory white in color and they grow to a length of 2 to 3 inches on 3 foot plants. This pepper is also known as Naga Jolokia, ghost pepper, ghost chile pepper, and ghost chile. It has been recognized in the past, by Guinness World Records as the hottest pepper in the world with a Scoville rating that can sometimes exceed 1 million. Since then, it has been outdone by a few others, bumping the Ghost to the world's 3rd, maybe 4th hottest. Its origin is the Indian states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. It can also be found in rural Sri Lanka. Use extreme caution when handling any part of this pepper. That warning includes the handling of these seeds. Wear gloves. ~1,000,000 Scoville units

Poinsettia Edible ornamental dwarf pepper

Ornamental pepper plants are dwarf pepper plants with more colorful fruits and foliage than the standard hot pepper varieties. They are ideal as houseplants because of their small size and easy growth habits. Although you could grow these plants indoors at any time of year, they are particularly popular as a way to bring some color inside during the winter. This is reflected in the names of ornamental pepper varieties such as the "Poinsettia Pepper”.

Bhut Jolokia red ghost

The Ghost pepper emerged as a record setting pepper when it burst onto the scene in 2007, rating at just over 1,000,000 Scoville Heat Units. Although the Ghost pepper is no longer the hottest pepper in the world, it’s still as popular as ever. The name Ghost pepper simply comes from the pepper’s official Indian name, the Bhut Jolokia. Bhut in Indian means “ghost.”

Trinidad scorpion

The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper is a Capsicum  cultivar that is among the most piquant peppers in the world. It is indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago. It was named by Neil Smith from The Hippy Seed Company, after he got the seeds originally from Butch Taylor who is responsible for propagating the pepper's seeds. The "scorpion" peppers are referred to as such because the pointed end of the pepper is said to resemble a scorpion's stinger.

The Trinidad scorpion 'Butch T' pepper was, for three years, ranked the most pungent ("hot") pepper in the world according to Guinness World Records.A laboratory test conducted in March 2011 measured a specimen at 1,463,700 Scoville heat units, officially ranking it the hottest pepper in the world at the time. One possible secret to the chili's heat, according to a cultivator of the pepper, is fertilizing the soil with the liquid runoff of a worm farm. In August 2013, Guinness World Records recognized the Carolina Reaper as the hottest pepper in the world, at 1,569,300 SHU.

Death spiral

A newer super-hot strain, producing eye-popping heat and large, bumpy pods that ripen to red. The heat level is certainly extreme, with various sources claiming up to Reaper level heat. The pods are wrinkled and stained with reds and oranges, making for a fun but fearsome pepper.

The Death Spiral or Death Pepper is a variant of the Naga Bubblegum Red cross from the United Kingdom originally made by grower Terry Smith. We first saw this on a number of plants in 2015-2016. It does not have the bleeding calyx like the Naga BBG 7. But it does have a reticulated pattern on its outer skin which look like grooves were etched into it.

The Death Spiral peppers are unigue in that they ripen in multiple color stages. They start out at light green but go to peach, then orange and finally red. The peppers get a pointy end but sometimes a tail as well. The heat is above most Naga types and flavor is floral fruity. It has an upfront burn so beware. Its consistency is not known so you may get many varied shapes and sizes. The Death Spiral chile plants grow over 4 feet tall.

Health benefits:

Vitamin C: They contain plenty of vitamin C, which powers up your immune system and keeps skin youthful. The highest amount of Vitamin C in a bell pepper is concentrated in the red variety.

Antioxidants: Red bell peppers contain several phytochemicals and carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene, which lavish you with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

Cholestrol: The captain in bell peppers has multiple health benefits. Studies show that it reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol, controls diabetes, brings relief from pain and eases inflammation.

Cancer: The sulfur content in bell peppers makes them play a protective role in certain types of cancers.

Vitamin E: The bell pepper is a good source of Vitamin E, which is known to play a key role in keeping skin and hair looking youthful.

Vitamin B6: Bell peppers also contain vitamin B6, which is essential for the health of the nervous system and helps renew cells.
Optical health:Certain enzymes in bell peppers, such as lutein, protect the eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration later in life.

Whether you choose to prune your pepper plants or not, we think for maximum yield you should pinch off the first blossoms before transplanting your pepper plants (or even if they're direct seeded in their location, pinch off the first few blooms to encourage more growth). We don't find that topping or pruning peppers necessarily increases your yield, but pinching blossoms will definitely help increase the production of pods on the plants.