Fundamentally, growing peppers on an insulated balcony is no different from growing them in a room on the windowsill. If the balcony is open, it's like growing them in a garden bed. Just don't go anywhere.
A significant advantage of growing peppers on the balcony is the larger area compared to the windowsill. This allows you to grow both taller bushes and varieties of peppers with much larger fruits on the balcony. Including sweet varieties.
In fact, if the balcony is not insulated, then peppers are not grown on it, but are moved from the room in May.
When cross-pollinated, sweet peppers acquire a bitter taste. Therefore, pepper lovers will have to choose which varieties to grow.
Of hot peppers, in addition to many ornamental varieties, you can grow those that are designated as garden varieties on the balcony. They are not as beautiful as decorative ones, but they often have higher yields. Garden pepper bushes are often larger and taller than ornamental ones, so they will need a larger pot. If one and a half liters is enough for decorative varieties, then larger varieties will need about twelve.It will look something like this.
Pepper can only be grown on the balcony in the summer, but in this case it can be considered an annual plant.
Hot peppers for the balcony
Hungarian yellow
A striking example of pepper, which does not look very decorative in an apartment, but is well suited for growing on the balcony. The variety is very popular all over the world.
The variety bears large, long fruits weighing up to sixty grams. You can collect yellow and red fruits. If desired, you can leave seeds from the red ripe fruits for sowing next year. The fruits are used in cooking and canning.
Cold-resistant, early-ripening variety. Three months are enough to get fruit. Bush up to fifty centimeters high, compact.
Growing and care
Seeds are sown from the end of February. If the seedlings were sown in a common box, they are picked at the stage of the second or third leaf, immediately planted in a permanent pot. The optimal temperature for growing seedlings is twenty-seven degrees during the day and thirteen at night. They are taken out to the balcony after the frost ends. Each region has its own period depending on the latitude and weather conditions of a particular year.
Peppers are planted in fertile soil rich in organic matter.
This variety of pepper requires low air humidity and good soil moisture. Water it with warm water at the root after sunset.
During the day, plants “sleep” without absorbing moisture from the soil. Pepper is no exception.
The variety requires phosphorus-potassium fertilizers during fruit set and nitrogen fertilizers during the growing season.For better development of the root system and providing it with oxygen, it is necessary to loosen the soil. To increase yield, you can remove the central flower from the first branch.
This pepper is harvested from July to September.
Jalapeño
The original spelling of the variety is Jalapeno. It comes from Mexico, where the population speaks Spanish. In RuNet you can sometimes find a distorted anglicized reading of this name: Jalapeno. In Spanish, "J" is pronounced like "X".
In fact, Jalapeño is a group of varieties that differ in the color and shape of the fruit, early ripening and pungency. In general, the entire group belongs to varieties of medium heat. Peppers with large dense fruits. The color can range from purple to red.
Jalapeño orange
The average seed germination time is two weeks. The fruits are up to eight centimeters in length. Fruiting begins fourteen weeks after planting and continues throughout the season: from July to September.
Seeds are sown to a depth of six millimeters in pots ten centimeters high. Transplantation to a permanent place is carried out after the seedlings reach a height of ten centimeters and the appearance of at least two pairs of true leaves.
The heat of the variety is 2.5 – 9 thousand units.
Jalapeño early
An early-ripening variety with large (up to eight centimeters), thick-walled fruits shaped like a blunt cone. Hotness 8 thousand units. Agricultural technology is similar to the Jalapeño orange variety.
Jalapeño purple
Jalapeno Purpl may be mistakenly called purple. It has dense, fleshy fruits of purple color with a pungency level from 2.5 to 8 thousand units. The peppers are large. Used in cooking.
Jalapeno yellow
An early ripening variety with large yellow fruits.As the fruits of this variety ripen, they change color from green to yellow. You can pick the fruits while they are still green. It bears fruit eight weeks after planting the seedlings in a large pot. Hotness 2.5 – 10 thousand units.
Agricultural techniques for all varieties of Jalapeño are the same.
Magic bouquet
The variety was named for its characteristic feature: the fruits are collected in bunches of five to ten pieces and directed upward. Medium early variety. Bush up to seventy-five centimeters high. The fruits are thin. The length of the fruit is ten centimeters, weight ten - fifteen grams. Mature pods are red. You can also collect green ones. Used in cooking, preservation, and medicine.
Fire Volcano
The variety is early ripening. The bush is up to 120 centimeters high, which is not very convenient on a small balcony. The advantage of this variety is its high yield. The fruits are large and familiar to gardeners of the former Soviet Union. They can reach a length of twenty centimeters and a weight of twenty-five grams. Ripe red peppers. Used in cooking, canning, and for making seasonings.
Sweet peppers
Among the sweet varieties for growing on the balcony, the following are recommended:
Maykopsky 470
High-yielding mid-season variety. The fruits are large. The height of the bush is up to forty-five centimeters. Peppers are tetrahedral, blunt-pointed. Red at full maturity.
Winnie the Pooh
Early ripening variety. The bush is low, up to thirty centimeters high. The fruits are cone-shaped, weighing up to sixty grams. It is distinguished by a friendly harvest, which is harvested in July–August. The color of ripe peppers is red. Well kept. They are distinguished by tender, sweet pulp.
Growing
The seeds are soaked before sowing, after which they are sown in seedling boxes or pots to a depth of half a centimeter.Shoots appear after two weeks. Seedlings are planted in large pots at the age of eight to ten weeks. If when planting in the garden you need to pay attention to weather conditions, then when growing on the balcony, seedlings can be safely transplanted into permanent pots at a convenient time. And take the pepper out to the balcony when the weather gets warm.
Mysterious Island
Early ripening. Bush up to sixty centimeters high, compact. Small fruits directed upwards grow in bouquets of several pieces. The shape is cone-shaped. Length up to nine centimeters. Being purple at the stage of technical maturity and red at the biological stage, the fruits look very decorative against the background of green leaves. It is distinguished by long-term fruiting and high adaptability to environmental conditions. It can grow not only on balconies, but also in offices.
Agricultural technology
Since the cultivation of bitter and sweet varieties is the same, there is no point in considering them separately.
Pepper seeds are sown for seedlings starting from the last days of February. At the beginning of March, sowing is completed. The dates can be shifted only if you want to get a harvest in the spring. But in this case, the pepper must be grown indoors most of the time, since its development will occur in the coldest part of the year.
The seeds are sown in a prepared fertile mixture consisting of humus, lowland peat, compost, and turf soil. Mixture recipes may be different, but there should be one thing in common: acidity not lower than 6.5.
Sow seeds either in boxes or in seedling pots. If sown in a box, the seedlings are planted no earlier than the appearance of the second pair of true leaves.
When sowing in pots, young peppers are transplanted into a larger permanent pot at eight weeks of age.
Peppers are taken out to the balcony when warm weather arrives.
Both when growing seedlings and during further care, it is necessary to ensure that the earthen ball is always slightly moist.
There is no need to plant balcony peppers.
