The productivity of sweet peppers mainly depends not on the variety itself, but on the climate of the area in which it is grown. For this reason alone in our latitudes it is advised to select varieties bred by specialists of domestic breeding and adapted to variable climatic conditions. One such example is a variety called Hercules, the description and characteristics of which are presented in this review.
Description and characteristics of the variety of sweet pepper Hercules
This vegetable is classified as a mid-season variety. The bush grows vigorous, branchy, with ample foliage, somewhat squat. Its height, as a rule, reaches fifty centimeters, there are also higher specimens. The technical ripeness of the fruits occurs in three months, and after another twenty days the peppers reach biological maturation. If you plant seedlings in May, then in August-September you can harvest.
The unusual appearance of the fruits is noted, which resemble cubes in their shapes. Unripe peppers have a deep green hue, which, when fully ripe, turns red. The peel of the fruit is dense, without roughness. Juicy fleshy pulp has a sweet taste. Fruit sizes can reach twelve centimeters, one pepper weighs from two hundred to three hundred grams... The variety is considered fruitful, with proper care, it is capable of producing up to three and a half kilograms of fruit per square meter.
Most gardeners grow exactly Hercules, since this variety is capable of producing stable yields of large fruits and resisting many diseases. It has good keeping quality and transportability.
This pepper is allowed to be eaten even when it reaches only technical maturity. There will be no bitterness in the taste.
The vegetable is considered an excellent addition to salads and hot dishes, can be canned or frozen.
Advantages and disadvantages
Pepper has a varied amount of trace elements and vitamins. The vegetable contains the alkaloid capsacin, which is believed to be the source of the delicious taste... It helps to lower blood pressure, improves gastric secretion, increases appetite, and thins the blood.
- Vitamins A and C help to improve the condition of the skin, have an excellent effect on vision, stimulate the growth of nail plates and hair, improve the immune system.
- The presence of vitamins B1, B2 and B6 - good help in stressful situations, insomnia and diabetes. When combined with folic acid, pepper can reduce the risk of strokes and seizures.
- Vitamins P and C have a strengthening effect on the vascular system, giving it elasticity.
- Presence of calcium, iodine, iron, magnesium and zinc helps with anemia, premature hair loss, osteoporosis.
- The content of the vegetable helps to fight cancer lycomin.
Doctors recommend fresh pepper not only for active, but also passive smokers. It replenishes vitamin A, which is lost due to exposure to carcinogens excreted in smoke.
Even in cosmetology, pepper could find a use for itself. Its pulp perfectly improves skin condition.
The disadvantage is one feature - the size of the fruit is too large.
Planting seeds
Hercules is grown in seedlings. It is best to plant seeds in March. All planting material is soaked in a weak manganese solution, kept there for about fifteen minutes. The seeds are dried, sown in containers filled with fertilized soil composition. For sowing, it is recommended to use cassettes or peat pots.
Growing conditions for seedlings
To create a greenhouse effect, containers must be covered with cellophane or a piece of glassso that the seeds germinate as quickly as possible. The soil is moistened from time to time.
As soon as the first shoots appear, mineral supplements can be applied... Young seedlings are transferred to a cooler room, hardening begins a couple of weeks before transplanting into unprotected soil.
Transplant to open ground
This is best done at the end of May, when warm weather sets in and the soil composition warms up. Landing pattern - forty by sixty centimetersso that the plants do not interfere with each other's development.
It is necessary to choose a place for planting carefully, since Hercules feels best in light, fertile areas, well lit and ventilated.
Diseases and pests
A vegetable can be affected by the same diseases and parasites as tomatoes - Fusarium, whitefly, scoop and others. Accordingly, preventive measures for these plants are largely similar.
Dry apical rot is a serious hazard to pepper.... It is capable of infecting pepper fruits at the time of their formation, appearing first in the form of spots, which then dry up and create a thin crust. If you maintain the required soil moisture and, as a preventive measure, perform treatment with calcium nitrate, then such a nuisance can be avoided.
Pepper care rules
For a good harvest, three main conditions must be met:
- water in a timely manner. Here everything happens individually, depending on the climatic conditions of the area. But in any case, pepper should receive at least three liters of water twice a week;
- fertilization. During the period of budding and the initial stage of fruit formation, the plant especially needs nutrients. It is best if you support the plant once every two weeks, using mineral and organic additives for this;
- loosening the earth. The condition is optional, but it helps speed up the process of saturating the roots with useful components. Another important feature when loosening is the removal of weeds.
If you follow these simple recommendations, then you can get excellent yields of pepper in your own garden... The great taste of the vegetable will help you diversify almost any dish.