Large and sweet variety of "Big Girl" pepper: reviews of summer residents and their growing secrets

Bell peppers Big Girl show high yields both outdoors and in greenhouse conditions. Gardeners appreciate the variety for its juicy taste and high content of vitamins and minerals. Vegetables produce nutritious salads and snacks, winter preparations and side dishes. To get a rich harvest, a number of simple rules are followed. Let's consider the main ones and identify the distinctive features of the Big Girl sweet pepper.

What kind of pepper is this

Early maturing Big Girl grows in 100-105 days. Harvested in mid-late August. The variety is resistant to the main diseases of the crop, tolerates hot and dry summers without consequences. Plant a vegetable seedlings or seeds in open ground.

Characteristics and description of the variety

Semi-stem bushes, reach a height of 50-70 cm. There are many leaves, so the plant needs timely formation. From 8 to 10 large and juicy fruits grow on one bush.

Fruit characteristics and yield

The weight of a vegetable is from 120 to 200 g, in some cases it reaches 300 g. The color is bright orange, the pulp is high in sugar. The wall thickness is 7-9 mm, so the peppers are perfectly stored. Summer residents collect about 7 kg of beautiful and aromatic vegetables from 1 square meter.

Interesting! Big Girl Peppers are a great base for stuffing. Peppers are cleaned of stalks and seeds, stuffed with vegetables, meat, herbs. The appetizer will decorate any festive table and will be a delicious addition to the first and second courses.

Preparation for growing

For growing pepper fertile warm beds are taken away. The land is dug up in the fall, cleared of weeds and debris. With the arrival of spring, the procedure is repeated, then fertilized with peat or compost. If the soil is with an increased level of acidity, liming is carried out: sprinkle the beds with a mixture of dry wood ash and lime.

Next, the seeds are prepared. They are examined for external defects, disinfected with a boric acid solution. After disinfection, the seeds are germinated: placed on a warm, damp cloth and removed to a warm place. Germination accelerates seed germination and strengthens their immunity.

Important! Experienced gardeners prepare the soil for seedlings in advance. Use ready-made compounds or soil from the garden. The soil is recommended to be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate, cleaned of debris, insects and their larvae.

Growing seedlings

Seedlings are prepared 2-3 weeks before landing on the site. For this, a container is purchased, for example peat tablets or plastic cassettes with pallets. Earth is poured into a clean container, small grooves are made and 3-4 seeds are placed in each hole. The grooves are sprinkled with earth and watered abundantly with warm water.

The container is placed in a warm, sunny place, watered every 5-7 days. 2 weeks after planting, the seedlings are fertilized with ash or a solution of Bordeaux liquid. Top dressing improves plant immunity and prevents disease. The next fertilization is applied after 10 days.

Important! Pepper seedlings are sensitive to a lack of light, so summer residents organize additional illumination using fluorescent lamps.

When growing pepper in small containers, after 3 weeks, a pick is carried out - the seedlings are placed in a larger container.To do this, the sprouts are carefully removed from the container, leaving a lump of earth on the roots and placed in a new container in the ground so that the root system has enough room for healthy development. Also, diving into new soil can save fungi and bacteria from living in the soil.

Planting pepper in open ground

Peppers are planted after legumes or herbs, not recommended after potatoes or tomatoes. The optimal distance between the grooves is from 40 to 60 cm. The seedlings are watered abundantly, each seedling is taken out and moved to the garden bed. In the first week, the seedlings are covered with plastic or foil, this helps young peppers to quickly adapt to climatic conditions.

Further care

The beds are moistened every 7 days, the amount of water depends on weather conditions. In hot and humid summers, 1 liter is consumed per 1 bush, in drought from 1.5 to 2 liters. For convenience and water saving, a drip irrigation system is used. Once a week, instead of watering, use nettle infusion. The folk remedy protects against pests and stimulates the healthy development of plants. Water the beds in the morning or evening to avoid sunburn.

Caring for sweet peppers is impossible without organic and mineral fertilizers. From organic matter, compost, humus, wood ash, and liquid manure are used. Top dressing improves the taste and quality of fruits, saturates the soil with nutrients. Superphosphate, ammophos, nitrophoska, ammonium nitrate are used as mineral fertilizers. With a lack of useful elements, plants dry up, leaves curl and turn yellow.

Features of growing varieties and possible difficulties

Summer residents recommend forming the pepper 3 weeks after planting. The procedure improves yield and has a positive effect on fruit size. It is enough to remove the weak and growing inward shoots. To prevent the plant from breaking under the weight of heavy fruits, it is tied to a wooden peg installed near each bush.

Also, special attention is paid to the dosage of minerals. An excess of nitrogen leads to wilting of the plant, an excess of potassium leads to the development of infections. It is impossible to add minerals and ash at the same time, because of this, the green mass grows, and the fruits remain small. To solve the problem of overabundance, abundant watering and sprinkling of the beds with wood ash will help.

Typical diseases and pests

The yield of pepper is influenced by whiteflies and aphid... Small flying bugs are difficult to see with the naked eye, so it is recommended to regularly lift the leaves and inspect their back. Pests gather in flocks and suck out the juice from the plant, which is necessary for healthy development. As a preventive measure, the rules of disinfection and crop rotation are observed. For treatment, spraying with ash or a solution of milk whey is used.

Another known pest is the Colorado potato beetle... Both adults and larvae are dangerous. Insects live in the ground, with the arrival of summer they appear on the bushes. The striped pest can destroy up to 100% of the crop. Get rid of the beetle with the help of professional preparations "Tornado" or "Fundazol".

Of the diseases, late blight is characteristic of pepper. The fungus develops in hot and humid summers. It appears as brown spots on the leaves and drying out. For prophylaxis, ash or iodine solution is used; for treatment, a solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux liquid is chosen.

In addition to late blight, black bacterial spotting is found in the beds. Dark specks appear on the pepper and stem, which become larger over time. When infected, the plants are removed from the garden and burned. For preventive purposes, spraying with an infusion on burdock leaves is used.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

The Big Girl variety has a stable yield. The vegetable is successfully planted both in open ground and in a greenhouse. The fruits are large, with a dense skin. The harvest is stored for up to 3-5 months and does not lose its taste and useful properties.

It is universal in application, it is prepared from pepper preparations for the winter, stuffed, used for making snacks, vegetable salads, side dishes. The commercial qualities of the Big Girl variety are excellent, it attracts a bright color and a pronounced aroma.

Of the shortcomings, the need to form a bush is noted. If this is not done in time, then many unnecessary shoots appear, the fruits do not have enough nutrition for healthy development.

A variety with a similar name - Big Boy

The main difference between Big Girl and Big Boy varieties is the color of the fruit and a more elongated shape.. If Big Girl has an attractive orange color, then the second peppers are colored deep red.

The fruits of the Big Boy variety are slightly larger, the average weight of a vegetable varies from 150 to 300 g. The taste is sweet, without bitterness. The density of the peel is about 8 mm. Like Big Girl, red vegetables are widely used in cooking. They make delicious and healthy fermented dishes, as well as lecho and salads.

Important! The cultivation technology of the varieties is similar. In the northern regions, they use the seedling method, in the southern regions they are planted with seeds in open ground. Care consists in timely watering and fertilization. I harvest in August, when the fruits become firm.

Reviews of gardeners

To find out what gardeners think of Big Girl, let's study a few comments from popular gardening forums.

Natalia, Sochi: “I have been growing Big Girl pepper for two seasons in a row. I like the juicy and sweet pulp, it tastes good and goes well with other vegetables. The walls of the vegetable are dense, I keep the harvest in the basement until winter. "

Pavel, Moscow: “Big Girl put it in a greenhouse. Vegetables started quickly, but the fruiting period came late. He looked after as usual, watered and fertilized with nitrogen-containing dressings. From 3 sq. m collected only 7 kg of pepper. "

Olga, Volgograd: “The Big Girl orange pepper is my favorite. It is unpretentious in care, and the harvest is always rich. A month after planting, I form a bush, during the season I water it with organic matter 2-3 times. I recommend it to everyone. ”

Conclusion

Bright Big Girl pepper does not require special care. Seedlings are prepared at the end of March, planted in open ground after frost. Pepper loves warmth and light, so spacious and well-heated beds are chosen for planting. The vegetable is watered only with warm water; for convenience, a drip system is built. The beds are fertilized with liquid manure, ash, Bordeaux liquid, superphosphate.

Harvest after the peppers turn orange. They pick the vegetable together with the stalk, wipe it with a dry napkin and store it in the basement. The vegetable is great for stuffing and preparing healthy and dietary meals.