Pepper "Apricot Favorite": characteristics and description of the variety, reviews, photos, yield

Pepper is difficult to grow in Russia due to its heat-loving nature. But breeders bred some varieties specifically for cultivation in the middle zone. The Apricot Favorite variety can withstand temperate climates, cold summer nights and regular rains. Even without a greenhouse and expensive fertilizers, it bears fruit and grows well.

Reviews from gardeners and characteristics of the variety will help you decide whether this variety is right for you personally. In most cases the answer will be yes.

General characteristics of the variety

“Apricot Favorite” is an early ripe pepper. It grows well in Russian conditions, although it is thermophilic. To ensure comfortable conditions in the middle zone, it is enough to water the plant with warm water and cover it. It is resistant to night cold with proper care and is very productive. Growers who want to achieve rapid germination and maximum yield should plant peppers in a greenhouse.

“Apricot favorite” got its name due to the apricot hue of ripe fruits. This is a compact plant that does not reach a height of even 50 cm. In a small area you can plant many bushes without compromising the yield.

The plant is generally unpretentious, but requires special feeding if grown for harvest for sale.

Please note: “Apricot Favorite” does not grow well in regions where it is constantly cloudy. Therefore, gardeners from such regions should refuse to purchase the variety or prepare special LEDs for it.

general description

As you understand, we called this variety good for a reason, since it has many positive aspects. It is especially suitable for growing for those summer residents who are just starting their gardening journey - you don’t have to bother with chemicals to save you from diseases, you don’t need special care, it’s a very unpretentious pepper. It is suitable for cultivation throughout our country.

In order for pepper to grow well in regions with cold climates, you need to use a film shelter or greenhouse.

So, this variety can be called good, it pleases with its bright, sunny shade of skin, which is why the name was given accordingly. This pepper is ideal for fresh and winter salads; apricot-colored vegetables will decorate any dish in the best possible way. Let's find out about its performance.

Disembarkation dates

The plant is sold in seed form. To grow a seedling, the following components are required:

growth stimulator;
potassium permanganate;
cassettes for seedlings;
fertilized soil;
drainage (ceramic balls or other type).

In seedling cassettes, you need to prepare drainage by placing large particles of expanded clay or stone, and sprinkle a sufficient amount of soil on top. Next, you need to prepare the seed for growth. Planting should begin at the end of January or beginning of February. The optimal timing is from January 25 to February 10.

Before planting the plant in a seedling cassette, you need to soak the seed in potassium permanganate. A weak solution or diluted potassium permanganate is enough. One seed can be kept in the substance for no more than a quarter of an hour, then it is washed and placed in a solution of a growth stimulator or a self-made solution with minerals and trace elements. It is necessary to keep the seed in the solution for 11 hours. The last step before planting is to keep the seed moist. It is removed from the growth stimulator, wiped, moistened with plain water and lies in a warm and bright place for 2 days.

Interesting! Soaking seeds in potassium permanganate and a growth stimulant guarantees good productivity of “Favoritka” in the future. If you skip this stage, the yield may decrease by 1.5-2 times.

After planting, the seedlings need to be carefully cared for. You cannot leave plants in a place where there is no light: they will stop growing. Periodically, the sprouts need to be moistened with warm water or gently watered.

Pepper can withstand even the night temperatures of temperate Russia, but it grows only in summer. Therefore, seedlings need to be planted with the onset of warm weather. Usually this is the end of May. If meteorologists predict a cold summer, it is necessary to prepare a special place for the pepper: place wire arches and stretch film over them. Under such a tent, peppers can grow at temperatures up to plus 10 degrees.

Agrotechnics of cultivation

Sowing seedlings

As you understand, if you have lamps, you can start planting seedlings in February, and then get a harvest earlier

But here it is also important to have a greenhouse or greenhouse. Already in June you will be able to pick peppers from your garden.

The dates are looked at in the lunar calendar and preparations for the new sowing begin a couple of weeks in advance. You need to buy seeds - most importantly, fresh ones, soil, cups, stock up on fertilizers based on nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. The first one is needed for greenery, the second two for fruiting. But make sure that there is no nitrogen in the fertilizing when it’s time for the seedlings to begin to bloom and bear fruit, otherwise they will only grow greener.

So, a week before the due date, you need to pour boiling water with manganese over the entire soil and let it dry. If you want to make your own, you can mix soil with humus and peat in equal parts. All these components are now sold in packages in stores. You also need to add fertilizer, which will contain a lot of nitrogen for the growth of seedlings. You can also use complex feeding. All fertilizers are sold nowadays, but give preference to environmentally friendly products that will not harm you and do not accumulate in the soil.

Seeds are selected to remove empty ones by soaking in water. Then they dry it, then place it in a manganese solution - remember, we talked about disease prevention. Next, they are washed and placed in a growth stimulator for a day, or a little less. There are a lot of them on sale - “Zircon”, “Epin”, “Kornevin”. These drugs activate the forces in seeds and plants and help them grow quickly and peacefully. You can also soak seedlings that have a poor root system in stimulants. Then you can germinate the seeds in a wet cloth or sow them directly into the ground.

You pour the soil into pots, which can then be conveniently planted immediately in a permanent place and there is no need to thin out anything. Deepen the seeds slightly, water them and hide them under film. Next, the room needs to be at least +23 degrees for germination. The seedlings will sprout in 1-2 weeks, the film is removed and now you need to water them and monitor the lighting. There is little sun on the window, the seedlings are stretched, then place them under lamps in the morning and evening when it is dark. Lamps are very helpful and can also be used to illuminate indoor plants.

Transfer to the street

Peppers of the “Apricot Favorite” variety are, of course, hardened for 2-3 weeks. At this time, you must prepare the area - remove the weed, add humus, sand or peat for lightness, ash, a complex preparation, according to the instructions. Everything is dug up, boiling water is spilled

The site is fertile, but it is also important to check the acidity. The soil should be neutral, if yours is not, then add additional lime

They check the indicators using litmus paper, which can be bought at a gardening store, as well as on the Internet.

They dig 4-5 holes per square meter, water and plant seedlings. If you don’t have enough fertilizer, you can add one-third to each hole during planting. After the hole, fill it in, outline it with your hand, lightly compact it against the stem

Now it is important to monitor the humidity. Remember that you water the crop, like cucumbers, only with warm water, not ice water from a hose

In this case, the pepper may sit in place for a long time.

Care after transplant

The pepper now needs to take root; to do this, it is poured with warm water. A film cover is placed at night and removed during the day. If the weather is not pleasant with warmth during the day, then the greenhouse should remain standing until the weather warms up

But it is important to ventilate it every day. After two weeks, nitrogen-based fertilizing is applied; during budding, phosphorus and potassium are added.

During fruiting, you can feed with compost or rotted manure. If you have mulch lying around, then you won’t have to work hard in terms of watering and removing weeds. A layer of straw or sawdust retains moisture in the soil well, warms the root system, which is very sensitive in peppers and prevents weeds from growing quickly.

To prevent illnesses, they are sprayed with a solution of manganese, insects are driven away with fragrant infusions - tobacco plus ash, wormwood plus spices, calendula plus tansy. As the bush grows, you need to remove the leaves. From below to the fork, as well as excess stepsons need to be cut off. They take a lot of effort and shade the crop. This is done in the evening, not in the heat. You can also use fertilizer spraying as additional feeding.

This is done using a spray bottle and helps crops produce a richer harvest. Pepper “Apricot Favorite” and its characteristics and description of the variety, reviews, photos showed us a worthy option. The yield may not be record-breaking, but it is good and the quality of the fruit is high.

Growing vegetables in the garden is not only work, but also pleasure. We get healthy crops, providing ourselves and our family with health.

Harvest Features

One bush of “Apricot Favorite” grows up to 20 fruits. At the very beginning of ripening, they are distinguished by a delicate light green color, then they acquire an orange tint. After this they can be torn off.

The fruits ripen within 100 days after seed germination, so the harvest can be harvested from June - July. One fruit weighs about 150 g. Moreover, the thickness of its walls is 7 mm, that is, the core of the fruit is very small, and there is almost no “extra” pulp inside one pepper.

Advice! To ensure that the plant bears more fruit, constantly trim off excess leaves.

On a standard summer cottage plot measuring 6 acres, you can grow several hundred fruits over the summer. The plant is very compact; one bed measuring 1 square meter can produce up to 160 fruits over the summer.

Growing peppers Apricot favorite

It is impossible to get a good harvest (even when growing unpretentious varieties of pepper) without following basic agricultural practices. Therefore, we will reveal some “secrets”.

Careful seed preparation

Strong seedlings (and in most regions of Russia sweet peppers are grown this way) are the key to obtaining early, full-fledged fruits of the variety. Therefore, for sowing, not only strong seeds are selected, but they are disinfected and soaked.

Seeds are poured into a container with salted water, selecting only those that have “drowned” for planting.
Dip the seeds into a pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15-20 minutes. Be sure to wash them in clean water afterwards.
Soak the peppers in any growth stimulant for about 10-12 hours.
Sprout in damp cloth and then sown in prepared containers.

Growing seedlings

It is advisable to immediately sow sweet peppers in separate cups or pots with loose, nutritious soil.

The sowing time is determined based on the climate of the region and the own conditions for growing pepper (for open beds, for a greenhouse). Usually pepper is sown from the beginning of February to the beginning of March, focusing on planting it in a permanent place in May - early June.

The temperature for seedlings is from +22ºC to +25 ºC, and the plants should have enough light. It is advisable to provide the pepper with additional lighting using fluorescent lamps in February and March.

Watering carefully, regularly, as the soil dries. If necessary, seedlings are fed using either diluted mullein or complex fertilizers. An excellent help for gardeners are the Kemira series fertilizers, which are also suitable for feeding sweet pepper seedlings.

ON A NOTE! From time to time, the leaves of pepper seedlings can be lightly sprayed with warm water from a spray bottle.

When the time for planting seedlings in a permanent place approaches, it is necessary to harden them. In about 10-14 days, the seedlings begin to be taken out onto the balcony, loggia, veranda, where windows or vents are opened. At first, 15-20 minutes for such “walks” will be enough for the plants; gradually increase the time, leaving the peppers in the air for the whole day. This technique will allow seedlings to quickly adapt to new conditions (in a greenhouse or on beds) and get sick less.

Landing at a permanent place

When the soil warms up, the risk of frost returns passes and warm weather sets in, the peppers are planted in the wild. In greenhouses, transplantation can be done earlier (taking into account the characteristics of the terrain), in ridges - in the last days of May or even in the first week of June.

For the Apricot Favorite variety, a distance between plants of 25-30 cm will be sufficient. A little humus and wood ash are first poured into the holes, then they are spilled with warm water and the seedlings are planted. The soil is slightly compacted, mulched with peat, humus or sawdust.

Rules of care

The plant must be kept under an awning, in a greenhouse or outdoors, but in the southern region. Due to the fact that “Apricot favorite” grows well in artificially created conditions, it can be grown in a heated room anywhere in Russia.

Basic vegetable care includes:

regular watering with exclusively warm water;
spraying the stems and leaves as they dry;
adding growth stimulants to the bud (if a bountiful harvest is necessary);
trimming the lower leaves to the first fork.

If peppers are grown commercially, they should be planted as freely as possible. The optimal planting frequency is from 5 to 8 bushes per square meter of land.

If you overdo it with a growth stimulator, you will need fishing line and supports to tie up the plants. During the period of active growth and fruiting, it is also advisable to tie up the bushes. If there is a lot of wind and rain in the growing region, a garter is definitely needed, otherwise the bushes will break under the weight of the fruit and due to additional exposure to external factors.

Growing peppers in a greenhouse

When choosing a place for a greenhouse, keep in mind that it is completely unreasonable to place it in the shade of large trees, near the northern walls of buildings.
Pay attention to whether it will shade vegetable beds and berry fields. The optimal temperature for growth and fruiting of the Cardinal 22 hybrid in a greenhouse is 26 degrees. An increase in temperature increases the respiration of plants, and the accumulated dry matter is actively consumed. Starting from 35 degrees, plants no longer increase their yield, and at 38-40 degrees on sunny days, the pollen becomes sterile and fruits are not set. To avoid these unpleasant phenomena, the greenhouse should be ventilated

In the simplest case, in a film greenhouse, the side part of the film is lifted, winding it onto a rail. In permanent structures they make vents. It is not recommended to plant bushes close to each other, as this arrangement poses a risk of rot infection.

Attention!

When ventilating the greenhouse, avoid drafts, as greenhouse crops do not tolerate them and may become sick.

During periods of cold weather and prolonged rains, the greenhouse must be ventilated, making sure that there are no droplets of water on the plants.
You can also regulate the temperature in the greenhouse by shading it. You should not get carried away with whitewashing glass or film. Firstly, they deteriorate, and secondly, in cloudy weather and cold weather, whitewashing can significantly reduce the temperature and lead to oppression of plants.
It is best to shade using old blankets, sheets, or semi-permeable film.
Finding the ideal location for a greenhouse in a small area is extremely difficult. Greenhouses are usually oriented along their length in the direction from east to west.
The pepper requires shaping; the bushes need to be pinched, the lower leaves removed, and, if necessary, tied to a support. When peppers are flowering, watering is done every 5 days and the soil is mulched.
This crop does not tolerate drought. It is necessary to take into account that watering should be done directly to the root. Otherwise, there is a risk of sunburn.
It is also worth remembering that after planting seedlings in the ground, under no circumstances should you water them immediately. It is advisable to give the seedlings a few days to take root, and only then start watering. The plant will have to be watered somewhat more abundantly during the period of fruit set.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

“Apricot Favorite” is very unpretentious compared to more heat-loving varieties of pepper. This is one of the few varieties that grows not only in the south of the country, but in the central and eastern parts. This is the main advantage of the variety.

Other advantages of this vegetable:

Early ripening. One of the few vegetables that produce a harvest already at the beginning of summer.
Fruitful. From a small summer cottage or a standard greenhouse, you can harvest such a volume that the average family will have enough fruit for a year.
High taste qualities. The pepper is neither bitter nor too sweet, so it complements any dish well.
Large size and large volume of “useful” pulp. There is practically no need to cut out the core with seeds from the Apricot Favorite.

There are also a few disadvantages:

Requires constant lighting. In cloudy regions the plant will be very difficult to grow. In open spaces, you will have to install battery-powered lights that will illuminate the space of the beds on rainy days.
Does not tolerate cold water. The roots of the plant may die if you regularly water the pepper with cold liquid. For the same reason, it should not be purchased by gardeners who live in cold, rainy areas. In case of frequent downpours, it is necessary to build an awning for vegetables.

The plant has a lot of advantages, but there are also some disadvantages. Thanks to this, the variety is in demand among amateur gardeners and even professional vegetable growers. In the special conditions of vegetable farms, this vegetable grows and bears fruit very well, so it is regularly purchased in large quantities for farms.

Agrotechnics of cultivation

Sowing seedlings

As you understand, if you have lamps, you can start planting seedlings in February, and then get a harvest earlier

But here it is also important to have a greenhouse or greenhouse. Already in June you will be able to pick peppers from your garden.

May be interesting Purple potatoes: description of the variety, useful properties, reviews Potato varieties bred in Belarus: characteristics and descriptions with photos How to properly use calcium nitrate to feed peppers

Application

The main purpose of the “Apricot Favorite”, or more precisely, the fruits of this plant, is to be eaten. The vegetable does not have any special medicinal effects, but it has a pleasant taste and contains a lot of healthy liquid. The fruits can be eaten in hot weather as part of vegetable salads, and in colder seasons, frozen peppers can be used for stuffing.

The fruits of the “Apricot Favorite” variety, produced domestically and abroad, are purchased by grocery stores and public catering outlets.

For reference: “Favoritka” is the third most popular type of domestically produced pepper, according to purchases for stores and restaurants.