Fulfilled by our friends at Seed Needs LLC
50 Seeds
Grow a garden filled with the delicious, mild flavored, Chocolate Bell Pepper, from freshly harvested capsicum annuum seeds. Chocolate Bell will produce brown colored sweet peppers that measure roughly 4 inches. Each pepper will display a smooth, yet waxy outer skin and a deep red inner flesh, with walls that are medium too thick. Chocolate Bell can be harvested in as little as 58 to 60 days when they are still green. They can also be left on the stem to mature at 70 days for its rich brown color.
Sweet Bell Peppers are used in all sorts of culinary dishes, and make a perfect variety for stuffing. Slice them up and add them to a fresh garden salad, or chop them up for stir fry. You can even add slices to a fresh vegetable platter as well. Bell Peppers, like all of our peppers, are annual plants. Annuals will grow quickly from freshly harvested Pepper seeds, produce their fruits through the summer months and will later die with the first frost.
Sowing The Seed
Peppers are best started indoors, in a controlled environment, 6 to 8 weeks prior to the last frost. Sow them in peat pots, at a depth of 1/4” under topsoil. Peat pots will allow you to transplant the entire pot directly into the garden when the weather is warm and will also prevent root shock. Check below for additional info on spacing & growth habits.
Growing Conditions
Pepper plants will thrive in the heat of summer, so they should receive full sunlight for the majority of the day, with temperatures of at least 75F or more. A soil that is rich in organic matter is best, with a pH level of at least 6.2 and 7.0. Also make sure that your sowing medium is well drained, or your plants can wilt due to being waterlogged. Water your pepper seeds daily to provide them with ample amounts of moisture until germination has occurred.
Germination & Growth
Pepper seeds typically take anywhere between 14 to 28 days to germinate. After your seedlings start to grow, they will mature to an estimated height of roughly 24 to 30 inches tall and spread at least 24 inches wide. On average, Pepper plants can be spaced 18 to 24 inches apart from one another, in rows spaced 18 inches apart. These plants do very well when grown directly in the garden, or in large pots and containers as well.
Harvesting Golden Cal Wonder Bell Peppers
Once the plants are established, your fruits will grow to a size of roughly 4 inches. They ripen from green to chocolate, meaning that they are ready for picking. Simply snip or pick the stems an inch from the fruits and eat fresh, or store them by drying, freezing or pickling / canning. Harvest in roughly 58 to 60 days for green peppers, or 80 days for chocolate.
