earliest pepper evah!

[rxkeith]

i just ate half of a zupa pepper that i had picked a few days ago. my wife ate the other half.
this is one that i got in the MMMM swap. i suspected something was up with the pepper when
the plant got to be nearly twice the size of the other pepper plants in early may. i had to pot up
from 9 0z cups to quart size yogurt containers. now, i did cheat a little if you can call it that. the
peppers had not made it out of the house yet. the plants are about 2 & 1/2 ft tall now, and top heavy.
the zupa pepper that i have is a conical pepper that reminds me of a candle flame in shape. it is about
4 inches long with a slight curvature tapering to a point. the base of the pepper is about 1 & 1/2 wide.
the pepper ripens to red, has thin walls, and a slightly sweet some what unremarkable flavor. its the first
pepper, and maybe would be better in a larger pot. i got about 30 seeds from the pepper.

i would say that if you have any kind of growing season at all, and want to grow peppers, then zupa would be a good
one to grow. i won't be getting a pepper from any other variety for several more weeks. its not even close.
now, we will see if zupa will produce through out the growing season.
thanks, whoever sent in the seeds.



keith

[Shule]

@Tormato, or anyone else, can you give a link to a place that sells the Zupa pepper? Or information about its origin?

[bower]

I believe the earliest pepper I've ever grown was Frank's. That also came from Tormato. I believe a friend of mine is still growing them. My seeds got old because I had to quit the pepper scene for awhile on account of the living dead aphids. Still fondly thinking of my favorite early peppers though.

[greenthumbomaha]

Ace bell peppers were very early. They produced while still in the house (we had a long cold spell and went straight to summer). I pinched off the decent sized peppers before planting. Probably will be quite a while until they boom and start growing again. Jalapenos and Giant Marconi are loaded as well. The quality of GM is not good in it's tiny pot, hopefully a good second flush and not stunting due to it's stress in the pot. It's a tough pepper and one of hte few that actually will ripen mid season. Some years seeds were hard to find, reminds me to scout out the end of season sales.

- Lisa

[rxkeith]

i had requested info on zupa earlier because there were no hits on google for a zupa pepper.
all gary had was its early, sweet, good enough for me. i will save all the seeds i can, and make them
available at the next swap. i am curious where they are from. i will guess eastern europe based on the
internet links that came up searching for zupa.


keith

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@rxkeith; Sweet as in No Heat?

If that's the case, it'll nudge out some poor performers next year.

Pics?

The Gotch

[slugworth]

curious about later crops in the season.
I have had peppers that were fine the 1st picking but hurt my dupa the last crop before frost.
I picked baron on the 24th but didn't eat yet.

[worth1]

I looked up zupa and found nothing.
Sport peppers seem to be an enigma too.

[slugworth]

maybe a family heirloom or a nickname

[rxkeith]

no pics on the pepper.

sweet as in no heat.

as others have seen, nuthin on the internet about it. i dunno.


keith

[Tormahto]

Labradors sent it into the swap.

[BettyC-5]

Tormato sent me seeds labeled Zupska Rana. Could they be the same? I have 2 in the garden, not doing much yet.

[Tormahto]

I believe Zupska Rana is different. And, there is plenty of internet info on it.

[rdback]

Any similarities to this one maybe?

https://www.rijkzwaan.dk/find-your-vari ... w-zuppa-rz

[rxkeith]

looks similar in size, and shape.
mine ripens to red and tapers to a point.
the yellow one looks more blunt at the end.
getting closer maybe?


keith

[rxkeith]

i picked a few more zupa peppers. i expect a few more, but after that, it will be awhile before i get any more. my plants got knocked
to hell by the wind blasts we have been having lately. plants with broken branches or snapped in half. there are new shoots
beginning to grow, but like i say, its gonna be awhile.
i had given a plant to my church leader. he showed me a picture of the plant last week. he has it growing in his green house.
his plant looks like a shrub. it is as tall as his daughter who is six or seven years old. peppers hanging from it like ornaments
on a christmas tree. oddly though, no peppers turning color yet. they looked full size in the picture. he is pretty happy with
the plant.


keith

[rxkeith]

i communicated with labradors, that sent seeds into the MMMM last year, and she said that it was
zupska rana, and there was info on it on facebook. we aren't on face book here, so that info is not
available to me.

i now have three surviving zupa plants in the house with over twenty peppers combined that are red ripe, green, or turning ripe.
i will try to winter them over. i will be sending in plenty of seeds to the swap. three out of four plants survived being
stripped of stem, and leaf by unfriendly winds, and are producing nicely. keeping them alive in the house for seven months will be
a challenge. so far, the only pepper i have wintered over is indian finger. i think it is just too tough of a plant to kill.
zupa is described as growing straight up which is true. so be sure to nip the top off to encourage branching or you will end up
with a bean pole of a plant with lots of peppers that will be prone to tipping or breaking off in a strong wind.


keith