Bill, do you mean specifically bells, or do you mean sweet peppers?

I don't even play with bells anymore, because they're difficult to grow here. But I've grown other sweet peppers that do exceptional.

My favorite among them is Sweet Apple. Looks like a miniature yellow delicious apple as it grows, with yellow skin, thick flesh, and great flavor. As it matures it goes from yellow to flame orange to scarlet. Really good tasting at any stage.

The downside, for some people, is that they're on the smallish size, only growing to about the size of a golf ball or a bit larger.

I only raised one kind of bell pepper.....California Wonder...they did great.

I worked on a farm growing about 40 types of peppers in north Fl, where our summer rains, heat, and humidity will kill almost anything. It seemed like every time it rained, the water washed the leaves right off the plants. I sprayed some with copper sulfate and that helped, but doing that too much will poison your soil. All the varieties had bacterial infections in the peppers and were getting sunscald from the lack of leaves.
One bell pepper did better than almost all the other types except for the habaneros and peperoncinis. It was called a "blushing beauty." It is a big heavy, beautiful whitish pepper with a pinkish glow, that will ripen to almost red, if you can keep it healthy that long. We got them from the "tomato growers" seed company of Ft. Myers, Fl.

In spite of the horrible drought that we had here this year that did in just about everything in the vegie garden, the purple beauty bell peppers performed wonderfully well. I have added it to my must grow again list.

I didn't have any luck w/ bell peppers in my garden either. Every single one would develop a soft spot on the top side of the pepper. I also grew Jimmy Nardello's and an unknown sweet pepper that did well. In fact they are still growing and producing.

I may give the bell peppers one more try with some afternoon shade. But with the humidity and afternoon rains, I don't have my hopes up too high.

Thanks for your inputs.This year i am going to try a few of gold cal-wonder,jupiter, and king of the north to see how the do in texas.Cal wonder 300 seems best so far. bill

Big climate difference between us. I have tried "California Wonder" a few times. Thin walls, not much production, of course thats up here in NH. It seems to be the only pepper plant the greenhouses carry. Wonder why? It is one of the reasons I started growing my own seedlings. I have grown "King of the North" for a few year. Great pepper, thick walls good size, not huge but market size. Last year I tried "Big Bertha". It impressed me alot. Last year was not a good year for peppers up here in the northeast (cool & wet), and BB still gave me some nice big peppers 7"+ by 4"+, with nice thick walls. It has earned a permament spot in my garden.

As far as keeping peppers from getting brown spots and raising productivity, I do what an old timer taught me:

1: Don't over fertilize, once before setting out, never side dress.
2: Peppers like to be touching their neighbors. I plant them 1 foot apart in a triple row.
3: Put a book of matches under each plant (sulfur).
4: Foliar spray them every week or two with epsom salts (about a Tbs. per Gal.) (magnesium)
5: If the temperature is heading for triple digits and the sun is shining high in the sky, throw a shade cloth over them to prevent sunscald. Remay works well or an old lace curtain. You dont want all the light blocked, just to cut down the intensity.

Not really a bell, but my Antohi Romanian did great last summer and it was a bit dry here. Summer before it was wet and the Tangerine pimentoes did wonderful - although my son kept stealing them out of the garden! I also like the 'cheese' type peppers.
Karen

I like the Red Knight from Johnny's. It's not an heirloom, I don't think, but it's pretty prolific and has a great taste either green or red. I've tried Cal Wonder but have not been happy with the size: pretty puny.
Craig, in Kansas surviving another tornado onslaught yesterday

I didn't have much luck with California Wonder or any other bells last year. My best peppers were gypsys, jalapeños, and bananas.

I grew Quadrato Asti Giallo and Lipstick last year. I will try Cal Wonder this year, Chervena Chusjki, and a sweet cherry pepper. Giallo and Lipstick produced very well and tasted good too...just looking to try something different.

I thought that I was incapable of growing green bell peppers and only bought them from farm markets during the summer. I was given some New Ace seedlings last spring and I had a great crop of fine quality bell peppers.

Chervil2

I have tried almost every Bell pepper in TN. They all seem very puney and premature. I must not know the secrets. It gets very humid here. Need some help. Thanks.

Are you giving them good, deep soil?

You need soil that has a fair amount of Vermiculite (sand), Peat Moss (holds water), and rich compost. The soil should be dark, crumbly and moist.

You might consider 3 gallon pots with broken pottery or a layer of large rocks in the bottom and then filled with potting soil. Peppers grow well in containers.