Is Cornetto Pepper safe?

LadyC

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Is it safe to give the piggies the Cornetto Pepper, also called "Bull's Horn"?
 
Bull's Horn describes the shape of the pepper rather than a specific type of pepper. I believe all the peppers that use the term 'corno di toro' and its related terms (cornetto, cornito, bull's horn) are sweet pepper, so are safe.
If you're not sure, taste the pepper first - hot peppers are not suitable for guinea pigs.
Examples of sweet bull's horn pepper varieties are: Cornito Giallo, Cornito Rosso, Cornito Arancia, Carmen, Escamillo, PeppiGrande, Mamma Mia Giallo.

Most of the hot peppers that are similarly shaped will reference a type of hot pepper, such as Ancho/Poblano, Fresno, Anaheim, Hungarian Wax, or Banana.

Again, if in doubt, taste first.
 
Oh, and in case you're wondering, all of the peppers in my avatar picture are sweet peppers.
Here's that picture bigger:
699A4A60-FEAE-4EC5-A014-D2DB925CB1C1.jpeg
(The yellow and orange peppers above are both Yum-Yum II, just off different plants; Yum-Yum also comes in a version that ripens red. It is a snacking pepper that is similar to Lunchbox.)

Here's some more non-bell sweet peppers:
5642A1D5-F208-4DBE-BAF5-F3E71E623895.jpeg
(Big Daddy pepper is about 6" long.)
7B0CC54F-8FCF-4149-84EE-B2924973D916.jpeg
(Obviously Shimmer and Cherokee Purple are tomatoes and not peppers, but I don't have a picture of PeppiGrande by itself.)


And apparently I only took pictures of the tomatoes in subsequent years ... I have lots of pictures of my tomatoes.:doh:
 
This year, I'm growing the following sweet peppers: Antohi Romanian, Cornito Giallo, Costa Rican Sweet, Jimmy Nardello, Slovana, and Yum-Yum II.
We generally prefer specialty peppers over the traditional bells. They tend to be thinner walled, which has its pluses and minuses depending on what you're looking to do with peppers. Jimmy Nardello and Antohi are probably our favourite. (Slovana and Costa Rican Sweet are new varieties for us, though, so we'll see on those two!)
 
@Princess Dustmop is there a variety that's easier to grow? I don't have a lot of success with peppers in my greenhouse. This year they have been very slow to germinate due to the late cold snap and now it's cold again their growth has stopped again.
 
I don't necessarily find one easier to grow. Peppers are slower to germinate than tomatoes in general. Tomatoes usually come up in a few days to a week. Peppers are more like a week to three weeks.

We have somewhat different climates, so I don't know how much good my advice can be. My climate is more continental, where yours in Bristol is more oceanic and temperate. (In other words, I have a colder winter and a hotter summer.) My average frost date is also much later (pretty much now for my area, where yours would have been March). I start my seeds indoors, supposedly a 6-10 weeks before the last average frost (end of March, beginning of April), though I tend to be slow on this for (I was still sorting out what to grow and ordering more seeds the first week of April ... :whistle: .)

Anyways, I use a heat mat when my seeds are germinating. This helps keep the media warm and improves germinate rate and speed. Peppers like a germination temperature of around 70°F/21°C. (Tomatoes like a bit warmer but not too hot - you don't want to cook the roots.)
Cold can stunt tomatoes and pepper, so if it's been getting down below 50°F/10°C, then that would slow your plants growth and potentially inhibit fruit set. If it's staying about 40°F/5°C, it's usually not damaging to the plants, though, just a delay. The good news is that you don't need to worry much about temperatures getting too hot to set fruit, (Over 90°F/32°C can incite blossom drop.) and you have a pretty long growing season, so even if your plants are a bit delayed, you should have ample time to get plenty of peppers still.
We plant our tomatoes and pepper in containers for a variety of reasons (mostly critter related), so we frequently bring a number of our plants inside at the end of our growing season when it starts getting too cold and frosting. Fruit will ripen, albeit slowly, in cold but not set; frost will kill. (Our season is usually over by mid-October; you probably have a couple weeks past that before it's getting too cold to get much fruit and longer still until risk of frost.)

Basically, your pepper plants like similar conditions to your piggies, maybe a touch warmer, and sunnier. They also generally prefer rain water to tap water, which may be something they aren't getting depending on your greenhouse set up. You may need to adjust/add fertiliser depending on how the plants are being watered to assure they have the best nutrient ratios for healthy plants and increased fruit set. Some years are just not cooperative for growing though ... I know we've had years we've written off too hot, too cold, or just bad when trying to assess a new plant variety; the weather cannot be controlled after all.
 
I struggle with peppers in the greenhouse until mid summer.
I germinate and keep pepper plants in the house until June/July then put them in the greenhouse. They’re usually ok from then on.

Been a weird time again with some really warm weather and now I’ve got a light jumper back on!
 
Our last frost this year was May 4th which has really knocked back everything in the greenhouse and garden. We've had a week of lovely warm weather 2 weeks ago, then it went cold again, yesterday I was back in my winter coat.
At least my runner beans have got flowers on and the peas have pods, I'm picking chard and 2 lettuces (winter variety) are almost ready to pick so it's not all bad!
Will persevere with the peppers and keep my fingers crossed. I grow them in pots in the greenhouse.
 
Guess that's what I get for trusting google on frost dates ... though I shouldn't be surprised by weather not following averages - we had a freeze in late May last year here.

The general climate information still stands (Köppen-Geiger or Trewartha climate classifications/maps) For example, I suspect you and I have different definitions of winter coat weather vs sweater/jumper weather, since my winters are generally colder. Similarly, outdoor guinea pig hutches or anything without temperature control would never work in the northeastern US, since it gets too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer (no amount of tarps and cozies is going to make 15°F/-10°C work, and, likewise, chilled water bottles won't make 95°F/35°C okay for piggies.)

I struggle with peppers in the greenhouse until mid summer.
I germinate and keep pepper plants in the house until June/July then put them in the greenhouse. They’re usually ok from then on.

Been a weird time again with some really warm weather and now I’ve got a light jumper back on!
This is pretty much what we do. Our seedlings are still loving on a window sill in the house. (In fact, we just put away the heat mat this week.) Some people around us will have their plants hardened off and outside by around the second week of May, but we're not that organised and don't want to have to watch the weather that carefully for cold nights either (especially since we tend to have cold pockets in our yard.)

Anyways, if your temperatures are going to be below 50°F/10°C, you may want to consider whether there's something you can do to keep the plants warmer (a greenhouse or cold frame should suffice, since it sounds like you already use one (using row covers overnight can help for those who don't have such an option), but even if you don't it won't do serious harm to the plant, just maybe slow them down a bit or cause blossom drop. If your temperatures are going to be below 40°F/5°C, that's when you're more at risk for chill damage. In that case, you will want to keep the plants warmer; the greenhouse may be enough to protect against cold damage, though you may still get blossom drop or stunting. If the plants are containerised, you may consider moving them to a warmer location, such as tucked against your house or in a shed/garage/basement. Try not to put the plants through big temperature swings ... if you're bringing plants in and out, it's best to do so at a time of day when indoor and outdoor temperatures are similar.
Just pretend your pepper plants are guinea pigs that want sunshine instead of hay ... XD
 
I'm a very experienced veg and flower grower (My grandfather taught me starting when I was as young as I can remember! Got my parents to buy me a greenhouse when I was about 12 - 30 or so years ago now) but the way our seasons are changing means things that used to work and the way they used to work need to change too.
It’s been such an odd spring here. 25 degrees one weekend, 15/16 the next day. Not had any frosts for a few months here but I’m in a warmer part of the country. In fact the frosts we had were so light by the time I opened the curtains around 7.30/8am there was nothing to see. It was only the fact my husband leaves so early in the morning and he said it was frosty that I knew it had happened at all!
 
My grandfather started my interest in gardening too. I used to toddle off behind him round the garden as soon as I could walk. My Dad grew all our veg when I was growing up.

My peppers have had it this year. I'm growing to try planting more seed but as a back up I think I'll buy a couple off plants. It doesn't really matter it's just that I like to be completely self sufficient in piggie veg for a few weeks and peppers are the one thing they look for everyday! I'm only having to buy peppers and cucumbers at the moment, that's not bad as it's still may.
 
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