Sweet Pepper Rafaelus Seeds

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Pepper Rafaelus is a high yielding smaller Ox-horn variety, Rafaelus produces long pointed fruits that typically mature at around 13cm in length.

The skin of the fruit is smooth, while the flesh is thick, crunchy and sweet. The plant has erect habit with medium spacing to internodes. Harvest the fruits when matured from green to intense red. Best results when grown in the greenhouse as the plants prefer warmth.

Highly recommended by the SimplySeed team.

Average Packet Contents: 10 Seeds

Growing Peppers from Seed.

Growing peppers in the UK is not the easiest of crops. For anyone looking to give it a try, growing one the modern varieties is advised, and provided you give them right conditions they will reward you with a good harvest. Being sub-tropical plants of origin, this generally means plenty of light, warmth, feed and water.

If you have a heated greenhouse or propagator, Rafaelus pepper seeds can be sown from late January - but for unheated propagation, sowing is best left till March or early April.

If you are after the best results, we suggest you invest in a heat mat or a heated propagator. These growing tips assume that is the case.

Sowing.

• Sweet Pepper Seeds germinate best at a temperature of over 18°+, if nothing else is in the propagator set it to 20°+.
• Sow seeds individual in cell trays of quality seed compost, cover lightly and place in the propagator. Water so that the compost is moist but not soggy.
• The seeds should germinate within 14 days at this temperature, once the seedlings have grown two true leaves, remove from the propagator to a warm, light, frost free location.
• The young seedlings will also benefit from a weak feed at this stage.

Growing.

• Once your seedlings have reached 3-4 true leaves the young plants will benefit from potting on into fresh compost.
• Use a 9cm pot and mix a slow release fertiliser into the compost if available.
• Grow on until they reach about 20cm tall then pot into their final growing container. For ease, we think pepper plants are best grown in large pots - we prefer 30cm diameter minimum. Again mix a slow release fertiliser into the compost.
• Provide the plants with some support by staking with a small cane. This will help support the plant once fruiting.
• Place back in a warm, light position and again keep frost-free.
• Probably the most important part of growing pepper is the watering, they are very thirsty plants. During hot periods, you will need to water regularly - dry compost will lead to a check in plant growth and reduced yields.
• Peppers are best grown under the protection of a greenhouse or polytunnel, if you intend to place plants outside bare in mind you may not get much of a crop.

Peppers will reward you for giving them the right nutrition. If we hear people moaning that their crops have been poor, 99% of the time it is because they have not fed them properly. If you are not using a slow release feed, a good quality liquid tomato feed will be fine.

Potential Pests.

Pepper plants have very few major pest - slugs and aphids will probably be the biggest problem. If growing in pots - a copper ring round the pot will usually stop slugs, whilst SB Plant Invigorator will clear any aphid problem and can be applied as needed.

Harvesting.

You should have fruit ready to harvest from late July to the Autumn. You can pick peppers green or wait until they have changed colour.

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