To find the most appropriate individual to answer your question, what county do you live in?  Thanks! Ruth

I bought it at the grocery store it had no label just said that it was an annual I live in idaho springs colorAdo now I know it's the end of the growing season but I have a greenhouse and I got a late start on my fair project so im having to work out some minor details but I cant finally plant it because I have no specifications as to what it is

Hi there-
Are you in 4-H? I do not know of any of our local 4-Hers who had a pepper project; and State Fair is over.  Here is some basic information on ornamental peppers and a CSU Extension Factsheet -- hope it's helpful:

Ornamental peppers are usually dwarf versions of other hot peppers. They have finely shaped leaves and small chili pepper-shaped or ball-shaped fruits. The color of the peppers range from scarlet reds to banana yellow, and often grow upright. Uncommon colors such as purple and white are also possible. This unusual coloration can carry over to the leaves themselves, with varieties that have black, purple and variegated foliage.

Considerations

Ornamental pepper plants are a great way to bring color into your house during the winter. It is for this reason that many varieties have names like Christmas Pepper and Poinsettia and Holiday Flame. Make sure to keep an eye on any young children who may be attracted to the bright colors or berry-like fruits of some varieties. Since many are extremely hot, don't let children or pets eat them. Use hanging baskets to keep the ornamental peppers well out of reach of kids and pets.

By featuring the fruit, instead of the flower, ornamental pepper plants are attractive for a long time. They can produce fruit for up to six weeks, and the peppers will dry on the plant if allowed. This looks particularly nice in the case of chili pepper varieties. When grown from seed, ornamental peppers can be expected to start fruiting after 60 to 75 days. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers; these will encourage the plant to produce a lot of leaves and few peppers.

Care

Ornamental peppers are tropical plants that will need to be kept indoors when the temperature falls below 55 degrees. They adapt well to indoor conditions, but you will get more flowering, and thus more fruit, if the peppers are kept in a sunny window or provided with supplemental light. Keep the soil moist but not saturated. Pinch back new growth in order to encourage branching. You can pick the peppers to encourage more flowers or allow the fruits to dry on the plant so you can collect their seeds.

Peppers and Eggplant

by J.E. Ells* (8/14)
Revised by S. Newman**

Quick Facts...

Peppers and eggplant are members of the Solanaceae family and have similar growing requirements.

·        Both peppers and eggplant are best transplanted to perform acceptably in Colorado.

·        Neither plant is tolerant of early- or late-season frost.

·        Peppers and eggplants should be monitored for early evidence of pest damage during the season.

·        Fruit should be harvested with pruning shears to avoid damaging the plant.

Peppers (Capsicum annum) and eggplant (Solanum melongena) may be started eight weeks before they are planted into the garden. Along the Front Range, both can be sown in April for transplanting into the field on June 1.

Plants can be grown by sowing seeds in a prepared potting soil 1/2 inch deep at 80 degrees F until seedlings emerge.

As soon as seedlings begin to crowd, transplant the plants into pots or cell packs and grow at 70 degrees by day and 60 degrees at night. Suspend fluorescent lights 8 inches above the plants as soon as they emerge to provide 13 hours of light each day. Include a single incandescent bulb to expand the light spectrum.

A small greenhouse with automated heat can produce excellent transplants. If you have problems providing the required light and temperatures, purchase good plants prior to transplanting into the garden. The disadvantage of purchased plants is that variety selection is limited.

The following pepper types and varieties have done well along the Front Range.

Bells: Predi (large, elongated), Figaro(blocky), Jingle Bells (little), Islander (purple)

Bells, tapered: Ori (green), Fry King (yellow)

Cayenne: Super Cayenne

Cherry: Sweet Cherry, Hot Cherry

Chili: Super Chili (red), Hot Portugal (green),Paper Dragon (yellow)

Jalapeno: Jalapa

Ornamental: Candle Light

Because you’re producing large fruit on relatively small plants, peppers and eggplants must have good growing conditions to produce abundantly. To compensate, make sure they receive full sunlight and are planted in the best part of the garden.

If you do a soil test, make sure you follow its recommendation. If not, apply 10 cubic feet of organic matter, 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of garden. Work these amendments into the soil prior to setting out the transplants.

Cover the soil with black plastic mulch to suppress weeds, keep fruit off the ground and reduce surface evaporation, irrigation requirement and nutrient leaching. Hot caps can protect the transplants from wind and frost and advance the date of transplanting. Normally, hot caps are anchored in the soil, but you also can tape them to plastic mulch.

Arrange the plants 1 foot apart in the row, with rows 3 feet apart. This allows 3 square feet per plant.

Pests

You may encounter flea beetles soon after transplanting. If there are more than four per plant, spray with an insecticide registered for flea beetle control. A detailed list can be found atwww.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r604300611.html. To deter cutworms, you may want to place cylindrical paper collars around the stems of plants.

Phytophthora is the principal disease of peppers. It is soil-borne and especially severe where drainage is poor. If drainage is a problem, plant peppers on ridges so they don’t stand in water. Eggplants may contract Verticilium wilt that gradually will kill the plants. Planting eggplants on uninfected ground is the only practical means of control.

Blossoms set fruit best between 70 and 90 degrees, when there is sufficient soil moisture and the bees are active. Pollen production is curtailed when the night temperatures fall below 55 degrees, resulting in poor fruit set.

Varieties

Eggplant fruit comes in a variety of shapes and colors that have little to do with the flavor or quality of the fruit. The traditional eggplant fruit is purple to black and bulbshaped. It measures 7 inches tall, 3 inches across the top, and 4 inches across the bottom (Figure 1). Colors range from black to pink to white, and shapes range from elongated sausages to eggs.

Eggplants grow well in Colorado. Check your favorite seed catalog for interesting and novel varieties. ‘Easter Egg’ produces a white egg-shaped fruit, ‘Black Beauty’ produces the traditional fruit, and ‘Oriental Express’ produces an elongated sausage-shaped fruit.

Peppers may be classified as sweet or hot, or by color. Most peppers either are green or yellow when immature. When they reach their maximum size, they usually turn red, similar to a tomato (to which they are related). Because the Colorado growing season is short, peppers generally are harvested before they turn red, although small peppers generally produce a fair percentage of red fruit. All peppers, including ornamental peppers, are edible. However, be careful tasting peppers of unknown hotness.

Harvesting

It’s best to harvest with hand pruners to avoid damaging the plant. You can enhance production by harvesting often. When fruit reaches acceptable size, remove it from the plant. If maximum-size fruit is desired, remove all but one or two fruits so they will receive all the plant’s resources. Flavor or pungency is not influenced by maturity, so fruit may be harvested at any stage of maturity. If red peppers are desired, allow the earliest fruit to remain on the plant while harvesting subsequent fruit. Only the early-formed fruit of the large-fruited varieties has a chance to mature before frost.