The well-known sweet bell pepper hybrid Claudio is over 20 years old. This time is enough for many vegetable plants to be safely forgotten, but the spectacular large-fruited Claudio pepper, on the contrary, is becoming more and more in demand. This is not surprising.
Cuboid, sweet, thick-walled, reaching a very impressive size, this vegetable is not inferior in popularity to the latest varieties and hybrids. Let's learn more about the features of this culture, its preferences, advantages, disadvantages and prospects.
Pepper Claudio: Description
The famous hybrid of the Dutch selection is versatile and able to develop productively both in open ridges and in greenhouse conditions. A southerner by origin and preferences, Claudio pepper is included in the Russian state register of promising vegetable crops in the North Caucasus region andgrown in the south on an industrial scale. But gardeners in the Urals and Siberia are familiar with this crop firsthand and have long been harvesting impressive crops of pepper in greenhouses and greenhouses, despite the climatic conditions of temperate latitudes that are unsuitable for a heat-loving plant.
Positioned by producers as an early one, the Claudio hybrid is such when cultivated in warm southern regions, however, in the temperate zones of our country, its growing season is delayed due to quite natural reasons, and vegetable growers consider the variety as medium late. However, this fact does not affect the popularity of the culture.
Pepper Claudio F1 forms a powerful medium-sized semi-spreading bush, reaching a height of 0.7 to 1.2 m. The leaves are emerald green, bright and large. Despite a fairly strong trunk, the plant needs a garter, because under the weight of pouring fruits it can tilt or even fall.
Fruits
The hybrid form of Claudio won the hearts of gardeners with its magnificent tasty and beautiful fruits - drooping, correctly cuboid-elongated, formed by four chambers. When fully ripe, the color of the fruit is rich red, close to deep burgundy, at the stage of technical ripeness - emerald, in the process of ripening - dark green. Ripening fruits are characterized by uneven coloration - dark, almost black, irregularly shaped stripes on the red surface, which subsequently disappear.
Average fruit weight - 150-175 g, often theyreach 200-250 g, less often it is possible to obtain maximum fruits weighing up to 300-350 g, although, as a rule, one-dimensionality is characteristic of a hybrid.
The declared wall thickness of pepper is impressive - 6-8 mm, but, according to vegetable growers, it can reach 10-14 mm. The skin is glossy, dense and strong enough, but absolutely devoid of rigidity. Pepper Claudio F1 - fleshy, juicy, sweet with a slightly noticeable spicy bitterness, tasty, with an excellent aroma of true bell pepper.
Cultural Virtues
Typical qualities that distinguish Claudio pepper (reviews of vegetable growers confirm) from other varieties and hybrids are:
- Sufficiently high (and predictable!) productivity - depending on the growing area, from 300 to 450 centners are harvested from 1 hectare.
- The yield of quality commercial products is 95-97%.
- Heat resistant.
- Culture resilience.
- Opposition to traditional nightshade diseases - pepper mottle, potato virus, tobacco mosaic.
- Hybrid marketability, manifested in an almost perfect fruit shape.
- Successful ratio of taste of the fruit with yield and shape.
- Unpretentiousness in care - the indifference of the culture to the increased density of plantings, the regularity of fertilizing and watering.
Features of the variety
Up to 5-10 fruits are tied on one bush at the same time. At the end of flowering, after some time, the 2nd wave occurs, less generous - 2-5 pieces. The disadvantages of the hybrid include a low rate of transition from technical ripenessto biological, i.e., complete coloring of the fetus - bright red, characterizing the Claudio F1 pepper. Reviews of vegetable growers who have become adept at growing unanimously argue that the removal of an excessive small ovary, which does not have time to ripen, but draws the power of the plant towards itself, will help speed up the coloring. In addition, stepchildren, drying leaves should be regularly cut off, pinching the tops of the shoots by the end of July.
Growing
Pepper Claudio, like many other nightshade crops, is grown from seedlings in various containers, containers or pots.
Pepper seeds, previously rejected and pickled with any of the biostimulants, are planted in seedling boxes with light loose fertile soil in February or March (depending on the region). After seed germination and emergence of seedlings, it is necessary to organize additional lighting with any lamps up to 12 hours a day. Seedlings need additional lighting for 3-3.5 weeks, then, when the daylight hours increase, the containers are placed in a warm, bright place.
At the stage of 2-3 true leaves, the seedlings dive into separate pots. They should be planted in a permanent place when the soil warms up to 13-15 ° C. Landing pattern - 4040 cm, per 1 sq. meters place 3-4 bushes.
Planting Care
Despite the enviable unpretentiousness of this crop, high yields can only be achieved by correctly implementing the basic rules of agricultural technology, such as:
- Providing supports, tying up and obligatory removal of stepsons and leaves of the lower tiers.
- Formation of a bush in 2-3 stems: the first crown flower that appears is cut off, and after the appearance of a fork, a couple of the strongest shoots are selected, removing the rest.
- The optimum temperature for high-quality crop growth is 22-25°C, at the onset of the fruit coloring stage it is 25-27°C.
- Timely watering with warm water, loosening the soil under the bushes.
Feeding
Intensive crop development involves regular fertilization. Claudio is a sweet pepper, and its taste significantly depends on the frequency and quality of top dressing.
Usually, standard fertilizers are used for crops: a week after planting young bushes, nitrogen supplements are applied, during flowering, setting and formation - compounds of potassium, phosphorus, as well as calcium, manganese, zinc, iron. With the onset of the fruit weight gain period (in June-July), Claudio peppers are fed twice under the root with potassium and nitrogen preparations, and the foliage and ovaries are sprayed with solutions of trace elements - magnesium and calcium. In household plots, complex micro- and macro fertilizers are more often used, for example, "Plantafol", "Nutrivant", "Kristalon" and others.
Pepper Claudio F1 reviews
Analyzing the reviews left online by farmers and summer residents, the following can be noted:
- Excellent seed quality, high seed germination.
- Remarkable crop productivity - more than 2.5 kg of peppers from one bush.
- Claudio - sweet pepper,has excellent taste properties of fruits, which are characterized by fleshy walls, not rough skin, aromatic pulp, juicy, without pronounced bitterness and a pleasant traditional flavor of classic sweet bell pepper.
- A simple and proven technology for growing this hybrid.
- Predictable, very high crop yields.
- Excellent presentation.
Despite the emergence of new varieties of pepper, the army of connoisseurs of this famous hybrid is increasing every year. Unpretentious and responsive to care with bright he althy and tasty fruits, Claudio has become the most acceptable and convenient vegetable to grow for many.
