problem with one type of pepper

I was just wondering if their is some kind of difference in growing hot peppers and sweet peppers.I grow jalapenos, cow horn and pablanos but I cant grow a bell pepper to save my life. I even had two banana peppers that did pretty well even though they got a little to much shade. Am i missing something?

I don't have any useful advice, but I have the same problem. Jalepenos and little hot "Filius Blue" peppers and hot yellow wax peppers grow sort-of ok for me, sweet peppers of all kinds just don't seem to thrive and rarely flower or fruit.

The larger the fruit, the more sunlight has to be captured to produce it. So huge fruits like bell peppers require lots more energy capture and minerals from the soil than small fruits like jalapeños, banana peppers, or chilies. The larger the fruit, the more time is required with suitable growing conditions for it to mature. In my climate, I only grow small fruited peppers because it is too cold and the growing season is too short. I don't even attempt to grow bell peppers any more. I grow plenty of sweet peppers, but only small fruited kinds.

Thank you for the replies and I am glad to see its not just me. I think i'll try one more time come spring and make sure to position them for maximum sun and if that doesn't work then its on to something new

Joseph, what small fruit SWEET peppers did you start with?
When ordering by the heat scale, I have ended up with several tasteless banana pepper types.

In my experience sweet peppers want a long season, heat, nutrients and well drained soil. The year that I got the best yield I planted them in a raised lasagna bed that had six straw bales for the sides. In it I put cardboard at the bottom, the contents of my rolling compost bin, chicken bedding and commercially bought compost from a friend's operation (very black rich sandy stuff) and no soil at all! I have never had so many sweet red peppers. I wish I had thought to take photos.

I have never grown them from seed, I get them from folks with greenhouses. Here in Rhode Island our season isn't quite long enough.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Joseph, what small fruit SWEET peppers did you start with?

I planted seeds from the grocery store... And from the local farm stands... And a landrace grex from Face Of The Earth... And commercial seeds from many varieties... And NoID seeds sent to me by collaborators.... And seeds from swaps.... I pretty much only have yellow peppers left that turn red when ripening. They might be banana pepper shape, or jalapeño shape, or larger cone shaped. The only bell pepper left is purple podded. I was just looking at them today. The bells might not survive this fall's seed selection.

I have the opposite problem and built a hot box to grow hot peppers. The bell variety do just fine. Perhaps that is the problem then, perhaps your zone is simply too warm for bell peppers to flourish.

Read more of the replies. How interesting! I found the info about sunlight requirements interesting too. My bells are literally covered by other plants right now. Filtered sunlight at best. I have about 8 on 1 plant so far. Best ever yield. I did use straight manure compost for my soil though.

Yes im thinking it may be a little of both, bell peppers in my garden that got near full sun slowly shriveled and died but i have one left that gets shade in the afternoon and its pretty big but hasnt produced so next year im going to try afternoon shade and richer soil because like i said before i have some banana peppers that get to much shade and are small but still manage to put out a couple of good size peppers. Its just so dang hot here we have just had our first break from 104 to 110 heat indexes in 80 percent humidity