Today we are going to talk about a kind of peppers with great nutritional properties and with many health benefits. Is about italian pepper. It belongs to the Solanaceae family and has been cultivated in Spain since the XNUMXth century. It has great beneficial properties for the body and can be incorporated into any diet.
We are going to tell you all the properties of the Italian pepper and we are going to show you what you need to grow it.
Key features
This peppers has an elongated and quite fine shape. It has a dark green color. The plant from which it grows can oscillate between heights of 60 centimeters and 2 meters. In summer these plants are more vigorous so the pepper also develops much better. It prefers temperatures above 25 degrees to develop to the maximum.
Among the nutritional composition of these peppers we have high amounts of vitamin A, C and E, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and few carbohydrates. This is what makes this pepper perfect for any type of diet, even if it is a low calorie one. The caloric intake they have is just 20 calories per 100 grams. Its percentage of water exceeds 90% as it happens with almost all lettuces.
The advantage of these peppers is that they can be consumed both raw and cooked, although it is advisable to eat them fresh and raw to take advantage of all the properties without the nutritional degradation generated by heat.
Italian pepper cultivation
When we are going to grow this pepper or we have to choose a planting frame based on the size of the plant. This depends on the commercial variety that we are going to grow. There are some plants that reach greater volume and others less. It is common to use in agriculture the planting frame in greenhouses of one meter between lines and 0.5 meters between plants. With this space we can optimize the terrain without each of the plants damaging each other. It is also common to have crop lines paired with distances between them of 0.80 meters and leave corridors with a space of 1.2 meters. This is done in order to favor the work avoiding damage to the crop.
In open air they can fit up to 60.000 plants per hectare. One of the most frequent practices that improves the condition of this greenhouse crop is formation pruning. With this pruning, the plants grow in a more vigorous and airy balanced way. This way we ensure that the fruits are not hidden among the foliage and at the same time are protected from the sun. This pruning is delimited depending on the number of stems with which the plant develops. In necessary cases, a cleaning of the leaves and shoots is also carried out so that it can develop better.
A technique widely used in the cultivation of Italian pepper is hilling. It is a technique that consists of covering part of the trunk of the plant with earth or sand in order to strengthen its base and develop the root part. It also helps prevent burns that occur when the soil is quite sandy and heats up too quickly.
Tutored the cultivation of Italian peppers
Tutoring is necessary and essential in order to keep the plant upright. The stems of the pepper or are split very easily. In addition, if we have planted the Italian pepper in greenhouses, we will have a more tender plant that reaches greater height. For this reason, it is essential to use tutored to facilitate cultivation tasks and increase ventilation.
There are several types of tutoring:
- Traditional tutor: It is a technique that consists of placing polypropylene threads or sticks at the ends of the growing lines vertically. This causes them to bond together like other horizontal threads. In this way it is possible to support both the vertical and horizontal parts.
- Dutch Tutor: in this case, each of the stems is attached to the grating with a vertical thread. These threads join each other and vary with the plant as it grows. This variant requires a greater investment of labor compared to traditional tutored, but it supposes an improvement in the aeration of the plant. This will make the final production can be a little better is and is done with the other tutored and it is easier to control diseases and pests.
Throughout the cultivation of the pepper or Italian it will be necessary to eliminate the inner stems to favor the development of the selected stems that we have carried out in the formation pruning. We must bear in mind that if we have carried out the formation pruning, it is to select those stems that are more productive and that, therefore, will give more fruit. This technique of removing the inner stems not selected by the formation nickname is called flashing. It should not be too severe so that there are no vegetative stops or burns on the fruit if they are exposed directly to light.
Beneficial properties of Italian pepper
As we have mentioned before, this pepper has beneficial health properties, which is why its frequent consumption in any type of diet is recommended. Among the benefits that we highlight we find:
- It is a vegetable that improves the formation of collagen, teeth and nails.
- Helps to improve sight and the health of the mucous membranes of the body.
- Its frequent consumption in a diet helps to improve the immune system.
- For those people who need to lose fat, this pepper promotes the improvement of the nervous system and helps burn fat.
- As it is high in vitamin E, it prevents cancer and fights free radicals in the body. In this way we manage to stop the cellular aging process.
As you can see, the Italian pepper is a good option to grow in our urban garden and begin to introduce our diet frequently. I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Italian pepper.
