Can You Grow a Paprika Plant in Your Living Room?

[Monique]

My garlic started to sprout, so I just decided to plant it.. it is growing some really nice roots and a stem already I just wonder whether it will grow into something nice or will just look (and smell) terrible in the living room?

Actually what I wanted to ask: can you grow a paprika plant from the seeds of a paprika (bell pepper)? I saw a paprika plant standing at a local Turkish store that made me wonder.. I guess I'll have to wait for my bell peppers to start sprouting

 

[Astronuc]

Paprika is considered a http://www.chili-pepper-plants.com/html/mild_peppers.html .

Pepper types- http://www.chili-pepper-plants.com/html/chili_peppers.html

Growing peppers - http://www.chili-pepper-plants.com/html/growing_peppers.html
One should be able to grow peppers from seeds. My next door neighbor collects seeds from his plants and plants them in the subsequent year. I need to get some habanero seeds from him.

I just planted 6 bell pepper, 6 jalapeño, and 6 cayenne pepper plants. I seem to remember using bell pepper seeds in the past, so I believe it works.


Paprika - http://www.soupsong.com/fpaprika.html

http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/paprika.html

 

[DocToxyn]

At our local garlic festival the purveyors would sell seed garlic for growing your own, it was just single cloves that were then planted and sprouted. These were always hardneck varieties of garlic, which are more commonly grown in the northeast and are different than the softneck varities typically found in most supermarkets. The hardnecks, to me produce a superior garlic, with better flavor and shelf-life. You can tell if you have a hardneck by examining the top of the bulb, if there is a very tough woody stalk coming up out of the middle of the bulb, its a hardneck. Softnecks, if they sprout for you, will probably not produce a scape (flowerstalk) and the associated "flower" (bubils - really just modified bulbs). The garlic should grow indoors just as it does in your garden, although I'm not sure how much light they like, I think quite a bit. Its not a particularly pretty plant, but since it is a member of the lily family it will produce tall slender leaves and hopefully a bulb you can harvest later in the year.

 

[Monique]

Paprika is considered a http://www.chili-pepper-plants.com/html/mild_peppers.html .

I don't think so, according to dictionary.com the synonyms are: sweet pepper, bell pepper, pimento, pimiento, sweet pepper plant, Capsicum annuum grossum. In Europe the name is paprika, also evident from a google image search (did we misname it?).

What I am wondering is whether the seeds in bell peppers are actually fertile and whether sticking them in the ground will result in a plant, do they need special treatment at all? You seem to have managed with the seeds, so I'll give it a try next time I have a bell pepper around

I'm also already growing a sunflower in the window.. I am planning to plant its seeds all over the city and wait until they start growing

 

[Monique]

You can tell if you have a hardneck by examining the top of the bulb, if there is a very tough woody stalk coming up out of the middle of the bulb, its a hardneck.

Yes, I think it is a hardneck :)

 

[Evo]

I have wild garlic and onions growing everywhere, I can't get rid of it. Smells great if you like garlic, but next to the roses...

I also can't get rid of the nightshade that's taking over.

 

[DocToxyn]

I have wild garlic and onions growing everywhere, I can't get rid of it. Smells great if you like garlic, but next to the roses...

I also can't get rid of the nightshade that's taking over.

Do you use any of the wild plants in your cooking? Some of the wild or heritage varieties can be much more flavorful that store bought.

My only suggestion for the nightshade (short of herbicide) is to pull the vines before they drop their fruit/seeds. You will have to keep up with this for several years as the seeds that are already there can remain viable for quite a few seasons.

 

[BicycleTree]

I don't understand why some people don't like the smell of garlic.

 

[Moonbear]

Hey, maybe that's what that plant is growing up the trunk of my half-dead lilac tree. I never really looked up any pictures of nightshade before, and never bothered to identify it because the flowers and berries are pretty enough that I didn't care if it was a weed or a cultivated plant (it's taken long enough to start figuring out what I'm supposed to pull out of the flower garden and what I want to stay). But now that I'm looking at the pictures of the climbing variety, I think that's what it is. Hey, cool, I'm all set for that terrorist attack of nerve gas that Homeland Security wants us to worry about...as long as it happens while the berries are ripe. (Any idea how many berries would be required for the recommended antidote dose of atropine? )

 

[hitssquad]

I have wild garlic and onions growing everywhere, I can't get rid of it. Smells great if you like garlic, but next to the roses...

However, roses love garlic.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I also can't get rid of the nightshade that's taking over.

I've heard of nightshade, but I don't know if I've ever actually seen any of it. What comes to mind, actually, is having read the phrase deadly nightshade. Is this some kind of poisonous plant? You say it's taking over, which sounds like a vine. Is this growing wild there, or did a domestic patch go ferral?

 

[Monique]

I've heard of nightshade

Potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and what not belong to the nightshade family as you know the flowers of potatoes are poisenous.

 

[Monique]

Do you use any of the wild plants in your cooking? Some of the wild or heritage varieties can be much more flavorful that store bought.

I'd be careful, even if you are able to correctly identify the plant, the wild variety can be poisonous (as in the case of parsley).

 

[zoobyshoe]

Potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and what not belong to the nightshade family as you know the flowers of potatoes are poisenous.

I did not know any of this.

 

[Evo]

I've heard of nightshade, but I don't know if I've ever actually seen any of it. What comes to mind, actually, is having read the phrase deadly nightshade. Is this some kind of poisonous plant? You say it's taking over, which sounds like a vine. Is this growing wild there, or did a domestic patch go ferral?

Deadly nightdshade is belladona, ring a bell now?

The variety I have is the less potent (yet toxic) hairy nightshade, it grows wild and is nearly impossible to get rid of. The berries look just like little green tomatoes. Tomatoes (and potatoes) are in the same family Solanaceae. I believe this is one of the reasons that people were afraid to eat tomatoes in the past.

edit - Monique beat me to it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Deadly nightdshade is belladona, ring a bell now?

Belladona, "beautiful woman", was so named because women believed it made them more attractive to put drops of it in their eyes. It dilated their pupils. However, that's all I know. Could be I pass a deadly nightshade plant everyday without recognising it.

The variety I have is the less potent (yet toxic) hairy nightshade, it grows wild and is nearly impossible to get rid of. The berries look just like little green tomatoes. Tomatoes (and potatoes) are in the same family Solanaceae. I believe this is one of the reasons that people were afraid to eat tomatoes in the past.

Hairy nightshade!

I read somewhere the tomato thing came from a general fear of eating anything red. Red frequently indicates poison. Ask DocToxyn's frog.

 

[Evo]

Belladona, "beautiful woman", was so named because women believed it made them more attractive to put drops of it in their eyes. It dilated their pupils. However, that's all I know. Could be I pass a deadly nightshade plant everyday without recognising it.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Atropbe.htm

I read somewhere the tomato thing came from a general fear of eating anything red. Red frequently indicates poison. Ask DocToxyn's frog.

"The mistaken idea that tomatoes were poisonous probably arose because the plant belongs to the Nightshade family, of which some species are truly poisonous. The strong, unpleasant odor of the leaves and stems also contributed to the idea that the fruits were unfit for food." http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/vegetabletravelers/tomato.html

 

[zoobyshoe]

But the prohibition against eating anything red (if it's unknown to you) also exists:

"But as a general rule of thumb, plants with a bitter taste, funny smell, milky sap, or red seeds or berries may be poisonous."

Address:http://www.chw.edu.au/parents/factsheets/poisonous_p

I've seen this "Don't eat anything red" extended to fish, if you're adrift at sea, and shellfish, if you're stranded on a deserted island.

This folksy rule-of-thumb strikes me as the kind of myth that would take hold of people's imagination more easily than a scientific classification. Although. basically all you have to do is get the rumor started and it gets passed on.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I have wild garlic and onions growing everywhere, I can't get rid of it. Smells great if you like garlic, but next to the roses...

My sister tells me that where she lives up in Santa Barbara there are many wild tobacco plants. These are not the same ones that are made into smoking products because they reek of a strong, sickeningly powerful perfume smell. I thought that was odd. I think it would be worse than garlic. But I don't know how strongly the living garlic plant smells

 

[zoobyshoe]

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Atropbe.htm

The plant with the berry in the bottom picture looks familiar. I may have seen that. The other pictures with the flowers don't seem familiar. It's the sort of plain kind of flower that wouldn't get my attention. There are flowers around here so spectacular that you get jaded to subtle ones.

 

[Moonbear]

The plant with the berry in the bottom picture looks familiar. I may have seen that. The other pictures with the flowers don't seem familiar. It's the sort of plain kind of flower that wouldn't get my attention. There are flowers around here so spectacular that you get jaded to subtle ones.

The one with the little purple flowers is the one in my backyard...I think. It's been raining all day, so I won't be running right out to check.

 

[Andre]

Monique,

Your paprika would do nicely if taken care of properly-provided that the Dutch weather would continue to be nice like the last years. The seeds are usually fertile enough and the plants are strong. Unfortunately it's a little late in the season. You should start indoors in March. I'm not sure if I'd bother. The plants are not that attractive and the paprika fruits in Holland are among the best and cheapest in the world.

Garlic is a different story. My experience is not positive. Usually a disease kicks in. My personal favorite would be cherry tomatoes. Very rewarding if you have a garden to the south and some big size pots on the patio would be a perfect place. In a good year the daily harvest is overwelming for several months. If you're serious spend a few euro on F1 Hybrids. That would last for years as you need only some ten seeds every year.