The Big Bertha Hybrid Pepper IS something of an oddity with regard to the size of the bell shaped peppers it produces. This variety produces HUGE peppers for me. However, the peppers are LONG (like the "European" style of bell peppers) and as big around as most regular bell peppers. These are usually listed as elongated bell peppers in seed catalogs. Last year I had one that measured 9 inches in length--VERY LONG for a pepper. Anyway, to answer your questions: 1)What potting soil should i use? A: If you are planting this into the ground then any good garden soil is okay to use. You can add compost if you want, to add some nutrients to the soil. Use a LOW NITROGEN fertilizer if you fertilize. This will help to produce a good crop of peppers. HIGH nitrogen fertilizers will produce LOTS of foliage and few peppers. 2)How much water? A: The general consensus for most plants and gardens is that most plants do well receiving about 1-inch of rain per week. If you have to water due to a dry spell then water the plant very well and DEEPLY each time you water. This will produce a deeply rooted plant that will withstand drought much better. Watering lightly will produce roots near the surface of the soil that will be more prone to dryness and heat. 3)Does it need sun or shade? Zone 8. A: Full sun is best for peppers. Peppers love warm weather and should grow well for you in zone 8 as long as they get plenty of water. Hope this helps, Chris

Yes, it's a hybrid. It's a nice one, though. Big/long bell with thick walls. As far as keeping seed... You may (and probably will) lose some of the attributes of the pepper you pull your seed source from, but you might get something you like. If you got the room and you like the parent fruit it can't hurt to see if you can get something you can salvage out of the non-standard plants you'll grow out. I have a sweet chili i've grown out and crossed once just for kicks. The parent was a hybrid sweet chili that I crossed with a friend's romanian sweet pepper...basically for the hell of it. I'm growing both out to see if i've made any kind of improvement (or less than desirable addition to the gene pool) right now. No matter what, though, I enjoy the seeds I've harvested and grown out twice (before the cross experiment) and I know I've got a keeper that fits my personal taste.

dilbert Blossom drop/Blossom end rot affects ALL fruiting veggies, fruiting as defined that the seeds are in the part that you eat, Tomatoes, pepper, eggplant, squash, cukes, watermelon, beans, peas, etc. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant share about 98% of the same insects and diseases. They are also self fertile. Blossom end rot shows up a little different on peppers, than on tomatoes. Peppers like plant outs about 10 degrees warmer than tomatoes. You can't use Daconil on peppers after pod set (???) I dunno.. hth

I saw your peppers in the ground in the other video and they aren't nearly as huge as the monster pepper you have. I will have to try this. Thanks for the tutorial. Also should help me out a lot with watering. I have to water the potted plants everyday as soon as it hits April here, and later on will have to water twice a day!