Are you asking about a pepper suitable for growing indoors under florescent lights it's entire life or just until outdoor growing time?

As a rule bells are the most difficult peppers for many to grow well.

Pretty much *any* other pepper does better for those who are 'bell pepper' challenged.

There are a world of sweet (and hot), very tasty peppers out there that aren't bells, but you have to try them for yourself and see not just how they grow for you, but how you like their culinary properties.

For example if you like stuffed peppers you likely aren't going to much care for sweet banana types (for that purpose anyway), but might love Giant Marconi.

The moral is if Bell types aren't working for you, just go look at a seed catalog and select any non bell that looks appealing and give it a try.

Yes these will stay indoors and grow under fluorescent lights. I'd like to use them chopped up in chili recipes or Spanish rice. Catalogs and seed packs don't seem to provide enough information to make good choices. Some descriptions are also "very optimistic" on the yields.

Wondering what other people grow for small mild pepper under low light conditions instead of the bell pepper?

Although I grow these outdoors, I've had "Sweet Pickle" set fruit under grow lights before I could plant them out for the season. I've also overwintered them, so maybe they would produce for you under enough light. They have a nice flavor and are prolific. Not big enough to stuff, but they're good fresh for salads, salsas, etc. I keep them in the freezer for winter when the cost of sweet peppers is ridiculously high.

Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down to Sweet Pickle

I think most folks who intend to grow veggies to harvest under lights indoors sooner or later relegate the floros to supplemental lighting and use HID lighting as the primary light source.

Frees you up to grow much more plant material indoors, at least in terms of light levels.

Without the HID lighting one ends up having to more or less wrap each plant with floros on top and the sides to get close to how they would perform under HID lighting.

Not to throw cold water on your plan, has anyone ever calculated the electricity costs for HID lighting, water, potting mix, etc. for growing a relatively few peppers indoors, vs what you would pay per pound at a local Farmer's Market for organically grown ones? Just curious.....

Raybo

I used to live in Wallingford, and from July 4 - Labor Day you should have enough sun to forgo the lights. But I'm with Raybo and when I lived there I grew what grew, which was not much - a couple cherry toms, a sweet pepper, succulents. If you want to spend 4.50/mo on fluor., maybe just to have something to do. HID lights at 10-12.00/mo, you gotta really want it. Fremont Farmer's market or a P-Patch is much better...

Dan

Not to throw cold water on your plan, has anyone ever calculated the electricity costs for HID lighting, water, potting mix, etc. for growing a relatively few peppers indoors

Yup, in terms of providing adequate lighting for plants over 6" tall it is more efficient than florescent. Also cheaper to replace a single bulb that covers a 5'x5' area too when you consider a floro setup would probably have one bulb every 6" on average. That would be 14 4' bulbs plus 7 ballasts/fixtures instead of one ballast/fixture/bulb. HID bulbs also maintain their output longer than floros. One would likely go through 3 sets of bulbs for floros before replacing one HID bulb.

Not arguing against using the sun, but for those who have to or simply wish to do it all indoors, HID is the way to go.

>>Not to throw cold water on your plan, has anyone ever calculated the electricity costs for HID lighting,

Exactly - not worth the bucks. Even the fluorescents I use are expensive. I grow mostly greens and have space for one 16-18 inch tall pepper plant. These indoor plants will produce smaller but more reliable fruits than their outdoor cousins. With our unreliable, rainy climate, I may get 3 medium sized bell peppers from 2 plants.

So if there's a mild, medium sized pepper that can take

noinwi
What sort of light were you using? Those sweet peppers may work OK. Thank you! For anyone else interested in these peppers Here are the specs. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/82180/

My light, which is set up for starting plants, is one my DH made for me years ago. It's a 18"X16" hood that used to be used with a vented metal halide lamp. DH was given the hood only, so he modified it to hold 8 compact fluorescent bulbs. I don't know how much power that would be using. I currently have 8 new 23W bulbs in it. It gets pretty warm under there, but as I raise it up for seedlings, I will also have a small fan blowing on them.
Like I said, I use this for starts, but one year I was late getting plants outside and my peppers started to set fruit.
I can't use window light right now as we have 3 cats and they hog the few windows that are in the apartment and get into everything "new", hence the chicken wire.
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