Larimer County Vegetable Trials

Top-performing Varieties:

After evaluating two years of data, Hybrid New Girl was the earliest maturing and had the highest fruit yield in the field trials.  Blind taste tests were utilized to determine what varieties had the best flavor. Hybrid New Girl was rated as having the best flavor for 2019 and 2021.  

Purpose of the study:

Tomatoes are one of the most popular garden vegetables. One question often asked is “what tomato varieties do best in northern Colorado?” To answer this question, members of the CSU Extension Master Gardener program in Larimer County, in cooperation with the CSU Specialty Crops program, conducted a trial with 12 tomato varieties in 2019 and 2021.

Top-performing Varieties:

Hybrid Patio Choice Yellow stood out as an early, high-yielding, large cherry size variety whose compact plant habit cascaded over the container.  

Descriptive text

Purpose

There has been an explosion of interest in the growing of fresh vegetables by homeowners around the country. Many of these homeowners have extremely limited space and are looking for varieties to fill that confined space.

Small-fruited tomato (i.e., cherry, pear, grape)varieties are popular, but the vast majority have alarger, sprawling plant habit that may not work for small spaces. To address this issue, the LarimerCounty Master Gardeners conducted a three-variety evaluation trial. The varieties in the trial have a more compact habit and are commercially available.

2022 Pepper Trials Results

Purpose of the study

There has been an explosion of interest in backyard production of fresh vegetables around the country. Sweet peppers are a favorite to grow on the Colorado Front Range, though selection of varieties is challenged by the relatively short growing and harvest season. Members of the Colorado State University Extension Master Gardener program in Larimer County, in cooperation with the CSU Specialty Crops program, conducted a trial with 15 sweet pepper varieties.

Materials and Methods

Hybrid and open-pollinated pepper varieties known to be early to early mid-season in maturity were selected. Twelve varieties were sweet bell peppers and three were “lunchbox” type. Peppers were grown in the greenhouse and transplanted on June 8, 2022 at the CSU ARDEC-South (Fort Collins, Colo.) research farm. The plants were planted into ground beds covered with black plastic and irrigated with drip irrigation. It was a replicated and randomized trial.

Three plants from each replication were harvested with the weight and number of fruits recorded. Harvesting began when fruit began to show a blush of color. There were three harvests during the growing season – the final harvest removed all fruit from plants. Heat and rabbit damage affected the pepper plants, so theoretical yields were used for each variety. Sixteen participants took part in a pepper taste test whereby varieties were scored 1 (worst) to 5 (best) for fruit sweetness, texture, and overall flavor.

Fast Facts

• Sweet peppers are a favorite of backyard gardeners, but the Colorado Front Range short growing season limits varieties that can be grown successfully.
• There were 15 pepper varieties in the research trial.
• Peppers were evaluated for flavor and yield.

Results & Comments

The variety 'Purple Beauty' was the earliest variety, though taste was lacking (it scored the lowest by tasting participants). Both 'Olympus' and 'Ace' had yielded the greatest number of fruits. For those wanting to grow a stuffing pepper, 'Olympus' had the greatest percentage of 4-lobed fruit. The largest fruit size was 'King Arthur', which yielded fruits averaging one-half pound each. Of the “lunchbox” varieties, 'Just Sweet' stood out by its high yield, great flavor, and larger fruit size. Though 'Cajun Belle' is sold as a sweet pepper, it does have a spicy heat. All pepper plants were less than 24" tall and 24" wide. Overall, these trial results offer the home gardener valuable information to help determine what varieties to grow in northern Colorado.