Best yields occur when temperatures range between 65 and 80 o F during fruit setting. Some of the small-fruited pungent peppers are more tolerant to high temperature fruit set problems than bell type peppers. The expected yield of bell and other fresh market peppers in Oklahoma under good management is 350 to 400 30-pound cartons per acre. Sites and Soils A well-drained, sandy loam soil is ideal for pepper production. Other soil types can be used satisfactorily.
Site selection can be important if early yield is desired.
For early production the site should have a sandy soil and southern exposure causing the soil to warm quickly in the spring. The site selected should not have been cropped to pepper, tomato, eggplant, or potato during the previous two seasons to avoid diseases. Bells are sweet peppers which are grown primarily for fresh market. Their shape is blocky with 3 to 4 lobes and thick flesh. Most are green when immature and red when ripe.