Big Bertha Hybrid

Big Bertha Hybrid is a United States developed Capsicum annuum sweet bell pepper known for producing very large, blocky fruits. It is marketed as a giant stuffing type bell with emphasis on fruit size and thick walls rather than flavour novelty.

Plants typically reach about 61.0 to 76.5 centimetres in height. Pods are pendant and blocky, commonly around 15.0 to 18.0 centimetres long and 7.5 to 10.0 centimetres wide, ripening from green to bright red. Harvest is generally midseason, around 70 to 80 days after transplanting.

Fruit size is the defining characteristic, with many catalogues describing Big Bertha as producing some of the largest sweet bell peppers in home garden seed lines. Thick flesh makes it well suited to stuffing and roasting.

Big Bertha is a sweet bell pepper with no detectable pungency. A value of 0 SHU is used, consistent with sweet bell classification.

It is commonly listed as resistant to tobacco mosaic virus, which was a major selling point in early marketing. The name reflects marketing emphasis on fruit size rather than geographic or traditional identity, and it is clearly a commercial hybrid developed within the United States seed trade.