A few quick questions if you all don't mind. I've included photos at the bottom:
1) Royal Black: Pictures I've seen of this plant show it to be essentially black. I have two of these growing. One is almost a foot tall, the other a bit shorter, but both are green. Do they require a lot of sunlight to display the black color? My Pimente de Neyde is in a similar location, but it is the normal blackish color. Or do I have a not-Royal Black?
2) White Devil's Tongue (WDT): Are these particularly difficult to germinate? I germinated seeds for over 90 varieties this year and had few problems, except for the WDT and a couple of Rocotos, which I will address below. For the WDT, I tried seeds from pods I'd acquired last year and zero out of 15 popped. I then ordered seeds for them from a very reputable vendor on this site and so far I am zero out of ten. I am soaking my last eight seeds now to try one last time (vendor seeds). Does this variety require anything special for germination? For what it's worth, I have Red Devil's Tongue growing and it popped, no problem. Also, I tried both starter mix and Rapid Rooters to no avail.
3) Rocotos: Also giving me difficulties are Red Rocoto (RR) and Giant Mexican Rocoto (GMR). I had seeds from a forum member for RR, and got seeds for both from another reputable vendor on this site (different source than the WDT above, though). Not only have the germ rates been poor, but what seedlings I have managed to get seem very weak and are incredibly slow growing. For the RR, I got two seedlings out of 15 seeds. For the GMR, I just recently got two hooks out of about 15 seeds (three germination attempts with five seeds each time). Again, I tried both starter mix and Rapid Rooters. Zero activity in the starter mix. What germination I got was only with Rapid Rooters.
The Royal Black plant is the one in the middle of the pic:
For reference, Pimente de Neyde:
This is my oldest Red Rocoto. This came from seed I got from a forum member. It was sowed 10/14/12. So were all the other plants surrounding it.
Here is the most recent RR seedling, sowed 12/9/12. Most of the seedlings around it were sowed 12/19!
Finally, the GMR. These were sowed 12/19/12 and started to pop about four days ago. They have changed very little in four days. Some change, but not very much.
If anyone has any helpful thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated!
1) Royal Black: Pictures I've seen of this plant show it to be essentially black. I have two of these growing. One is almost a foot tall, the other a bit shorter, but both are green. Do they require a lot of sunlight to display the black color? My Pimente de Neyde is in a similar location, but it is the normal blackish color. Or do I have a not-Royal Black?
2) White Devil's Tongue (WDT): Are these particularly difficult to germinate? I germinated seeds for over 90 varieties this year and had few problems, except for the WDT and a couple of Rocotos, which I will address below. For the WDT, I tried seeds from pods I'd acquired last year and zero out of 15 popped. I then ordered seeds for them from a very reputable vendor on this site and so far I am zero out of ten. I am soaking my last eight seeds now to try one last time (vendor seeds). Does this variety require anything special for germination? For what it's worth, I have Red Devil's Tongue growing and it popped, no problem. Also, I tried both starter mix and Rapid Rooters to no avail.
3) Rocotos: Also giving me difficulties are Red Rocoto (RR) and Giant Mexican Rocoto (GMR). I had seeds from a forum member for RR, and got seeds for both from another reputable vendor on this site (different source than the WDT above, though). Not only have the germ rates been poor, but what seedlings I have managed to get seem very weak and are incredibly slow growing. For the RR, I got two seedlings out of 15 seeds. For the GMR, I just recently got two hooks out of about 15 seeds (three germination attempts with five seeds each time). Again, I tried both starter mix and Rapid Rooters. Zero activity in the starter mix. What germination I got was only with Rapid Rooters.
The Royal Black plant is the one in the middle of the pic:
For reference, Pimente de Neyde:
This is my oldest Red Rocoto. This came from seed I got from a forum member. It was sowed 10/14/12. So were all the other plants surrounding it.
Here is the most recent RR seedling, sowed 12/9/12. Most of the seedlings around it were sowed 12/19!
Finally, the GMR. These were sowed 12/19/12 and started to pop about four days ago. They have changed very little in four days. Some change, but not very much.
If anyone has any helpful thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated!
