The Ag school I attend turned out to be a fairly large player in the datil growing biz. We combined with the St Johns University of Florida Ag Extension office to formulate probably one of the most comprehensive Datil studies to date. Our production was close to 3000 plants--from seed germination to market......one of the most interesting things that came out was how far peppers have to be in distance for cross polination not to occur. minimum it turns out to be is 300 feet even if in a contained grenhouse. Our trinidads were farther than that but somehow crossed w our datils to grow some datils with the characteristic scorpian stinger present...pondering whether to register it as a SKIDATIL....Second big observation is that aphids come quickly and they r tough to eradicate.We tried to go the organic way following the best management practices in pesticides by administering neam oil....then we did the lady bugs..ultimately we had to use melathion. Conclusion was to not to mess with the organics. Lastly and , to me, probably the most interesting was that we found datils will grow @ 30% larger under a 40 % shade cloth. Not sure why because peppers -especially the hot ones have always been grown in full tropical sun. Anyone having any questions regarding the datil feel free to message me.
Ed
staugiehotpeppers.com
Ed
staugiehotpeppers.com