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Best Manzano or Rocoto For Deep South Heat?

B

Bigoledude

[font="Arial""]The descriptions I read here of the Manzanos and Rocotos sound fabulous to me. A thick-walled, delicious, large, juicy pepper with some heat! And, I was gonna buy some seed for them. But, I read here that they are not too crazy about hot-n-humid. [/font]

[font="Arial""]It gets brutally hot and humid down here in SE Louisiana. [/font]

[font="Arial""]Is there a type that tolerates these cauldron conditions better than most? Any chance they'd survive our mild-(ish) winters outdoors?[/font]
 
Thats a real hard one to answer. I have growen a lot of diffrent Capsicum pubescens, but here in Germany.
I belive that you could also grow them good in Lousiana, I see a lot of people growing them in California , Floriada and Italy.
Maybe they now some special types that can handle the heat and the humid better, here all my Rocotos do not have any trouble with my climate

Greetings

Alexander
 
It seems like my [font=Arial"]Manzano prefers partial sun and thrives in 75*f weather. That's all I can add to the topic.[/font]
 
I've had an Orange Manzano growing in my basement since last October. The area where it's growing right now has daytime temps of around 80 and nighttime temps in the low 60s. I currently am giving it 14 hours of fluorescent light a day. This was my first attempt a dwc hydroponics and it's going very well so far.
From what I've read they really don't do well in high humidity areas and tend to like temps that are not real hot. I would think it would be a challenge for sure trying to grow one in your climate.







Good luck with your quest for a hot weather manzano and please keep us posted of your progress.
 
Hot and humid... I know all about that too! It's always fun and games trying to grow C. pubescens here. Last season though, I grew Rocoto Aji Largo and it surprisingly did alright. Compared to the other C. pubescens types I have grown in the past, it seems to be the most tolerant of hot-n-humid I have so far found. I even got to see some pods before it started dying on me! But then, I dunno, it could have been my imagination but it didn't seem as humid this year as it normally does...

Mild winters are great. You'll probably do much better growing your C. pubescens then. In fact, as long as you don't get frost, you shouldn't have any problems growing ANY species outdoors in winter. ;) Winters are mild here too and I've never lost a plant during winter.
 
What I can add is that they are absolutely worthless to me.

I've collected manzano and rocoto seeds from various produce stores, wild sources, and colleagues on THP... I've never got any of those damn things to germinate though! pfft!

They have nice fleshy fruit and a moderate sharp piquance if you can ever grow any. Good luck!
 
I'm still trying to figure pubes out.
1st I have never killed one in a SIP bucket. I have transferred them and they died later.
2nd I grew a huge Manzano in very hot (110+) weather using outdoor hydro without a chiller. No fruit set but no fruit is going to set in that kind of weather. I planted it in a large smart pot and it eventually died without setting fruit. All my plants start in Hydro and pubes love hydro. They grow faster than anything else.
3. light frosts have no impact on them.
4. While my monster hydro was only shaded from afternoon sun. I can see that generally heavy shade in july-august is important.

Based on the above I have the following hyptothesisssis
1. Use mulch. I think that pubes really need constant moisture and mulch is your best bet.
2. Rich soil. I think they can handle richer soil that regular chilis
3. foliar spray often.
4. If possible go hydro. <-actually I'm sure of this.
5. Shade. Probably more than you expect.
6. Begin germination earlier and plant out earlier.
I think a large SIP tub in the shade might be the best approach (except for hydro) but I haven't tried it yet.

Varieties: I am currently trying a couple of variaties and will keep the seeds of the best results but here are my recommendations:
1. Yellow Manzano. I don't know why but they were the only ones to give me fruits on my earlier attempts.
2. Turbo Pube. I have fruit growing right now. They grow fast and set fast. I had 100% germination on them also.
3. Cabe Gondol. This is a indonesian pube probably very heat tolerant. http://junglerain.com.au/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=152&category_id=26&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=82
 
HwyBill, I have to agree that they can be difficult to germinate. I only had 50% success with mine.
Frosty, I agree that they seem to do very well in hydro. I have only grown the one I have now and have suffered some setbacks but it is pumping out the pods now. I think it requires ideal conditions for pod set. Now if they will just get ripe.
 
How 'bout if I grow the pubes and you grow the Datils (which I can't get off the ground for the life of me), and we'll send each other pods by mail?
 
Well i am in the dirty south and the 2 manzano plants i have are loving the weather right now full of blooms and pods are coming on ill take some pictures later today !
 
HwyBill said:
What I can add is that they are absolutely worthless to me.

I've collected manzano and rocoto seeds from various produce stores, wild sources, and colleagues on THP... I've never got any of those damn things to germinate though! pfft!

They have nice fleshy fruit and a moderate sharp piquance if you can ever grow any. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I had the same issue last year, but this year I got a pod from a local friend and the seeds had like 100% germ rate. I don't know what happened.
 
I don't know the answer to that one, Ray...But you might want to know that I'm trying my hand at C. pubescens for the first time this year: Cabe Gendot, from Indonesia. Apparently they only grow well in the higher elevations there, as you would expect...

Right now I've got 4 seedlings growing under lights in a spare bedroom. Once they're potted up my plan is to keep them in containers outside as long as it stays under about 80&ordm;F. When it's gets real hot I'll bring them back in the house...

I'll be sure to keep you posted on their progress.
 
I know a preacher who works in the mountains of Mexico. They grow perfectly up there and, he loves them. He's tried many times to grow them at his home in Texas. They never produce and hardly ever survive very long. If I ever found any that would make it down here, I'd certainly gift him with some. He's a good dude.
 
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