cold tolerance capsicum pubescens

M

MangoChilli

I keep hearing how C pubescens is the most cold tolerant capsicum species.  Just how tolerant is it?
 
We had a frost the other night where the temp went down to about -4C (~24 F), my C pubescens appears to be the hardest hit and has lost most of its leaves.  I have a few C annuum and C baccatum that were not burned too bad and a large C chinese that was hardly burned at all. 
 
Will the pubescens likely survive but just drop leaves?  Or have I been unlucky and happen to grow the one that is not very cold tolerant?
 
 
It's cold tolerant to the effect of still being able to fruit, ripen fruit, and grow in lower temps (mid 40s-60s). I've had rocoto plants survive a very light frost (30-32 degrees) before, and that was only early morning for a few hours. Anything beyond that would most likely kill the plant.

I harvested these rocoto on November 9th 2016. I'm in the NE US, with first chance of frost starting in late September. My plants grew these pods through a couple of light frosts, and with consistent lows in the 30s-40s, and highs in the 50s for October and November.

 
Thegreenchilemonster said:
It's cold tolerant to the effect of still being able to fruit, ripen fruit, and grow in lower temps (mid 40s-60s). I've had rocoto plants survive a very light frost (30-32 degrees) before, and that was only early morning for a few hours. Anything beyond that would most likely kill the plant.
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Bingo! We have a winner!
 
I saw this earlier but didn't know how to explain C. pubescens ability to prosper in lower temps due to its affinity for higher elevations/lower average ambient temps. All peppa plants croak due to extended temps below freezing because of ice forming in the cells but the actual temp can be slightly below 32 due to dissolved salts, sugars and enzymes.
 
Chinense die here in October/November, but annuums and baccatums don't, they tend to hold on longer. Last years Aji Omnicolor held onto some leaves way into February. I never intend to over winter or protect any pants here but most years something or another surprises me with it's resilience and in the end i think its the constantly cool(sub 10c/50f) daytime highs that kill them off rather than any hard cold. I'm growing a few Pubescens this year so it'll be interesting to see if they can take on the winter here.
 
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