glog Scottish 2025 "Outdoor" Capsicum pubescens trial

Hi Guy's

A quick update.............

I'd expected my Rocoto Long to be the first to flower to date I've found it the earliest.............


But no ! The Rocoto CAP 867 has pipped it to the post ! could prove to be an interesting Rocoto season

The beauty of the Rocoto flower never fails to impress and please

Hi Guy's

I like to keep notes and record Information as I've found in the past the mind can play tricks on you !

Example: one trout season I was asked what was my "best" trout fly ? the fly that had caught the most fish through the season...........

I replied to the question with the name of the fly that was responsible

Returning home I went through my fly fishing notes as I recorded every trout and what fly caught, on a plastic waterproof slate that season.........to my shock ! it was a very humble and completely different fly that had taken the most fish !

The fly I'd originally named had been responsible for a couple of very memorable days but no were near as deadly as I'd remembered........ lesson learned record Information it may or may not come in handy later on but if you don't record it you can't refer to it at a later date.

In this vain the notion came apon me today to record the number of "fully" formed (Y's) on each plant and any other information that might be important in the future.

25.04.25 Number of Fully Formed Forks or "Y's" on each Rocoto

CAP 363 2 litre soil x 3
CAP 363 5 litre soil x 1
Long 5 litre kratky x 6 - plus buds about to open
Montufar 5 litre kratky x 6
Montufar 10 litre soil x 4
Cap 867 10 litre soil x 6 - plus two open flower's
Peron 5 litre soil x 7
Peron 5 litre kratky x 7

To date I have found the Rocoto Long from sea spring seeds to be the earliest to flower and the best to ripen outside in a Scottish summer.

I'm surprised the cap 867 has two open flower's already !

I'm amazed that the Rocoto Peron has the most "Y"'s as their probably the shortest and most compact.

What's does this all mean ?? Who knows but at least I have the Info to look back on.

On a side note the first green fly of the season were found today on my smallest Rocoto cap 363 and quickly dispatched ! There was a tiny spider on the plant too he remains unharmed I checked every plant no other's seen time to mix up some neem oil spray ...........

Hi Guy's

Scotland has been blessed with good weather lately little rain bright sun a blue sky's or blue sky's with sparse clouds. Temperatures have been day time highs of 14oC / 57 oF and a day when we hit 25 oC / 77oF and night lows of 8 oC / 46 oF to 11oC / 51 oF

Been putting my Rocotos out in the sun and bringing them in to the greenhouse at night..............


Rocoto Long reliable as always but this season in kratky hydroponics for the first time.


Oh those Rocoto flowers


Ended up potting up one of my Rocoto Montufar today to 18- 20 litre pot


Flower's about to open on the Montufar


Rocoto CAP 867 also Potted up today


The original first couple of flower's fell off but plenty more coming along I'm pretty sure I lost the first flower's as temping the greenhouse got pretty high ! One of the reasons I've started putting them outside during the day.


Rocoto Peron again in kratky hydroponics lots of buds !


The Rocoto Peron flower's seem the darkest purple I've seen so far in a Rocoto


Rocoto CAP 363 so far a bit of a disappointment.... both i have seem way behind the other's in this year trial but we shall see.......?

@Englander looking good! How is pollinator activity in your area this time of the year? It's still on the lower side here, so any open flowers have to be hand pollinated.

We have plenty of big fat round bumble bees not seen any on the Chillies but I've an oriental shrubs covered in small orange flowers must be ten different species of bumble bees on it ! I've seen a few big hover flies in the green house lately at first glance they look like honey bees but are not.

I shall be isolating a branch here and there on my chillies I'm planning to save seeds from a bit later in the season

Englander said:

I shall be isolating a branch here and there on my chillies I'm planning to save seeds from a bit later in the season

Click to expand...

Same here!

Hi Guy's

First outdoor Rocoto of 2025 trial..................

To my surprise Rocoto Montufar PI 585273 my Rocoto Long looked like podding up first but didn't possibly damaged by wind of bloody Jackdaws

Either way I now have two different Rocoto Montufar with pods one in a 20 litre pot the other in 5 litre kratky hydroponics.



Our weeks of dry sunshine have gone ! We have had high winds and heavy rain showers over the last week or so everything is soaking !

I was worried my outdoor kratky Rocotos would drown to water ingress via the net pot ........but no signs at all

Englander said:

Hi Guy's

First outdoor Rocoto of 2025 trial..................

To my surprise Rocoto Montufar PI 585273 my Rocoto Long looked like podding up first but didn't possibly damaged by wind of bloody Jackdaws

Either way I now have two different Rocoto Montufar with pods one in a 20 litre pot the other in 5 litre kratky hydroponics.

Our weeks of dry sunshine have gone ! We have had high winds and heavy rain showers over the last week or so everything is soaking !

I was worried my outdoor kratky Rocotos would drown to water ingress via the net pot ........but no signs at all

Click to expand...

Looks good @Englander ! How did CAP 867 make out so far? I remember it was flowering a few weeks ago, did the flowers end up aborting?

So far CAP 867 and Peron and even Rocoto Long are all flowering like crazy ! But no pods yet !

It will be to see how all the rain and sun effect my Rocotos..........

Hi Guy's

The last few weeks we have had temps drop night lows of 7 oC/ 44.4 oF and daytime highs of 14 oC / 57 oF to 62 oF heavy on off rain showers and m8xed with bright sun then cloud sun then clouds and so on !

I was extremely worried that this seasons outdoor pubescens Kratky hydroponics would drown ! but the plant's foliage seems to be enough to stop water ingress via the expanded clay pebbles

This brings me nicely onto soil vs kratky hydroponics and capsicum pubescens grown outdoors in Scotland in this case...... obviously this is my first season trying it but already I can say two things...

Firstly my Kratky pubescens in 5 litre containers are smaller and more compact than my pubescens in 10 litre or 20 litre soil pots !

My Kratky hydroponic pubescens have been the first to produce fruit !

How this is probably due to root space, larger hydroponic containers would almost certainly produce bigger plants and later fruit production so it's kind of comparing apples with pears and this must be taken into account.

Currently a Rocoto Montufar in 10 litre pot of soil is the only soil Rocoto in fruit my Rocoto CAP 867 in 20 litre pot of soil is beautiful but not fruiting yet once the roots fill the pot I'm expecting good things ( I've only one )

My Rocotos CAP 363 both in soil 5 litres and 10 litres have been a big disappointment they are ment to do well in "cooler "climates but do far I'm not impressed ! But then that's the whole point of a trial

My only Rocoto Long in a 5 litre kratky hydroponic container a seaspring seeds variety ( Dorset Naga lady) and I believe a selection of Rocoto largo currently my favourite and earliest fruiting Rocoto.

Rocoto Long flower you just have to love Rocoto flowers the prettiest of all chilli peppers

My first Rocoto Long fruit of the season deep in the very dense plant covered in flower's

Rocoto Montufar in 5 litre kratky hydroponic container much more open than my Rocoto Long, I also have two in soil.

Rocoto Montufar flower

My first Rocoto Montufar fruit

My Kratky hydroponic Rocoto Peron in 5 litre container I also have one on 10 litres of soil a dense plant similar to my Rocoto Long. According to Peter Merle at Semilas the Peron is one of the hottest Rocotos available to the hobbyist

Rocoto Peron darkest of my Rocoto flowers particularly dark before they open

My Rocoto Peron seed came from Fatalii seeds the phenotype on their website was very "Round" almost tomato like which I thought was kind of cool given usual Rocoto did shapes and so far the phenotype is spot on

My only Rocoto CAP 867 in 20 litre pot of soil flowers but no pods yet but I've still high hope's a vigorous plant but not yet filled the pot with roots then pods will follow

In future in seriously considering growing all my outdoor Capsicum pubescens in kratky hydroponic method but experimenting with container size.........

I "may" up grade my Rocoto Long to 20 litre kratky as it's a known.....but I plan to leave them Peron and Montufar in 5 litre containers simply to help force fruit to ripen and try

@Englander looking great! I don't think I've ever seen multiple fruit per node on a pubescens before-that Rocoto Long must be a beast!