I Am In Love With Rocotos

[Eephus Man]

Its time we revived this thread. Some rotten bastard rated it two stars, so now I'm gonna make them look at it in the topic list again.

Also, I'd like to know where to find true turbo pube or super pube seed, for next year. Or, maybe...for the fall/winter.

I've got some new strains from Brazil that are supposed to do better in hot weather that I'm going to try this season. (Thanks Brito)

Also, this^.

How'd they do and where do I get seed?

 

[bamaboy1975]

Just bought some of these (red) and cannot wait to try them for the first time!!!!! They sound freakin awsome!!!!!

 

[synclinorium]

I'd also be curious to try some pubescens that tolerate hot weather a bit better... my Rocotos are setting pods right now, so hopefully I'll get a few out of them before summer hits. They're fun plants in any event; always amusing to see the looks on people's faces when you tell them the giant sprawling shrub in your backyard is a pepper.

 

[harry]

I'd also be curious to try some pubescens that tolerate hot weather a bit better... my Rocotos are setting pods right now, so hopefully I'll get a few out of them before summer hits. They're fun plants in any event; always amusing to see the looks on people's faces when you tell them the giant sprawling shrub in your backyard is a pepper.

Do you have anything in mind?

The C. Pubescens plant that performed the best throughout this season is my Locato-Not. I managed to grow two PI 387838 Locato plants to maturity to find the one not true to form. The pods are double the size and the plant managed to bloom through the warmer part of the season after being moved to full shade plus a brief window of direct sunlight in the morning. The plant grew fine through late winter to early spring in direct sunlight. It did not tolerate the more intense direct sunlight from late spring.

The PI 387838 Locato plant that was more true to form tolerated direct sunlight more than the mongrel offspring. The Not beat it to bloom in early spring though it was not a fair comparison. I learnt to beware of Nitrogen laden potting mix after observing the response of the plant to being potted up into it.

I have 4 young plants started from the Locato plant that was more true to form. Their parent has a reasonable number of pods on it at the moment that were the result of a second flush. It did go through a period in the season where it stopped blooming. Harvesting the pods spurred it into bloom for a second time. The next thing to see will be if I can repeat or improve on the performance of the Locato plants next season.

 

[synclinorium]

I noticed the same thing; the bloom time on a couple of my plants was heavily delayed, and the only thing I can think of is that the soil had too much nitrogen, in retrospect.

I don't have enough experience one way or another with pubescens to know much about the different strains. Fortunately, they don't seem to mind a bit of shade, which helps during the summer months. I had a couple Red Rocoto plants last year in total shade (on the north side of the house, they received *maybe* one hour of direct sun in the early morning) and they both still grew to 7+ feet in their first season.