Question about Manzanos

[HwyBill]

Here is what I know about them:

- I'd never heard of them before
- I know they are a more rare and seperate spp., C. pubescens, then most of the more well known chiles
- I saw them in an ethnic grocery store and they were very expensive, but I snapped a few up so I could repurpose the seeds for planting

I seeded the pods, dried the seeds thoroughly, and planted. So far I haven't had any germinate.

But I read a post somewhere on this board that implied they are very difficult to grow/bring to fruition. This could explain their rarity/expensive price in the supermarket.

Can anyone give any further advice/information?

 

[hot stuff]

When I germinated mine, 1. you have to let the seeds go dormant. Let them dry and put them in the refriderator for a couple of weeks. Then soak them for 24 hrs. I germinated my in a damp paper towel in a zip lock bag in the cabinet over my stove. Took a couple of weeks. A fair many sprouted.

 

[Aji hombre]

I popped the seeds from a pod I bought at the store and germed them right away. They didn't take any longer than other peppers, and so far they are growing at a faster rate than all of my other peppers, but that's not saying much. I'm growing at conditions that most others here would balk at for peppers--outdoors, full sun, night-time temps in the forties). The manzano seedlings seem to deal with the strong sun and temperature fluctuations better than even C. annuum.

 

[Tecolote]

I got some seeds from some pods i got at a farmers market let them dry for a few months and just threw them in a pot in late June last year. They started coming up around middle and late august, and some in september. I have about 7 of them and none of the flowers have turned into pods, I've kinda written them off.

 

[willard3]

Manzanos are in every Mejican mercado I have been in, they are a primary culinary chile.

They are easy to grow and prolific. Germination is similar to other chiles.. They will make a large plant.

 

[bigt]

I had one a few years back and it was a great plant. Lasted about 4 years - brought it inside to over-winter. It did require hand pollination to set pods though. Decent heat, but not a lot of flavor IMO. Big fat round pods, meaty. Would probably be a great pepper to use in a slow cooker/crock pot meal.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

But I read a post somewhere on this board that implied they are very difficult to grow/bring to fruition. This could explain their rarity/expensive price in the supermarket.

Can anyone give any further advice/information?

They're easy to germinate, no more difficult than chinense, pubescens, frutescens, or annuums. The hard part is that they don't do well in hot weather, they take a really long time to fruit and ripen, and they don't usually produce much the first year. So they're difficult for those of us who have freezing temperatures in the winter and then 100F summers. They're great if you can grow year around and have a fairly mild climate like in San Diego, which of course in German means "whale vagina."

I had two pubescent varieties last year that germinated quickly and grew like gangbusters. They got to about 4' x 4' by the end of spring, but once the heat wave started they just shut down, even when I moved them to shade they wouldn't do anything. They set a few pods early on but wouldn't set any in the heat. In the fall once it cooled they started to set some more pods but those were too late. Honestly it's easier to grow lemons and kumquats here in Indiana than it is pubescens, my lemon tree produced about 8 lemons this year and my kumquat about 25-30 kumquats. I overwintered one of each variety though, so hopefully they'll do better the second year. I started a couple more varieties too, they are really great peppers and are worth the hassle. I always buy the orange manzanos when I go to the Mexican grocery store. I seeded them and have some orange manzano seedlings growing right now. I'll try some hand pollination like bigt mentioned, hopefully that will help.