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Rocoto

Hey all. Was thinking of trying to grow some rocoto peppers but have yet to try. Any tips tricks or otherwise? I assume any info would apply to manzanos as well. Thanks in advance!
 
Right, I'm not overly concerned about when they will be ready. I live in Cleveland so the grow time is kinda short anyway. Just gonna give it a go and maybe by next summer they might give me a couple peppers
 
I have an overwintered rocoto that has been giving me ripe fruit the past 2 months and is just now starting to flower. I didn't get 1 ripe pepper in 2017 at all nothing until 2018. They are really sloooooooooow..........................Here are a few peppers from early March
 

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Rocotos are worth it. I agree you need to start them early, I'm in zone 3 and start all my chiles on March 1.
 
If you have the room, overwinter like Savina sed. The lions share of my grow this year is Rocoto.
 
I have about a dozen varieties (rocoto and manzano) growing in my basement that are waiting to go outside. Started seeds in February and the tallest one is about 10". Lots of flowers already too. Thegreenchilemonster gave away a bunch recently. Had 2 Rocoto Aji Largo that produced a fair amount of pods last season. Made 2 gallons of fermented mash. Tasty stuff.... 
 
I have 2 plants which I grew from seeds last year begun in March of last year- they've grown well and Are beginning to flower. Last year it seemed dedicated to growing and surviving the strangulation of the pumpkin invader until the fall, when freed of the pumpkin it begin to flourish. It did extremely well in our usual 50-68 winter weather and didn't seem phased by a couple cold spells.

Since I live in SF we aren't gifted by an enormous amount of sun but the advice I recieved from my family in Peru is that they need sombra( shade) I have noticed that the leaves tend to wilt when we have our brief hot spells of 75-90 but as they only last a week usually, the plant doesn't seem affected. Mine gets about 4 hours of direct sun when we have it and its roots are shielded by herb plants to protect them( more advice from friends)

Make sure you have room for a trellis.. My plants are roughly 6' overall and 8' in a few spots. They formed a bush for the first 3 feet and are madly overtaking a 5' wide trellis.

Good luck and whether it's completely accurate or not, make sure to shield their feet and if you can, provide some shade.. Even if it's another plant according to my aunt
 
I try to grow them in the Kansas heat. It doesn't work very well. I start mine in November, and keep them in mostly partial shade. If I'm lucky and it isn't too hot, I might get some ripe pods in September or October.
 
I grew a Brown Rocoto and an Aji Oro last year thanks to thegreenchilemonster. I have a row of the garden that is all shade the second part of summer. I put them in that row and the Aji Oro produced a bunch. I only got two Brown Rocotos. Here are the Aji Oro.
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So I agree on them needing shade. But that was my first year with Pubescens, so I only have that one tip...and I didn't overwinter them. The Brown Rocoto would probably do better this year.
 
Bhuter said:
I grew a Brown Rocoto and an Aji Oro last year thanks to thegreenchilemonster. I have a row of the garden that is all shade the second part of summer. I put them in that row and the Aji Oro produced a bunch. I only got two Brown Rocotos. Here are the Aji Oro.
26Sh1hd.jpg


So I agree on them needing shade. But that was my first year with Pubescens, so I only have that one tip...and I didn't overwinter them. The Brown Rocoto would probably do better this year.
If you have multiples of the same variety try some in containers. You should notice marked improvements in maturity times over plants in the ground. Two or three weeks sooner is not uncommon. Those are the extra two weeks us zone 5 folks are begging for in October.
 
Pr0digal_son said:
If you have multiples of the same variety try some in containers. You should notice marked improvements in maturity times over plants in the ground. Two or three weeks sooner is not uncommon. Those are the extra two weeks us zone 5 folks are begging for in October.
No kidding? That's great to know! I don't have much full-season container-growing experience, but I could fit some buckets out there. Plenty of shade. I'm not growing any Pubes this year, but that sounds like a game plan for next year. Thank you!
 
Bhuter said:
No kidding? That's great to know! I don't have much full-season container-growing experience, but I could fit some buckets out there. Plenty of shade. I'm not growing any Pubes this year, but that sounds like a game plan for next year. Thank you!
Try out the fabric pots that's what I'm doing so at least you will know if it fails or works!

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