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yield Rocotos - Pots or Beds
- Thread starter hadanero
- Start date
My humble opinion: pots. From my limited experience and also my understanding from reading and talking with more experienced growers, I don't think I'd attempt to grow Rocotos in-ground unless I lived in an area that was similar to where they are often farmed, i.e. 1) frost free, and 2) had a good portion of the year that had cooler night temps. For example, a Sacramento, California climate. Otherwise, your ideal daytime growing/flowering/fruiting temps for Rocotos are going to be in the spring and fall, when nighttime temps put the plants at the risk of frost exposure, therefore wiping them out. Also, in the summer, they have to be protected from direct sunlight and high temps when it goes over 95 degrees, so moving them to a shaded area and giving them morning sun only is necessary. Then when it gets cooler, it's best to have them back in direct sunlight again when the peppers are ripening.
Here's your weather by month in Lancaster. Forgive the messy lines, they were drawn with the mouse.
The times circled in green are going to be the best for fruit set. If you try for spring fruit set in ground, you could end up with frost. If you get fruit set in the fall, keep in mind that it can take about 8 weeks from when the first fruit sets until it ripens, so fruit that sets in September starts ripening in November. You'll definitely have to shuffle them to protect from November night temps.
I know that it probably seems like it'll be a lot of trouble but it wasn't too bad, and definitely worth it. The front of my garage faces generally south and gets full sun, so it's nice and warm in the front. Not sure if you have a similar microclimate readily available when it's cooler. I went to Harbor Freight, got a dolly and built a cart for me to roll them in and out of the garage on in future years. Definitely cage them (vs. staking) to reduce the diameter of the footprint for each of them, they'll get very wide (my de Sedas were easily 5 feet wide), which will help save room and make it less of a headache to shuffle them. Last perk: my final Rocoto harvest was around December 21st. Having fresh, home-grown peppers of any kind on Christmas is a blessing. I say pots, for sure.
Edited to add: I was going back through old notes a few months ago and saw that I had tried to grow Rocotos back in the mid-2000's, and just noted that they failed. IIRC they were planted in ground and died when it got hot and in full sun.
Here's your weather by month in Lancaster. Forgive the messy lines, they were drawn with the mouse.
The times circled in green are going to be the best for fruit set. If you try for spring fruit set in ground, you could end up with frost. If you get fruit set in the fall, keep in mind that it can take about 8 weeks from when the first fruit sets until it ripens, so fruit that sets in September starts ripening in November. You'll definitely have to shuffle them to protect from November night temps.
I know that it probably seems like it'll be a lot of trouble but it wasn't too bad, and definitely worth it. The front of my garage faces generally south and gets full sun, so it's nice and warm in the front. Not sure if you have a similar microclimate readily available when it's cooler. I went to Harbor Freight, got a dolly and built a cart for me to roll them in and out of the garage on in future years. Definitely cage them (vs. staking) to reduce the diameter of the footprint for each of them, they'll get very wide (my de Sedas were easily 5 feet wide), which will help save room and make it less of a headache to shuffle them. Last perk: my final Rocoto harvest was around December 21st. Having fresh, home-grown peppers of any kind on Christmas is a blessing. I say pots, for sure.
Edited to add: I was going back through old notes a few months ago and saw that I had tried to grow Rocotos back in the mid-2000's, and just noted that they failed. IIRC they were planted in ground and died when it got hot and in full sun.
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This is helpful! I see you used 7-gal bags - I was considering something around 5-gal, but I'm guessing it's a trade off on yield.
I agree with @NJChilehead. I will be growing some Rocotos next season & plan on overwintering them, so it's a 5 gallon bucket for them.
I used 7-gallon grow bags and 6-gallon pots. The 7-gallon grow bags slightly outperformed the 6-gallon pots for 2 of the 3 types. From talking with more experienced growers like @CaneDog, it sounds like they generally will do better in larger containers, especially the types with larger fruit. I think one of the keys for grow bags is to have a saucer underneath so that the waterings and soluble fertilizers are re-absorbed, and the soil doesn't get hydrophobic, as sometimes happens in grow bags. It certainly is a trade-off, as larger root ball=larger, healthier plants, but more of a pain in the neck to move.
This year I'm using 10-gallon grow bags for my overwintered Rocotos, and also for my Giant Red Arequipa. All the others will go in 7-gallon grow bags or 6-gallon pots for convenience.
CaneDog
eXtreme
Hey, hadanero. Good feedback already above. I've grown in everything from solo cups to in the ground. The more root room you give them, the the longer they'll likely take to produce and you have to consider whether they'll set fruit in time before the dog days of summer and whether fruit that sets in fall will ripen before it's too cold. They biggest plants I've had were grown in a raised bed and some produced pods massively (in fall), but getting ripe fruit was more challenging.
As a starting place, I'd suggest containers in the 3 - 7 gallon range for assessing how they respond to your climate/environment. I'd lean toward the 7g, as I'd wouldn't expect too much of a slow-down versus smaller containers and that would likely give you your best production. If you can step the young plants up to an interim-sized container while they're still inside, you can give them a head start on rooting out the final container thus a head start on the season. Nothing wrong with throwing one of them into a raised bed though and seeing how they compare.
Good luck with them!
As a starting place, I'd suggest containers in the 3 - 7 gallon range for assessing how they respond to your climate/environment. I'd lean toward the 7g, as I'd wouldn't expect too much of a slow-down versus smaller containers and that would likely give you your best production. If you can step the young plants up to an interim-sized container while they're still inside, you can give them a head start on rooting out the final container thus a head start on the season. Nothing wrong with throwing one of them into a raised bed though and seeing how they compare.
Good luck with them!
This is a great point too @hadanero ! If you have extra plants and space, it would be a neat experiment to do a comparison between the two. There are ways to protect against frost, and shade cloth is there for when it's hot. Maybe you'll get some interesting results and figure out a way to successfully grow them in-ground in our zone!