Show Us Your Pubes! Group GLOG From The Rocoto Giveaway

I am starting this thread for folks who received some Pubescens seeds from me through the Pubescens giveaway. I figured it would be fun to see everyone's progress, plus have a general place to share any pics, growing techniques, and general Pubescens knowledge. I wish everyone great success in their gardens this year.

Even if you didn't receive seeds from me, and want to contribute info about your Pubescens plants this year, please feel free to share.

 

[NJChilehead]

Still growing! Still not setting fruit because of the heat! Agh! The coming week will have some temps in the mid-80s with lows around 65, maybe I'll get some mercy fruit. I have a feeling these guys are going to go gangbusters when late summer approches and it cools down for good. They look beautiful though. From left to right: Ecuadorian Red Pepper from Hell, Rocoto Turbo, Rocoto de Seda.

 

[CaneDog]

Man, those are looking great! They must be loving the soil mix and leg room in those containers. I still have the majority of mine in small containers and need to get them potted up asap.

 

[NJChilehead]

Just wanted to keep everyone updated. The dog days are here, it is HOT, and the heat is expected to stick around for quite some time. My rocotos in the pots are continuing to grow strong branches, lush leaves, throw off plenty of flowers, and then promptly drop them. Not one single fruit off of these plants. The rocotos in the grow bags are not really growing much, flowering little, and kind of holding in a steady state. I wanted to ask @CaneDog @Pepper-Guru and other experienced rocoto growers: is there any way that these plants will become shocked by the long term heat and stop producing flowers, or be set back in some way by either the root ball maxing out its size or by the plant setting so many flowers but no fruit? My hope was to have these plants really big and strong in late August-early Sept when we start getting cooler weather, and then getting a nice big bumper crop. Does this plan still sound plausible?

The potted rocotos: from L to R Ecuador Red Pepper FH, Rocoto Turbo, Rocoto de Seda.

Poor pic of the grow bag rocotos. I couldn't get the pic at a better angle this time. These were in mostly full sun for a while as an experiment, but I'm now putting them under 30% shade cloth. The heat has really been bad and there's more to come. I don't want to lose them.

 

[CaneDog]

Looks like they're doing great! I expect they'll keep flowering and growing, but may not set significantly until later in the season. I'm sure they like that you're getting them some shade. Those guys are going to be big plants by fall. Hopefully bumper crops!

 

[NJChilehead]

Looks like they're doing great! I expect they'll keep flowering and growing, but may not set significantly until later in the season. I'm sure they like that you're getting them some shade. Those guys are going to be big plants by fall. Hopefully bumper crops!

Thanks! I'm holding my breath a little here because we're supposed to get 3 days over 95 degrees F (with one day possibly up around 101 or 102). I'm planning on continuing to keep the potted ones in the shade and the grow bag plants under shade cloth, but those temps are still higher than anything they've experienced so far. You think they'll be okay, or should I bring them inside during the hottest part of the day? I don't have the lighting set up so they'll be in the dark for that time, but at least they won't cook in the heat. What do you think?

 

[CaneDog]

They should be fine how you're handling it. I try to keep plastic containers (especially darker ones) out of the direct sun when it's super hot because it can cook on the roots, but you have your plastic pots in the shade and the cloth won't cook like plastic can. We just went though a few days of mid-90's here and mine are happily chugging along.

 

[NJChilehead]

Thanks!

 

[NJChilehead]

Hot as hell here, close to 101. I put a tarp over the rocotos in the grow bags, they're not looking too happy with the heat.

 

[NJChilehead]

At long last! We had an unusually cold spell here (lows down to 52-53 degrees F at night, daytime highs around 75 degrees F). I went out this morning and there were 4-5 pods set on the Ecuadorian Red Pepper from Hell. Nothing looked certain on the other plants but I'm paying attention to the Turbo with interest. The plants are huge! I'll have to take pics of the plants next time. In the meantime, here are some pics of the newly set fruit:

 

[CaneDog]

Nice!

 

[NJChilehead]

Edited to add: I just went outside and checked, and all three rocoto types have successfully set fruit! Tomorrow is supposed to be HOT here, 96 degrees F with 70 degrees F overnight, and then the temps plunge again later this week, high 70's during the day and low-mid 50's at night. I hope the fruit that successfully set don't drop off in the heat, and hopefully the setting resumes next week when the temps drop again. In the meantime, here are the pics of the rocotos. The grow bags on the left are 7 gallon, the pots on the right are 5 gallon. I also included a pic of the praying mantis (who we've named Elvis because he acts like the King) that took up residence on one of my turbos.

 

[CaneDog]

Your rocotos are looking solid. Great that they've all set fruit now. Also cool to see the mantis. We're outside their range here, so they're only seen on rare occasions when someone has put out egg cases.

 

[Englander]

Hi from Sunny Scotland

Last year I did a capsicum pubescens trial outside in my garden idea being to find a variety that would ripen outside here in Scotland.........

Only one of the 6 or 7 varieties I tried with succeeded the Rocoto long from seaspring seeds (Dorset Naga people) it's very very similar to Aji Largo and I included that in my trial too however the Rocoto long won
This year it the only only I'm growing......however the weather has been particularly poor this year and they are well behind.

This year I've one in a cage (normally I use cane frame) and the other I've kind of let go native in the added protection of my log store due to the poor spring/summer .

I've fell in love with the variety/ family of chillies it's colours, texture, even its sprawling growth habits, although definitely recommend a cage or frame with loaded with there heavy fruit ! particularly love the texture, flavour and heat

Took a few pics yesterday for my mate ..............

Rocoto long thriving in the shelter of my logs store

Fruit this season is "way" behind last season they were twice the size and im pretty sure I'd even had a few ripe pod's !

This variety is now firmly on my Favourite list now I find it very enjoyable to grow

And whilst "very" similar to Aji Largo not the same possibly they are a selection from the original variety.

 

[CaneDog]

Your rocoto looks good! - even if it is behind normal. It's been a slow year for rocotos here as well. My outside plants are smaller than to be expected and pod set has been limited. I do have a small Aji Largo growing inside that just started flowering, though

 

[NJChilehead]

Hi from Sunny Scotland

Last year I did a capsicum pubescens trial outside in my garden idea being to find a variety that would ripen outside here in Scotland.........

Only one of the 6 or 7 varieties I tried with succeeded the Rocoto long from seaspring seeds (Dorset Naga people) it's very very similar to Aji Largo and I included that in my trial too however the Rocoto long won
This year it the only only I'm growing......however the weather has been particularly poor this year and they are well behind.

This year I've one in a cage (normally I use cane frame) and the other I've kind of let go native in the added protection of my log store due to the poor spring/summer .

I've fell in love with the variety/ family of chillies it's colours, texture, even its sprawling growth habits, although definitely recommend a cage or frame with loaded with there heavy fruit ! particularly love the texture, flavour and heat

Took a few pics yesterday for my mate ..............

Rocoto long thriving in the shelter of my logs store

Fruit this season is "way" behind last season they were twice the size and im pretty sure I'd even had a few ripe pod's !

This variety is now firmly on my Favourite list now I find it very enjoyable to grow

And whilst "very" similar to Aji Largo not the same possibly they are a selection from the original variety.

Looks beautiful! I was gifted some seeds for the Aji Largo from a generous member here, and that is a chile that I am really looking forward to growing. Best of luck with it and keep us posted-I can't wait to see some ripe pods from that beauty you have there.

 

[Englander]

Hi Guy's

My Rocoto Long care still surviving outside here in Scotland however by this time last year they had produced ripe fruit obviously a consequence of this season's poor temperature and light levels.

I've only two plants this season both Rocoto long one allowed to naturally sprawl in a large pot and the second in a smaller pot in a cage I'm a big fan of the cage over bamboo frame in used before.

My "caged" Rocoto long

I noticed this season both my Rocotos are considerably smaller than the ones in my 2023 Rocoto trial specimens.

Many pod's now have a "blush" on them hopefully I'll get ripe pod's soon night temps have fallen as low as 3oC but mostly been 7oC to 10oC
They do not seem to mind the lower temperatures so far..........i may be able to squeeze them into the greenhouse before it's gets frosty.

How are your guys Rocotos doing at present ?

What are your night time temperatures doing ?

Are you going to over winter ?

I've not over wintered Rocotos before but given there very slow nature now I've found a variety that suit's my growing situation I'm planning on over wintering

 

[NJChilehead]

@Englander your plant looks beautiful-I'm envious! I have to update my impromptu GLOG that I made a few weeks ago, but so far the Rocotos are doing very well. We have some low temps coming in that are concerning me (about 4 degrees C/40 degrees F) and I'm not sure if that's too close to the frost level that I need to worry about. I might bring them in that night or cover them with some sheets. I just ordered a row cover to cover them with, expected delivery is Thursday so we'll see how it goes with them in the future. What are your thoughts (and others' thoughts) on those temps? I've read that Rocotos actually shake off light frost but freeze kills them, not sure if that's true or not.

I am planning on overwintering at least one of mine, maybe two. It really depends on which ones my family and I like the most and how many of them we really like.

Great idea you have with the cage-next year I need to get with the program and cage mine. My Ecuadorian Red Pepper from Hell got so unruly that I had to put it in an Adirondack chair.