Weird Manzano Growth Pattern

turbo

turbo

Just wondering if this was a normal growth pattern for manzanos or is mine just "special"
 
This guy was planted last March.  During the year his main stem only grew about 4" long, but his branches are pushing 12" long.  Its really odd to see a pepper plant thats amost two feed wide, but so short.  I'm not sure how I'm going to put him ouside this summer.  His leaves will probably be touching the ground if I dont carefully stake them up.  I almost want to try transplanting him into one of those upsideown hanging pots and see how he does.
 
I've read that manzano's arent self-polinating and need a special friend to get the job done.  I planted 6 seeds last year, but this is the only one that made it.  Part of me says "To the compost bin with him!", but the other side says "But he's so cute.  Just keep him as a pet plant"
 
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If the non-self pollinating part is true (?), it isn' too late to plant a companion. At the very least the new plant will send out flowers to do their duty.
 
AaronRiot said:
Top of the main stem that the arrow is pointing at looks snipped, did you top the plant at some point?
Click to expand...
 
Not snipped.  Two different times this last year the main stem grew an inch or two, then died back to that spot. 
 
I had one grow like that last year. Normal.
 
 
Nightshade said:
they are self pollinating
Click to expand...
 
I'm glad someone finally said it.
 
Yes, they are self pollinating. I have one in the basement under lights that is pumping out pods. It was the only pube in there flowering and there must be 7-8 small pods on the plant. But they don't cross pollinate with anything other than other pubes.
 
Totally normal for a number of different Rocotos/Manzanos. As Judy says, they often grow more like a vine. You can train them to grow on a trellis or a fence very easily. I have a plant that is maybe 6 feet wide and 3 feet tall. going to transplant to a fence this spring and train it to grow on the fence. 
 
You will not have problems getting pods of a single plant. There are no self-compatibility issue with C.pubescens that I know of.

They will only cross with other C.pubescens, plus C.eximium and C.cardenasii. And Rocopica (cross between eximium/cardenasii and pubescens)
 
Thanks for the info everyone.

Re, the way they grow.  Good to know this is normal.  The one I have seems like it would be easy to train up a trellis, but since I need to overwinter indoors, I'm hesitant to do this.  Though I could probably pot it in a 5-gallon ceramic pot, and put a small trellis in the pot, then each winter pull the whole thing indoors.  Might be a fun experiment.

Re, self-fertalization.  Also good to confirm that they do fine by themselves.  I remember reading once that they needed another plant in order to fertilize the flowers.  I thought I saw this on wikipedia, but going back I cant find a reference to this bit of misinformation anywhere. 
 
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