Re: [CH] Best cold tolerant Chillies
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Thu, 29 Apr 1999 13:54:02 -0700
In my experience, nearly all C. baccatum cultivars are more tolerant of
both cool/cold weather above freezing and also frost itself than any
annuum/frutescens/chinense cultivar.
Most C. baccatum cultivars also recover better in Spring than any of the
other five domesticated chile species from prolonged winter temperatures at
or no more than 1-2 degrees below freezing.
As long as no actual frost is involved, C. pubescens seems to be the most
tolerant of all domesticated chiles to cool/cold temperatures; they'll
flower and produce fruits all winter if no frost. As I get more experience
with C. pubescens, I keep dropping my estimate of their preferred ambient
temperature, and this is where I'm at now: I believe 40 F. for most of the
night is cold enough to interfere with flowering, above 80 F. for several
hours a day is too hot, inbetween 40 and 80 is fine, and best is a constant
temperature of 50-60 'round the clock. But even a light frost seems to
kill leaves and flowers of C. pubescens. And prolonged temps between, say,
32-35, even though never actually down to freezing, seem to sometimes be
too much for C. pubescens. I suppose a big factor is size and general
health/vigor of the plants involved.
Latitude may be relevant to how C. pubescens performs at any given ambient
temperature (but I don't know -- all my experience has been at a single
latitude).
--- Brent