Re: [CH] PEPPERS AND SHADE V8 #502
jim@wildpepper.com
Tue, 05 Mar 2002 08:56:27 -0500
Jumping in a little bit here again.
When observing chile growing in the Caribbean, Dave Anderson & I noticed
that the chiles that did much better were the ones that had shade. All
the seed beds were always shaded. At the research station in Bodles,
they had netting up to keep insects out which also provided some shade.
The differences in the plants were dramatic. One of my recommendations
to them was to plant their chile crop underneath their other tree
crops. There was a 7' tall bird pepper that Dave had his picture taken
with- it also had quite a bit of shade fro the overhead natural canopy.
I believe that in the 'natural' setting, these chiles would have shade
as well. We're talking near tropics here folks and that means DENSE
natural overhead canopy. Jamaica is a lush island. Birds don't also
normally sit on the ground to poop. This means that any droppigns that
contain seeds are already going to fall near shade.
As to the wilting as a defense mechanism. What causes the wilting is a
loss of water pressure within the plant (turgidity). With the collapse
of the vascular tissue (got to throw some big words in here so it sounds
like I know what I'm talking about ;-) the leaf drops. It's just like
the difference between a closed garden hose and an open one- open and
the hose is 'soft'. Closed, and the hose is rigid. Sounds like it
works on brains as well ;-)
-Jim C
Mild to Wild