[CH] Re: Pubescent in the Andes [v8 #738]
Love2Troll (Love2Troll@kc.rr.com)
Mon, 26 Jan 2004 13:04:44 -0600
>Does this contradict my impression that they will not set
>fruit so well when being fed N fertilizer?
Cameron,
Yes. I first got the idea from reading the Jean Andrews book "Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums" (page 56) More on that in a future post.
Just yesterday I spent time on the USDA site trying to make sense of why some of my 25+ different C. pubs did so well as first year plants and others did so poorly. I'm growing ones from Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica & Bolivia. They were collected in the wild from elevations differing by thousands of feet. Presumably soil, humidity & temperatures varied quite a bit too, but I don't know for a fact.
One example of an accession that blossomed & set pods profusely in greatly varying temperatures is PI 387838. (Bolivia) 6 accessions that I'm growing have yet to give up a single ripe pod since their seed start on 15 Feb 2003 & 5 of them were from Guatemala. (had hoped for the 'insanity pepper')
I'm guessing that this time next year we will have a lot more comparisons to make. I've sent saved seeds to 7 countries so far and hopefully the recipients will share what their results were.
Disclaimer: I'm not a pepper expert, will never be one & don't even try to pretend that I am. Sure do love growing & eating them though.
Hot regards,
JohnT
----- Original Message -----
From: Cameron Begg
To: chile-heads@globalgarden.com
Cc: love2troll@kc.rr.com
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 11:17 AM
Subject: Pubescent in the Andes [v8 #738]
Hi C-H's,
JohnT wrote:
>Only want to add a few comments and observations. First off, I
>think they like a lot more fertilizer than I had previously thought.
Does this contradict my impression that they will not set fruit so
well when being fed N fertilizer?
>Secondly, there are a couple varieties that I know will set pods
>well with daytime temps in the low 90s.
Not mine. The flowers or tiny pods wither off at those temperatures.
>The light requirement issue is a little confusing. My C. pubs for
>the most part get from 6-8 hours of direct sun per day. Would they
>do better with more light? I don't know.
We know that they are cultivated in the tropics.
>Truth is, I'm thinking about very lightly shading mine with tulle
>next summer & adding misters to keep the temps down. Some of my
>plants were in a heavily shaded area of my woods and did quite well.
True. I have also grown them successfully in the shade. It must be
that heat is the real problem and that they will still do well in
less than ideal lighting conditions. There must be a lot of dull,
steamy, misty wet days up there in the Andes.
>So far I haven't had pod set with indoor plants under fluorescent or
>in a south window in the wintertime.
I can do so no problem if I remember to pollinate them with a paintbrush.
>Am thinking about hanging some HPS & MH fixtures in the next few
>days and see what happens.
Let us know. Do you have some other "control" plants that you won't light?
>I made quite a few rocoto clones in late winter 2002 and although
>they rooted easily, the resulting plants were very disappointing.
>They lacked the vigor of the parent plants and didn't come close to
>ones started from seed collected from the same parents.
Interesting.
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Regards, Cameron.