Re: [CH] More thoughts on C. pubescens fruit setting
Lynn Edwards (ledwards@crl.com)
Mon, 24 Aug 1998 21:07:14 -0700
Cameron Begg wrote about Rocotos taking months to set fruit:
> So what is different in the middle of August? I have been watching the
> plant very carefully for clues and have come up with a rather obvious
> answer. I noticed a brown hornet (one of the type that constructs hanging
> clay nests for it's young) very systematically foraging in the flowers;
> presumably for traces of nectar. Further studies revealed an irridescent
> green fly about 0.3" long doing the same thing. Any entomologists on the
> list?
I would suggest another possibility. Its not anything in the environment that
changes but simply the passage of time. This flower drop mode in Rocotos only
seems to occur during the first year of the plant's life. An overwintered
rocoto sets fruit very early the following year. El Niņo has put me six weeks
behind this year and all my first year rocotos are only now setting fruit, but
my four year old rocoto started setting fruit last May. I've harvested quite a
few both green and even ripe fruit from this plant already this year.
> And why doesn't the paint brush work? I try to do "it" carefully aided by a
> 10x magnifying glass, but maybe I don't have the touch. Maybe it takes a
> fuzzy little insect to implant the pollen grains.
I did nothing this year to set fruit on the 4 year old rocoto. In the past
I've done the paintbrush thing with limited results. When pollinating half the
plants and leaving the other half alone I speeded up fruit set in the
paintbrush group by only a week or two. After that fruit set was equal in both
groups.
Best regards,
Lynn Edwards
www.crl.com/~ledwards