I planted seed I collected from fruit last season and had 100% strike rate within 7 days (using bottom heat). Now I've got heaps of rocotos - where am I going to put them all? Oh well, I'm sure I'll arrange something. I've also kept a couple of plants from last season on the go, so I'm looking forward to a better crop from them this year. Only got a dozen or so fruits per plant last year and found that they were erratic setting fruit and very late (still picking some fruit at the end on July - Southern hemisphere). I also have a few yellow rocoto seedings going along well. Oh well. I've just put up the poly tunnely, so this weekend will be time to start planting out some of the seedlings - isn't spring wonderful. Cheers Dale in the southernest bit of Oz -----Original Message----- From: Parkhurst, Scott Contractor <PARKHURS@LEAV-EMH1.ARMY.MIL> To: 'CH List' <chile-heads@globalgarden.com> Date: Wednesday, 29 September 1999 8:50 Subject: RE: [CH] will rocoto peppers grow in Missouri? > > >OK, I've yet to try a rocoto pepper, can't seem to find > >them fresh or dried anywhere around here. I may have to > >try growing them myself, but I'm wondering if it would > >be a losing battle to try to grow them in hot, humid St > >Louis, MO. Thanx for any help. > > Just down I-70, just across the state line, I couldn't find > rocotos anywhere and tried growing them this year. > I have 2 started in five gallon buckets, and 3 in the ground. > The buckets have not set any fruit, but 2 of the other 3 > have about a half dozen fruit set (total). They are all in > a spot that gets partial shade most of the day. They grow > slow, and from what I've seen/read/heard it is not uncommon > to not get fruit until the second year. I will be overwintering > the plant(s) that are in the best shape for next year. There > should be 3 - 4 weeks before the first frost, so I hope to get > a ripe pepper or two before then. > > FWIW, everything I had heard about rocoto seeds said they > can take 100+ days to germinate. My seeds (from AVRDC) > sprouted in about a week. > > Scott... (singing) domo arigato, Mr. Rocoto... KCK >