Last edited on February 03, 2024. View history
Manzano Pepper
A variety of capsicum
How to sow manzano pepper: Direct seed indoors, transplant seedlings outside after hardening off
Sun requirement for manzano pepper: Plant in Full Sun
Rocoto, Locoto, or Manzano Peppers, are a pepper species unlike most others. Native to Central and South America, Rocoto are found only in cultivation. The plants have hairy leaves, blue or purple flowers, and produce apple or oval-shaped fruit with thick walls and black seeds. Most other peppers have smooth leaves, yellow or white flowers, and tan seeds. Fruit are 4.5cm by 3cm and red, yellow, or orange. They are red when ripe and have a different flavor and sense of heat than other peppers. Rocoto is also distinct in that it can live for up to 15 years and reach heights of 4m in warmer climates. It can be grown as an annual in cooler regions. Rocoto is more cold-tolerant than other peppers, but still cannot survive frost. Flowers may require hand pollination to set fruit
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Manzano pepper facts
Lifespan
Height
90cmRow Spacing
60cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For manzano pepper, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 150 days at its best temperature, about 1875 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your manzano pepper will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing manzano peppers
- Sow seeds indoors 8 weeks before planting out
- Harden off the seedlings 1 week before planting out
- Stake the plants 3 weeks after planting out
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Feed with liquid fertiliser 6 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
- Pick fruit regularly at first harvest every week
- Pull out finished plants 6 weeks after first harvest
Photos
Photos
Manzano pepper crops
Video
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 150 to 210 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Capsicum pubescens Ruiz & Pav.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Solanales Solanaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
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