Haven't heard of that one. All peppers are perennials. I would treated it like any other pepper.

Johnf

I also purchased one in N. Cal at a Yardbirds Hardware. I have been a chile fanatic for 25+ years and in all my years of growing, eating and researching their origins I have never heard of a Puta tree chile. I bought it for one reason; it looks like an example of Capsicum pubescence. this species is one of my favorite chiles, most commonly called a Manzano, Caballo, Canarios or Rocoto. The three distinguishing traits are purple to bluish flowers, fuzzy to hairy leaves and stems (hence the name, C. pubescence) and black to brownish-black seeds.

This "Puta Tree" is different from the three C. pubescences I already grow in that the leaves are somewhat smaller, are darker green and the plant appears to have a less open growth habitÂbut then I just got it so IÂll know more about it by the end of this growing season.

They (C. pubescences) will over-winter as long as they do not freeze hard. I cover mine with frost cloth for the duration of the cold weather and the oldest one is now 4 years. They will die back and that seems to be ok as new growth in the spring will fill the plant out again. And, they can get quite large for a chile, mine are up to six feet across and about as tallÂand they are heavy producers too so I hope you like chiles!

Here is a link that might be useful: The South American Chile

I remember. Mary-Anne D. (also from California) grew it. Byron should know how to get in touch with her. The reason I remember is because I thought puta was a bad word. LOL

Puta, in Spanish, means a woman of the night, red light district and etc.

Hard to imagine a tree......as in "What, you think putas grow on trees?"

I grew it last year in a large container. This year, i'm growing 4 of them! It performs best planted in a porous medium- with adequate fertilizer (i use a weak liquid starter fertilizer when planting and osmocote thereafter- lazy)and ample water.
My Puta lived through the winter. I placed it up against a glass patio door to make use of the heat escaping through the glass.'Kept it barely moist, but not wet- fed it and cut it back when the weather warmed up and i noticed new growth.
I have also seen this same pepper sold as Chile de Arbol, although it is NOT the typical red "bird's beak" CdA and will usually be offered for sale a bit later in the spring.
My husband is a hot pepper lover. I have never grown any hot pepper that he loves the flavor of as much as this one (my Mexican friends agree).
The flowers are white, the fruits are black and the leaves are dark green,but look a little silvery due to the pubescence. Tall - very upright, open form.

c. pubescens can be awfully hard to grow up here in zone5 (well, ok easy to grow but hard to get to set fruit)

does the puta tree suffer the same drawbacks? (eg., needs long day but cool average temps)

I bought some of these peppers from the (bought out by HomeDepot and closed) Yardbirds in Vallejo.

The pepper plant grows tall, and produces many 2" cayenne looking peppers. They are friggin hot. I smoke my peppers and grind them up with an intoxicating pepper sprinkle.

steveoh

I've grown these Puta Tree chiles for a couple of years now. Been growing chiles since about 1988 and this is my favourite chile ever, best taste and pretty hot.

The plant is interesting, different from most chiles you can buy here (Bay Area California): it's taller and the stems are fuzzy. The flowers are not purple though and the fruit are not round like typical pubescens but thin and about 1 to 1.5 inch long (from memory as there are no chiles right now). The chiles stick straight up in the air. Someone said they are like D'Arbol but they are quite different in my opinion. The plants are much taller, and the chiles are much hotter and have more flavour. Also the D'Arbol fruits more prolificly.

I'm still trying to figure out what these "Puta Tree" are. Anyone figure this out yet for sure?