avi8tornole, I germinated alot of seeds this year and had great results without any pre sowing rituals I just stuck the seeds in promix put a light dusting of sifted promix on top to cover the seeds kept them moist and between 86 and 95 degrees and withing two weeks there they were although rocotos were among the late germinaters some other varieties were up in just 3 and 4 days. Just keep them moist and keep them warm and i believe you will get your Rocotos. Good Luck.

Dale

I'm with Dale- just plant them like any other peppers seeds. Cold treating peppers is a waste of time--they are hot climate plants and cold treatment is used to simulate nature with seeds from places like Maine--where I live.

john

avi8tornole, if you'll email me your address I can send you a few seeds.

Alan

My experience with germinating Rocoto is that they're really SLOW. I finally have 3 plants I germinated from seed and will plant them in the ground soon.

I have a few seeds to share too. These are from some yellow and orange manzano pods that a friend sent me several months ago. Can't promise that any will germinate, but the price is right.

I prefer to surface sow with temps in the low to middle eighty range for C. pubes. 2nd choice is the folded napkin in a baggie method. When a radicle (root) emerges cover seed with sterile medium.

jt

Thanks everyone for your input. I am going to try germinating the other 3 seeds on top of my fridge. I don't have a heating tray. If anyone has the rocoto red seeds to share with me and they don't mind sharing I would appreciate it. I am looking for red because that's what my husband would want. He's from Peru and loves the rocoto. We can't get it here except in a jar of sauce.
Thanks!

avi8tornole, send me an email I would be happy to share. I would guess that it is to late to start anything unless you have a very long growing season anyway they would be good for next year. I had my first blossom open on one of my orange rocotos I hope it pollinates and stays on the plant. Here is a pic of my only red rocoto pod.

Dale

Hi Dale,
How do I send you an email? I would love to get some proven seeds. I can share some of my aji amarillo with you if you are interested. I have had very good germination with those.
Thanks a bunch!

my e-mail address is the1podpiper@yahoo.com just email me your address.

Dale

you've got mail Dale

Avi,
My dog is from Lima (Perro sin pelo del Peru) and that is how I came to try Peruvian food (mmmm). I found seed for Aji Amarillo, Panca, Rocoto, Limon and huacatay (not a chili) in several mail order seed companies, just do a Google search. If you can find dried ajis, you can simply pick the seeds out and plant them (usually much cheaper than seed companies); maybe someone in Peru can mail you a few dried Rocotos? I think my sources were SSE, Seeds of Change (possibly), Pepper Gal and perhaps one other. Happy growing and eating!

Hey Mister AL, in the Big Salty!
You wanna do a seed swap with a fellow Alabamaian? All I have this year is Naga Jolokia, what other kinds of seeds do you have?
I was trying to send you an email, but it was giving me an "internal server error" from the website... ill try again later.

I have some imported Rocoto seeds. I am interested in all Aji varieties and more of the Rocoto/Locoto types too, however, I have never grown pepers, or anything for that matter. I do know how to germinate, and have a germination tray to help. I need to know when I should germinate and plant and stuff so that I can get a good years growth out of my first planting. Is there any suggestions you can give this high altitude (denver) newbie grower? Are all peppers perenial? Is just the Locoto? Do they have special soil requirements? Should I container grow (for overwinter) or raised ground grow? My questions could be infinite, so I will stop there. Any help is totally appreciated. You can send me an e-mail and we can trade seeds. I am also looking for a plant that my Bolivian wife calls Quilquinia (sp). She would use this in Bolivian table salsa called llahua (pro:ya-wah). I would like to find seeds for this plat too, but have no idea what plant it is. I look forward to all of your responses and have already increased my knowledge from the use of this site. It is great!!! 8)>
Thank you in advance.

You won't get squat out of a rocoto for the first year in zone 5. Plan on overwintering it.

ProMix BX soil mix, Miracle Gro (or Wally World generic brand) 15-30-15 soluble fertilizer used no more than at 1/2 recommended on package strength and a sunny south window will keep a rocoto going until can set out next spring. From an early March seed start you might expect a few rocotos by Dec or Jan. The second year plants can have as many as 3 flushes of large ripe pods. A 5-8 gal container is fine for the 1st year.

Hi all,
I just wanted to update this thread. I did get the seeds from Dale to germinate by the coffee filter method inside ziploc bags that I left on top of my hot water heater. It did take quite awhile. I have one plant that came out of that effort, and it's a red rocoto. It's still a bit smaller than I thought it would be. I have seen pictures of huge rocoto plants. However, to my delight it is flowering. Those pretty purple flowers. Since it is indoors in a southern window I am hand polinating it with a q-tip. I hope I get results! It's probably around 10 inches tall with 3 or 4 branches. What do you think?
Good luck to the Peruvian pepper growers! It's tough where I live!

I had great germination with Jiffy-7 peat pellets. I put the tray on the windowsill and about 70% sprouted without special treatment. My seeds were almost brand new. I'm starting to think that older Manzano/Rocoto seeds may have more trouble.

avi8tornole, I am glad you got at least one plant to grow for all your hard work.

I still have some Rocoto seeds for anyone who would like some just send me an email and i will give you my address If you have something to trade that would be great if not that is fine too. I have red and orange and I will not be growing these this year.

Dale

The primitive software this forum uses wont let me email you. I would like some Rocoto seed, and I have stuff to trade, possibly.

john at vapornet dot net or dot com and please make it obvious in the subject line that it is regarding pepper seed

we should chip in and get them a vbulletin license one of these days...

Dale

You have mail

Joseph

aceman007>>>>> Beth at peppermania.com has the quilquina seeds you are looking for. You have to download the pdf form of the catalog but they are at the very end of all the chile seeds.

kendra

thepodpiper I would like some seeds. I am just now starting to grow pepper plants and would like to try anything if anyone has seeds. I don't have much to trade but I do have candle stick seeds(Cassia Alata)and Gold Star Esparanza seeds.

Bubbatex0@yahoo.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Cassia

Hi There, I'm new at Garden Web and I'm already enjoying it. What a beautiful plants :) I'm from Bolivia and I was planning to grow some Rocotos and "ajies" very spicy species :) I'm starting getting seeds. May I ask to some of you, in case you've got few seeds, to share them with me? I'm starting my garden after 2 years far away from home. :) Please let me know is possible.
Regards, Biss
email: biss_carrizo@hotmail.com

peppergal has rocoto seeds,red and yellow,25 4 $2

Here is a link that might be useful: peppergal

I bought some seeds from a Peruvian vendor on Ebay as well. I've had them germinating in coffee filters in an egg incubator set at 85 degrees for 5 weeks. They did get dry for a day, but besides that I've been babying them. Is it time to give up on them? They still look good, as in, no mold or anything growing on them. How long do I wait?

I just placed an order with Peppergal, as suggested above, but should I throw in the towel on these? How long should this take?

Thanks!

Anyone willing to share some seeds? Or any tips. I have a bag of old locoto seeds (like 3 years old) that was brought back from Bolivia, but i have been unable to get any to germinate. I am going to follow the advice here to see if i can make them work. In the mean time, anyone have any Locoto/Rocoto/Aji seeds they would like to share?

My email is st4rnin3@gmail.com for anyone that would like to get in touch.

I got some 10 seeds from Peru.
I just put them in my garden late may, and now the plants are getting bigger (out of 10, they are 7 germinating).
I was surprised to see how fast the have grown. Today, it is June 30, 2011, ans they are are about 15 inches already, without any preparation before planting.
Good luck.

Hello:
Maybe somebody has some extra rocoto or aji seeds? I am peruvian and this plants are from my land. I don't offer an exchange at this time because I moved recently and my collection of seeds became overheated and are old (I am afraid they had lost vitality). I'll reciprocate in the future though. I live in Houston.
My e-mail is: josemariaarguedas11@gmail.com
I'll be grateful.

PS: Now that I remember, I'll have a few seeds of a hot pepper that is called by some people "three color" because the fruit first is purple, then turn orange and finally red; the fruit is small (less than an inch) and almost round. I have seeds too of other small hot red pepper (about an inch), and grows upside down (the tip upwards). I don't know the name of the variety.
Best wishes