Any pepper will do better in ground if the soil is right. It is harder to regulate ferts but if your soil is prepped right you will have very few issues. Pubes are very slow growers so I would start them in January inside and place in your garden in June. I live in Florida so I do not even try to grow those fury tasty plants anymore. But I have seen a few southern growers do okay with them in the shade. Check out this guys grow if you want to learn how to grow them properly.

Here is a link that might be useful: prodigal_sons grow log

I do grow Manzanos which I like very much. Although I do grow most of my peppers in the ground, I've found that these do better in pots. That way I can move them out of the sun if it gets too hot. As romy mentioned, they are a very long season pepper, and I see you are in zone 2. For that reason, you'll need to move them inside to finish ripening. I'm in zone 5b and often have to move mine in when the frost comes.
John A

I have a fully mature second-year Manzano in a container, and it had a full compliment of leaves early this Spring, and it even set pods when the weather was cool. I'm in a marginal zone 7b/8a, and yet the first of the pods have only just begun to color in the past week...just to give some idea of how long it takes.

Josh

Thanks guys for the info. I have some Orange Manzano and Red Rocoto seeds so that's what I'll go with for now.

I was just looking around the net: 120 days to maturity! Yikes! Zone 2 is a bit of a misnomer, there are basically two extreme periods - extreme cold from December to March and extreme heat from June to September.

I'm going to start some seeds in January and try both pots and in-ground. If I get them in the ground in early June I may get lucky and have some production by the end of September, corresponding pretty closely with the date of the average first frost (end of Sept). If not, at least the potted plants will pay off.

I have little faith now that in-ground will work, from what I've seen pubes will tolerate the cooler early June/late September weather but fry in the 35C (95F) July temps for weeks on end. However, I'm up for the challenge, I think.

I'm still not clear on whether the hairs are capable of becoming roots - allowing me to do as I do with tomatoes and bury them as they grow, creating a strong root system. I'll keep looking.

Thanks again.