Q. Dear Dave,
Have you noticed in growing C. baccatum any sun scorching on the pods? This summer I grew C. baccatum for the first time. I planted seeds of the ’Aji Limon’ variety and early on had them in full sun. As the first pods started to develop I noticed that they began to get sun scorched quite easily. After moving them to an area of mostly shade, the new pods looked much better. Also, the shade didn’t seem to have any effect on the number of flowers produced, having an extremely high yield. Are most other C. baccatum varieties shade-loving as well? Next year I’m hoping to get some seeds of different varieties of baccatum and see how it goes. Sincerely,
Eric B. Jeltes
A. Hello Eric:
Sun scorching happens when the pods are not shaded by the leaves of the plant. Also, ’Aji’ Limon pods (at least on my plants) grow parallel to the ground, exposing more of the pod to the sun. Most chiles do well in semi-shaded situations, so I’m not surprised by the yield.
Dave DeWitt