Anyone???

Bruce - it's been several years since I grew Bolivian Rainbow. If memory serves me, the pods on Bolivian Rainbow are shorter/stouter and more of a cone shape than Numex Twilight. They're similar in regard to having multi-colored pods on the plant at same time.

Thanks. I just planted my seeds yesterday and I have both. So, I guess I will see which one I like the best.

I like those ornamentals, I only had seeds for Chinese 5 color but I think they are similar too. Won't be eating these so they will be front yard decoration, will plant in ground. I have three that sprouted. Bruce I will be looking forward to a comparison thread of the two on how they grow side by side and what the differences are, could you do that?

I have grown and compared them side by side. I couldn't see a difference.

I think they're a smaller type of pepper plant.Many years ago, I bought a pepper plant from a nursery not know what type it was.It could have be either of them are some of the other type which look like them.I will be keeping up with your post on this topic.Ornamental peppers rock.

OK, My seeds have sprouted and I had planted two containers of Bolivian Rainbows. Each container from a different seed source. I am glad I did it that way because I clearly have plants with two different characteristics. One of the container has sprouts that are the typical green color and the other has sprouts that are the dark purple or black color. It will be interesting to see how they turn out down the road. They may wind up looking identical to each other, but there is clearly a difference between the two seed sources. Both containers have been treated identically. Same soil, (no added nutrients to either), same moisture, same light and have been grown side by side. I am glad I used two sources. I am pretty assured one will wind up growing true.

Has anyone else found the seedlings on Bolivian Rainbows to have the dark purple leaves?

And I just realized that the BR's changed from regular green to purple over night. Here is a photo of the same seedlings from one day earlier.

So, how does that happen?

Great updates and your seedlings look very good. My Chinese 5 color came up green then turned black/purple just the same. I assume it's like the black pearl some come up green and later turn while others start off dark and stay that way. It will be interesting to see the growth pattern and later fruit.

Hello Bruce,

I am using MG moisture control, would that be ideal for super hots?

Hi, I just got your email. Thank you much.

I think that will work fine. But I would consider adding some Perlite to the mix. That stuff is basically all Peat Moss and tends to get packed down as it gets older. I prefer mixes that have more pine or fir back in them. As far as the moisture control part goes. It might be a good choice where you live if you don't get a lot of rain. If you do, it might hold too much moisture which peppers don't like a whole lot. But I would add some Perlite to give it some "breathing room".

The Bolivian Rainbows are starting to get some true leaves now and they are coming in part green and part purple on the one container and just green on the other. They seem to be growing faster/bigger than the Twilights as well.

Thank you! :)

Yes! My bolivian rainbow seedlings had purple leaves. They started out green, but got more purple when exposed to more light. My first time growing them, I didn't know they could turn purple and thought I had burned the leaves with too much light!

so, even when mature, you BR's had the dark foliage? Was it completely Purple or just partially?

Younger leaves always start green, and if you give it enough sun they'll start to turn purple. With more mature plants you have a mix of younger and older leaves so you'll have a plant that's inevitably a mix of purple and green leaves. The only time they've ever had completely dark foliage was when I kept them outside over the summer... by the end of that summer, the foliage was pretty evenly dark because of the long days of high light.

I wish I had photos to show of this, but once I had a BR sitting unevenly under a grow light (I was lazy I guess?). Half fell under the beam of light, and the other half didn't make it in and was sitting in shadow. After a few days of sitting there like that, it was literally purple on the side of the light and green on the other, and the split was perfectly where the beam of light ended. There were actually some leaves that were perfectly split between the two colors. It was like a sun tan... when people get "farmer's tans". Doesn't hurt it at all if you water regularly. Note to self - rotate plants ;)

That is interesting Kelli. Might be a fun experiment.

Here's a fairly recent photo of a BR I rooted from a cutting - you can see pretty clearly which leaves are the more mature ones (purple) vs younger (green).

And yes, you can totally root cuttings of these guys and give them away to friends. More on how to do that here.

Yes, cool, I like the contrasting leaf colors. And the blooms are great.

By the way, how do you usually do your cuttings for peppers?

I just take the cutting and plop it in a vial of water. Top with more water when it gets low. Wait a few weeks, you'll see roots. Transfer to soil and keep the soil consistently wet and give it plenty of light for the first week while it gets used to transitioning. Then water like a normal plant. Voila! You have a pretty good sized plant in about half the time it takes to grow BR's from seed. If you scroll through, I did a step by step tutorial with photos in this link here:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3489555/propagating-bolivian-rainbow-in-water?n=4

Side note: When your BR's get bigger, they like to be trimmed and then they get pretty fluffy and large. When you do trim them, don't throw away those cuttings! Put them in water, then once they've taken to soil, give to friends or bring them to your local plant swap. People love receiving them.

Kelli, you are a virtual "mad botanist" LOL!

I take that as a compliment, Fred :)

I certainly agree with your assertion that taking all those trimmings and turning them into cuttings is a great idea, except that it won't work up north here too well. If I take a cutting in August when my plants are mature, I would only have another month or so before my growing season is over. We can't all live in zone 10 unfortunately. But I like to take cuttings near the end of the growing season and nurse them through the winter indoors so they are ready to roll the following spring.

Now, time to check out your BR cutting thread...........

Thank you.

My pleasure! Ah, zone 10 makes us all believe we're good gardeners here on the west coast. Best of luck - BR's originally helped start my plant obsession, so I hope you love them too.

That is no lie Kelli, I just bury the seeds and they start growing. Its not fair because I feel like I am not learning anything, course 101. Wheres El Nino, it totally past us in Los Angeles, the weather is beautiful, but every now and then rain would be very much apreciated, we need the water. :/

Yah, that El Nino thing. I think it is running a bit north this year.

Here is a Photo of yesterday evening of my back yard and now this morning....it is still snowing fairly hard.

BEAUTIFUL!

I guess that is an understandable comment coming from someone living in SoCal :)