Itinerário técnico
Um guia de cultivo passo a passo, da sementeira à colheita.
Sow in trays eight to ten weeks before planting out, half a centimetre deep, with the compost between 25 °C and 30 °C. Like pepper it is slow to germinate and fails without bottom heat. Prick out into individual pots and plant outside only once nights are above 15 °C, because early cold checks the plant for weeks. In short summer regions grow it under glass or in a tunnel.
It wants deep, fertile, warm and free draining soil with a pH between 5.5 and 7.0. It likes soils that warm up quickly, such as sandy ground improved with compost. Cold heavy soil sets the plant back in a way that is hard to recover from. Rotate on a four year cycle with crops outside the nightshade family.
It is the most heat hungry of the nightshades. It needs 22 °C to 30 °C and full sun; below 15 °C it stops entirely and the flowers drop. It also suffers in strong wind, which breaks the branches. On the Portuguese coast the crop starts slowly because nights stay cool and morning fog keeps the leaves wet for hours, so pick the sunniest spot you have, shelter it from wind and space the plants generously so air moves through. Inland in Portugal and Spain heat rather than cold is the limiting factor: in weeks above 35 °C the plant stalls and light shade over midday pays for itself. In France outdoor growing is reliable from the centre southwards, while in northern France and in Germany a greenhouse, a polytunnel or a warm south facing wall makes the difference, and planting out should wait until after the mid May cold snap. Where summers are short, always choose the shorter cycle varieties and start them early in a heated tray. In Italy it is an easy crop: in the centre and south plant from April onwards and the only real care is light shade through the July and August heat; in the Po valley and the north wait for the late frosts to pass and pick the sunniest spot you have. This is an early variety, which makes it particularly suited to short summer regions such as northern France and Germany, and also to a late second crop in the south.
This is a hungry crop. Work two to three kilos of well rotted compost or mature manure into each square metre before planting and add a handful of bone meal or wood ash to top up phosphorus and potassium. Once growth is away, feed with a liquid organic fertiliser every two or three weeks, moving from a balanced formula to a higher potassium one as cropping begins. Avoid excess nitrogen, which gives lush leaves, a poor crop and a lot of aphids.
Water generously and regularly through the whole cycle, always at the base. Water shortage makes the flesh tough and bitter; excess rots the roots. A straw mulch is close to essential in an Iberian summer to keep the roots cool.
Hand weed in the first weeks, while the plant is small and loses every contest for light and water. Once it is established, mulch with five to seven centimetres of straw, dried grass or leaves: it holds weeds back, keeps moisture in and stops rain splashing soil onto the lower leaves, which is how most diseases begin. Always hoe shallowly so you do not cut the roots running just under the surface.
Colorado potato beetle and red spider mite are the most destructive pests, followed by aphids, whitefly and thrips. Pick the beetles and their orange egg clusters off by hand from the start and apply Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis if numbers build. Red spider mite settles in dry heat, above all under cover: raise air humidity, wash the leaves and use neem oil. Potassium soap controls aphids and whitefly.
Verticillium wilt is the most serious disease: the plant wilts in the middle of the day, recovers at night and finally dies. There is no treatment and it is avoided with long rotations and free draining soil. Powdery mildew and botrytis appear in closed humid conditions, above all in a poorly ventilated greenhouse. Collar rot comes from planting into waterlogged ground or too deep: plant at the same depth it was in the pot.
Pick when the skin is glossy and firm and the fruit gives slightly under pressure. Dull skin and dark seeds mean it is past its point and has turned bitter. Always cut with scissors or a knife, because the stalk is woody and pulling damages the plant. Picking early and often keeps the plant producing to the end of the season. Allow about 60 to 70 days from transplanting to the first harvest of this variety. The reference colour is dark purple, and that is what tells you it is ready.
