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, and keep the compost between 25 °C and 28 °C. It is the slowest and most heat demanding seed in the vegetable garden: below 20 °C germination can take three weeks or fail outright. A heat mat or a warm spot indoors makes all the difference. Prick out into individual pots at the two true leaf stage and plant outside only once nights stay above 14 °C.
It prefers loose, fertile, free draining soil with a good reserve of organic matter and a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. The root system is shallower than that of tomato, so the top layer of soil must stay cool and must never be compacted. Rotate with crops outside the nightshade family.
It demands full sun and steady warmth, ideally between 22 °C and 30 °C. Below 15 °C it stops growing and drops its flowers; above 35 °C it also drops flowers and exposed fruit scorches in the sun. It is very sensitive to wind, which snaps loaded 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 a long cycle variety. Inland in Portugal and Spain and in southern France it finishes without difficulty, but on the cool Atlantic coast, in northern France and in Germany it only gets there if started early with bottom heat and grown in a greenhouse, a tunnel or against a south facing wall.
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 regularly without waterlogging, keeping the soil moist but never saturated. The critical phase is flowering and fruit fill: a water shortage then drops the flowers and causes blossom end rot. Water at the base and mulch the soil with straw, above all in dry inland areas.
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.
Aphids, whitefly, thrips and red spider mite dominate, and thrips matter most because they transmit viruses. Use blue sticky traps for thrips and yellow ones for whitefly, alternate potassium soap and neem oil, and keep a flower strip for beneficial insects. Cutworms sever young plants at soil level: a cardboard collar around the stem solves it. Under cover whitefly multiplies very fast and it pays to act at the first individuals.
The commonest problems are powdery mildew on the leaves in hot dry weather, anthracnose, which makes sunken spots on the fruit in damp weather, and collar rot in poorly drained soil. Prevention means generous spacing, watering at the base, raised beds where the soil is heavy and a four year rotation. Viruses spread by aphids and thrips distort the leaves and cannot be cured: pull up and destroy affected plants. Blossom end rot on the fruit is an irrigation problem, not a fungus.
You can pick green, when the fruit is full and glossy, or wait for the final colour, which multiplies the vitamin C content and the sweetness. Always cut with scissors leaving a short stalk, because pulling tears the branch off. Frequent picking pushes the plant to produce more; leaving many fruits to ripen on the plant halts the next flush. It is a sweet variety with no heat. It can be picked green or left to reach its final colour, which is when sweetness and vitamin C peak. Allow about 80 to 90 days from transplanting to the first harvest of this variety. The reference colour is bright red, and that is what tells you it is ready.
