Capsicum annuum
Origin: Carbondale, CO
Improvement status: Landrace Cultivar
Seeds per packet: ~30
Germination tested 12/2025: 90%
Life cycle: Annual
A real breakthrough after many years of breeding work by the late great Casey Piscura and the team at Wild Mountain Seeds in Carbondale, Colorado (USDA Zone 3). 'Alpine Poblano' was developed to produce large uniform poblanos in cold climates, with even more impressive yields in warmer zones. In 2013, the farm collected as many poblano strains as they could find and flowered them together. Only a few plants of that population made it to seed, with only a few specimens that really stood out. Since that year, they have continually selection to improve size, uniformity and yield as this promiscuously-pollinated hybrid-swarm has been shaped into the "perfect-shaped poblano population" (thinking of dishes like chile relleno as selection criteria). As Casey once put it to us: "This strain has rivaled the productive capacity of our sweet pepper varieties in past seasons, producing large-sized uniform poblanos that you can market by the unit. The customers at our farm stand go crazy over these and I am sure yours will too. A huge thanks to the ancestral farmers who domesticated and refined such an incredible culinary treat!"
A real gem from a real gem. Casey is gone far too soon, but he left an incredible legacy, of which this pepper is one small part.
GROWING TIPS: Grow as any other pepper, starting a few weeks before last frost and planting out once soil has warmed in the spring. If plants end up too laden with peppers, provide some support.
