Mutant babies are difficult to find foster parents for. So, I volunteer to lovingly raise one of the offspring. I will even claim it as one of my own seeds.

(Glad to see I'm not the only one sprouting seeds in styrofoam cups. But where did the blue come from?)

Na, those are blue plastic 9oz cups and the insides are white.
I'll let you know if I get him to breed other triples. I'll call them "Jalapeno Tripod".

LOL Rick,

On a weak moment I purchased 2000 6oz Styrofoam cups on sale at Costco.

Do I use the cups damd right or the GF will never let me live it down!!!

Actually, they work out pretty well if you punch enough holes in them for drainage and aeration.

Apparently they are good to break up and mix with your soil. ItÂs said that they aid air pockets. ThatÂs my story and IÂm sticking with it until IÂm out of cups! LOL

Bill

I believe when that happens it is called a "polyploid". Not uncommon in plants, it has more than two sets of chromosones(three, in your peppers case). It should prove to be a stronger, healthier than normal plant. Nice!

So, can this polyploid be reproduced like a hybrid or is it a one time thing? I'll have to brush up on some biology.

I just googled "polyploid" and wow! More info. than I could easily digest after my large breakfast. Among other things, it says a polyploid plant tends to be sterile, but then it also gives more info. that would seem to directly conflict with that. Look up the wiki definition on google.(If I were computer-literate I'd post the link...but I'm not!)
Dave

I think what the wiki means is that if it's a cross-breed hybrid it will produce seed and be vigorous, but if it occurs as a pure breed it may be seedless. Either way, it probably means Lucky isn't going to be a new breed of super-jalapeno any time soon. :/

Isn't there some way to pollinate a seedless variety (with another pepper) and get seeds? Or I wonder if you could propagate cuttings. Guess it wouldn't be worth the effort unless this plant proved to be really special.

Hmmmm... not sure about the cross-pollination. Cloning would work if i could learn how to do it right but then I can't share my Super Mutant seed with others. Also, if it's seedless, will it produce any heat? It's the seeed placenta that collects the burny stuff, right?
I can hardly wait for Lucky to grow up!

Interesting stuff here. I have a Little Elf seedling that has three starter leaves. I'll have to tag along and see how the Jal turns out.

Hmm.. one of my Treasures Red has three leaves. Could this be a sign of a mutant take over? You're in Florida, I'm in Virginia.. where is Chesnut Rabbit?

The fact that you are talking about cloning a Super Mutant is scary. Didn't you see Body Snatchers?? Weren't those PODS!?! ;)

Looks like Treasures Red is a hybrid (of what I'm not sure) so maybe they're more likely to have extra chromasomes from the crossing process. My jal may have got crossed due to open pollination, but if so it was most likely bell pepper or perhaps Greek.
'Lucky' got off to a fast start but now I can't tell him apart from the other seedlings from that parent plant without counting leaves. So maybe not such a great advantage after all?

Spencersmom, I'm in Florida. So it looks like a South Eastern mutant takeover. LOL

eh, the application of the term 'polyploid' to a three cotyledoned seedling is a bit off the mark. The plant may have extra chromosomes or it may not. The extra cotyledon is not an indication.

This case is more akin to the occasional twinned flowers/fruit which are seen. It would be interesting to see if that plant's kids had the same feature, however.

Its probably the genetics

It's just a common developmental abnormality, ...see it all the time with some varieties of tomatoes. It is not genetic and does not affect the plant or the progeny of the plant.

A beautifully healthy looking plant. I'd love to have a few seeds, if it produces! =)

update:
It turned out to be just an average plant. Actually, some of my other lineages are doing much better and I probably won't continue with this one. But it was fun!