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mrpepper_gw

Crossing Peppers

16 years ago

Hello hot pepper lovers. I have not done much growing in the last while so have not been posting on this site. I do have a question for those more experience pepper growers.

A year ago I grew two different hot peppers and I know that some of the peppers on both plants were crossed pollinated (on purpose). When I planted seeds from either plant, sometimes one seed grows one plant, the other seed grows another plant.

However, this last time I grew a pepper from one plant, and on it, I got 90% peppers from the plant that its type was, but I got about 10% peppers from the other plant.

Unfortunately I have not gotten any pictures from the plant to show you, but am working on that part as a friend grew the plant in a grow room with Habs.

Anyone experience this?

Comments (19)

  • 16 years ago

    That is an interesting finding. And that is why hybridizing cannot be done in one shot. It is the law of heredity that even covers humans. In the plant world, in order to stablize a hybrid(by cross pollination) you have to do it for several years. I have heard the story of the man (Radiator Charlie ?), who developed this giant tomato called mortgage lifter.

  • 16 years ago

    I have been able to confirm that there were only Habanero peppers growing besides this plant, so the peppers that were different, were on the same plant.

    Now I am waiting to see if any pictures were taken. I will post them if I get them.

  • 16 years ago

    It depends on which plant you got the seeds from.Which one was the pollinator...
    Plant A + b = C1
    Plant B + A = C2
    Plant a + b = B domanent traites
    Plant A + B = A dominant traits
    Same for B + A....
    #1 seeds could be dominated by A or B genes
    #2 seeds could be dominated By A or B genes
    All the seeds in the pod could be any combination of A + B genes.
    There is more involved but you get the general idea.
    If I remember right it takes something like 6-8 generations to see if something is stable too.
    Thee is a lot more to it but you get the idea.
    Boils down to only the pepper gods know for sure.

  • 16 years ago

    Most of my OP seeds "90%" come true, but even the crosses mostly revert back to one of the parent plants,I have been trying to grow out a cross I have,and it has been "mostly " stable for 2 years.Fingers crossed that it remains stable.But I do know that hybrid peppers are never the same F2,,I've tried a bunch of times.I have also heard it takes about 8 years of "stablized" cross to be sure it remains stable.I know it is complicated,If we could only live to be 200 years old maybe then we could "invent" a new pepper.
    Kevin

  • 16 years ago

    They age and sell balsomic vingarr that are 15 years old.
    So, you can take 8 years to hybridize. In the meantime you live a normal life. lol!!

  • 16 years ago

    The more complicated part, is that one of the plants, I am not sure 100% of on its pepper name.

    I bought a "Tabasco" seed packet from Gurneys. But when all the plants grew (they were all the same plant), the peppers were long like a cayenne, but the peppers were not as thin walled, and they were not twisted/crinkly but straight.

    I went online and looked at pictures of the tabasco pepper, and most but not all of the pictures for the Tabasco were short, fat and the peppers grew upright. The plants were different looking that the ones I had.

    On the other hand, I did see a few pictures of peppers that were exactly like the plants I had, long thin, straight, and same plant looks, and were named tabasco.

    However, I have no idea if the picture for the pepper plant were correct. This is due to my lack of knowledge.

    The second pepper plant, a Goats Weed, was a true plant in that its plant and 100% of the peppers on it looked liked they should.

    Both peppers are extremely hot, and have a nice flavor when red.

    I have harvested the seeds from both plants, and when I grew the second generation plants, seeds from both of those plants as well.

  • 16 years ago

    your tabascos should look like this..

    Yellow first then orange and finally red,and very juicy.
    Kevin

  • 16 years ago

    Reversions to a single parent and other "genetic soup" type results are pretty common in the first 2-3 generations after something gets hybridized if it produces viable seed.

    When you can stabilize most of the common characteristics over many grow-outs things get more predicable seed-to-seed.

  • 16 years ago

    In regards to the posting on the pictures: Yes that is what I found when I did a search because when the peppers came up, they were not what I expected.

    I could have gotten a packet of seeds were mislabeled as well.

    I do plan on growing out the seeds from the plants and keeping the peppers that are not true, growing those to see what I get, and crossing those as well. It is kind of fun really.

    BTW, when I grow these Hydroponically, I can get three seasons each year, so maybe I can cut down on the number of years.

  • 16 years ago

    So, bottom line is saving seeds when different varieties are grown close advised or not? Last year I didnt save any because I had seeds left over. This year I will have to save seeds or buy more next year. I would like to have the peppers somewhat close to true. I sure wouldnt want my Sante Fe Grande crossed with a serrano.

  • 16 years ago

    As I have mentioned, it is easy to get your true seeds but it needs a little homework.
    Pepper flowers (or any garden vegetable flowers for that matter), get polinated in a short time. It could be few hours or couple of days at the most.
    Having said that, you can monitor a few flowers and protect them from crossin by covering them during that period and tagging them. So you have now fruits that will have 100% true seeds. I think you can get enough seeds from a few peppers to plant an acre with.

  • 16 years ago

    You can do a little work and save seeds safely or you can "cross your fingers" and take advantage of the fact that you have a very small chance of cross pollination without doing anything special.

    If it's something that's very important to you or space is a concern then you might want to take the time to isolate pepper flowers right before they open to ensure they self-pollinate.

    You can hedge your bets by taking a mix of seed from as many peppers as you can rather than getting them all from 1 or 2 peppers for next season's seed.

  • 16 years ago

    I have been able to determine with some level of accuracy that the plant I thought was a Tabasco (because that is what the seed label said) were actually Thai Goats Horn peppers.

    The peppers that came from the Goats Weed Pepper plant has peppers different from the parent plant, and now I am going to grow out these second generation seeds, cross them and see what happens.

  • 16 years ago

    Just wondering what to use to cover the flowers with to keep them from crossing? Suggestions anyone?

  • 16 years ago

    If you are talking about every flower on your pepper plant, that may be a bit much! Most folks concentrate on either growing one type of pepper plant, or just not being concerned about the chances of them crossing.

    If you want to keep a few seeds true on your plant, you can take some plastic, and an elastic band (a kids pony tail holder works good), and put it over the flower before it opens. Tag and keep track of this flower, or sets of flowers as the plant matures.

  • 16 years ago

    You only need to bag a couple flowers to get dozens+ seeds from the fruits.

    Cheesecloth or similar (loose pouch around the bud area) and a lightly tied string/twist-tie works well. You can put them on shortly before a swollen bud breaks, but remember to remove them 24-48 hours later.

  • 16 years ago

    In reference to the post by nc-crn why would you have to remove the cheese cloth 24 to 48 hours later. I thought you would leave them until small peppers form.

  • 16 years ago

    You can leave it on. I remove mine to keep moisture rot (not a high potential) from happening, to give room to grow for further stem width where I tied the flower up, and to keep the weight from future rain or overhead irrigation from building up.

    The fertilization usually occurs within 24+ hours safely. Most people can leave the bags on much longer without incident for longer than 24-48 hours.

  • 16 years ago

    Quote :
    Posted by peppernewbie_wa (My Page) on Sun, Feb 21, 10 at 22:45

    Just wondering what to use to cover the flowers with to keep them from crossing? Suggestions anyone?
    end quote
    ===================================================
    As I have posted before, You can get a very fine woven nylon French tulle from fabric stores and cover your specific plant or just a branch of it with it. Bees, moths, flies, etc cannot go thopugh that and your pepper will self polinate. You can leave that tulle on as long as you want because it will not block air nor light. But once you are done you can remove it, tag that branch/fruits to collect seeds from them. You can do this with tomatoes, and eggplants as well(if you have more than on var).

    This fabric can also block certain insects and bugs and maybe rabbits too.

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