Yes. They grow well in the St. Augustine, FL, area. I believe I read they were brought there by the Portuguese. Great peppers. One of my favorites.

What does 'heirloom' mean in regards to peppers? That they've been around a long time?

Dennis

Yes and they are true to seed if you save the seeds from one of your peppers. Hybrid plants don't produce seeds that will be identical to the ones you grew. Seed Saver's is a good example of an heirloom operation. Good reading to see where all of the seeds they have originated from.

Good point, Dennis.

Applying the word "heirloom" to chili peppers doesn't really tell you anything. As far as I know, every chili pepper variety has been under constant cultivation (or grows wild) since it was discovered.

zackey makes a good point. If a pepper is a hybrid, it won't grow true from saved seeds. Don't get me wrong. Hybrid peppers sold by the big seed companies can be great, but you can't grow them from seed you've saved. On the other hand, most of the peppers we discuss on this forum do grow true from seed, and we can share seed with others. In the tomato world these are often called heirlooms.

There really isn't an official or set definition for heirloom when it comes to plants and is used rather loosely. Legend, a tomato bred by Dr. James Baggett at Oregon State University and released in 2008 comes true from seed, but no one would call it an heirloom. Yet some seed companies wrongly, list it as a hybrid.

I think the original poster was really asking if Datil was a hybrid pepper or not. Non-hybrids will come true from seed, within some set limit of traits. Hybrids are consistent in the F1 generation, but start to segregate out in the F2 generation. Actually growing out the F2 and succeeding generations can be fun and let one select out a new variety, or try to get as close to an open pollinated, true from seed, variety close to the hybrid grown from F1 seed.

Well, I have another reason for asking the question. When I was selling plants last year a woman showed up asking for "heirloom peppers". I told her I didn't know what an heirloom pepper was and she went away.

Guess I could have sold her just about anything...

> "As far as I know, every chili pepper variety has been under constant cultivation (or grows wild) since it was discovered."

[cough]arolina reaper[cough]

Dennis

In this context, Dennis, I think "heirloom" could have meant two things....first, a stable strain; and, second, an historical strain, such as Hungarian Wax that has been around a long time.

Josh

Dennis: I don't know what you meant with the "Carolina Reaper" comment.

I wasn't saying that there are no new peppers. I was saying that there are no old, lost peppers.

To me, an heirloom tomato is a cultivar that has had little if any existence outside of seed banks for many years.

People have been developing new tomato varieties for a hundred years, so I can see how some cultivars could have been forgotten over the years.

Instead of asking if this is an heirloom pepper, a better question would be, "Is this a new variety?" or "Is this an F1 hybrid?"

Sluginator, thank you for explaining it like that. Makes a lot more sense now.