Please identify this

dragon49 · Sep 5, 2015

I thought I only seeded Superchiles in my family garden this year, but this thing showed up and I have no idea what it is. I'm assuming that is is a Chile

I'll be tasting it soon.

Either this was a seed mix-up, from when I saved my Superchile seeds, or something crossed in my garden, the year before I saved these seeds. I've had other stuff flower and I got one Big Jim Pod one year, but the only stuff that I've been able to reliably grow in my family garden are:

Superchiles
Lemon Drops
Aji Cerezas

So - either this is a cross between one of those, or it is a seed mix-up from my collection. You can see my collection in my profile here:

http://thehotpepper.com/user/3085-dragon49/

One observation - This is a LONG season Pepper, as I planted out in Late May and it is just podding up now.

I have 2 questions:

1 - What is it? If the type is unclear, can one determine the Species (Annuum, Chinense, Baccatum etc) from the flower and leaf shape.
2 - Does it ripen orange, or red? I want to pick a pod, but if it will ripen red, I don't want to pick an immature one.

Thanks

Student of Spice · Sep 6, 2015

well you do have two pods there, one to pick and try as you like and one to leave on the plant and wait to see what happens.

D3monic · Sep 6, 2015

I'd need a better flower picture. Could have just been an accidental cross.

dragon49 · Sep 6, 2015

I picked both pods this morning, as some critter (I am guessing a bird since the garden is fenced off) ate the tip of one of the peppers. From the bright orange color and the taste, I am pretty confident that this variety ripens orange. I ate the pods. It had good, but not deadly heat. I'm guessing around 50,000 SHU. It was delicious—Very fruity with lingering flavor. If I am able to, I'll get better flower pics. Does the clearer picture give a better clue as to the type of Pepper it is?

I saved some seeds and will try and grow it out again, although this plant is surrounded by Superchiles,so the next generation may be a further cross.

willard3 · Sep 8, 2015

Some kind of annuum

dragon49 · Sep 8, 2015

willard3 said:
Some kind of annuum

Can you tell by the leaf shape?

RobStar · Sep 9, 2015

Definitely a C. baccatum. Leaves are a giveaway as well as the forking - far too slim and delicate to be annuum. I would hazard that it is aji cito or aji habanero.

dragon49 · Sep 9, 2015

RobStar said:
Definitely a C. baccatum. Leaves are a giveaway as well as the forking - far too slim and delicate to be annuum. I would hazard that it is aji cito or aji habanero.

I didn't think it was an annuum because of how long it took to pod up. It took more than 100 days to get the first 2 pods. I've grown c baccatums before and they were always long season peppers, whereas my annuums are much shorter season Peppers. I looked at some Aji Cito pics and my pods were darker (more orange than yellow) and much smaller and thinner. Perhaps my garden's less than ideal lighting situation could account for the smaller pod size. I do have Aji Cito seeds, but no Aji Haberno seeds.

I have grown Aji Limons (Lemon Drop) the same seasons that I grew Superchiles. Do you think it is possible that this is an Aji Limo x Superchile F1 and it taking on the x baccatum characteristics?

willard3 · Sep 11, 2015

Look at the flower, it's annuum.