cloning cloning pepper plants

c3po · Mar 14, 2016

I am currently growing a few pepper plants that I planted from seed that came from peppers I bought at the local produce shop. Since I am not sure if they are hybrids or not, I really have no idea what to expect from them.

However, if I happen to like one of the plants, can I stabilize it by cloning it? Would the seeds of the clone then reflect its parent?

A Spicy English Cheapskate · Mar 14, 2016

Clones should be genetically identical to the parent. The seeds they produce will be the same as seeds produced by the parent.

c3po · Mar 14, 2016

A Spicy English Cheapskate said:
Clones should be genetically identical to the parent. The seeds they produce will be the same as seeds produced by the parent.

So the only way to keep the genetics of that plant alive,if indeed it is a hybrid, is to keep cloning it. The seeds could produce something else?

Thegreenchilemonster · Mar 14, 2016

A Spicy English Cheapskate said:
Clones should be genetically identical to the parent. The seeds they produce will be the same as seeds produced by the parent.

Yes, I clone my favorite pepper plants all the time, they will be identical to the original plant. Your seeds should be true as well, assuming the flowers don't cross pollinate with anything else. This also depends on the genetic stability of the original plant.

A Spicy English Cheapskate · Mar 14, 2016

c3po said:
 
So the only way to keep the genetics of that plant alive,if indeed it is a hybrid, is to keep cloning it. The seeds could produce something else?

f1 plants tend to be consistent in genetics. So hypothetically if you know the parents you could recreate the cross and get the same plants. F2 and onward is not consistent and much more difficult to recreate exactly.

Thegreenchilemonster · Mar 14, 2016

A Spicy English Cheapskate said:
f1 plants tend to be consistent in genetics. So hypothetically if you know the parents you could recreate the cross and get the same plants. F2 and onward is not consistent and much more difficult to recreate exactly.

If you want the same pods that you like, clone, istead of recrossing. I clone my favorite plants, and can consistently duplicate the same tasty pods from my clones. I don't grow from seed, unless I get new varieties, otherwise I OW, or clone.

mrgrowguy · Mar 14, 2016

FWIW "stabilized" would to systematically breed/inbreed the plant until the desired trait no longer varies throughout the progeny. In other words, so the seeds will always produce plants that show the same trait/phenotype. Just tossin' that out there.

c3po said:
I am currently growing a few pepper plants that I planted from seed that came from peppers I bought at the local produce shop. Since I am not sure if they are hybrids or not, I really have no idea what to expect from them.

However, if I happen to like one of the plants, can I stabilize it by cloning it? Would the seeds of the clone then reflect its parent?

c3po · Mar 15, 2016

mrgrowguy said:
FWIW "stabilized" would to systematically breed/inbreed the plant until the desired trait no longer varies throughout the progeny. In other words, so the seeds will always produce plants that show the same trait/phenotype. Just tossin' that out there.

Yes, and that is exactly what I meant and would want to accomplish, however, it is probably not possible with an unknown hybrid. I guess clones will have to do.

mrgrowguy · Mar 15, 2016

It can be done, but you will need to grow out a lot of tester plants in each generation to try to find the traits you like and keep inbreeding them. Not knowing the lineage only means that you don't know how varied the offspring will be in the first few generations. They may be all very similar, or they may widely differ. But even if they differ, if you keep selecting the same trait to make seed and grow new plants from, then you will dial it in very quickly. Usually by the 5th generation, you won't have almost any variation at all, even if the parents are hybrids with distinctly differing traits. Even by the third generation you should really start to see things even out a bit.

c3po said:
 

Yes, and that is exactly what I meant and would want to accomplish, however, it is probably not possible with an unknown hybrid. I guess clones will have to do.