breeding Best Large Jalapeno

I love the Biker Billy myself. So much so that I've got some Capsicum annuum 'Biker Billy' x C. annuum 'Fish Pepper' crosses to work the variegation into a larger Jalapeno phenotype.

With that being said, I've also crossed C. annuum 'Biker Billy' x C. annuum 'Tiger Jalapeno' as well as the legend goes the later is also a Jalapeno hybrid with an unknown mysterious hybridizer as its maker. Regardless, my cross has those variegated genes and purple flower genes as well so it should prove interesting as it evolves.

Breeding large flavorful Jalapeno types is something I think we can all get on board with. At least I know I'm interested enough to dabble in it.
 
Love Early Jalapeno but i never had them get very large. Great flavor, heat and production. I could not get Biker Billy to grow worth a damn here. Both plants and pods were small but they are a great tasting jalapeno.
 
HeatMiser said:
How large do you want them?
 
Have you tried Paquime?
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Skullbiker has some pictures of them in his glog. I don't know how well they taste, but I'll be growing them next year.
 
I've grown Jalafuego and we love them. The plants produce a ton and the pods have a good amount of heat.
That's getting into Big Jim Territory there.

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Here are some photos of this year's hybrid stabilization project noted on pages prior. I'll note this continues to be fun, and we are definitely able to note the progress in weaning traits in and out of the line.

These would be F5 pods. All plants are large and put out lots of fruit. We've already Pickled about a gallon, and made a couple quarts of chipotle (whole, not ground). We also roast, stuff and eat them all season. Leaves are hilariously large, thick and leathery (these have to be from the non-Jala P parent - maybe a pob?). All are a bit "late" on pepper maturation. Even when they look ready, I feel like they need another week or two.

Pod size and shape were very good on 3/4 of the plants, though even the plants true to target pod shape/size seem to still have a couple "weirdo" pods, particularly late season.

The wrinkle this year was heat/ flavor. All were pretty good, but a bit milder than I want but for this line. Obviously the original non jala P generation wasn't a hot pepper, but I'm still pushing for as close to real jala heat as possible.

One of the true plants really stood out flavor and heat wise though, even though his pods were a hair fatter at the shoulders than target. Taste is paramount in this experiment, so that won the day over the slightly better shaped and longer competitors (which were over 5.5"). This was the "winner" for next year's generation. Hopefully a few of his offspring keep the heat, and are a bit more svelte! We'll see. :)

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I found Mucho Nacho seeds for next year. They never failed me. Always got nice large jalas with good to better heat levels. Numex Jalamundo were great if you like super mild jalas. Spicy Slice did much better as far as heat but took forever to ripen.

Realy pissed me off too. I devoted 80% of that bed to the Numex and they are duds as far as heat. Same bed with Spicy Slice all had better heat.
 
Great size F5 pods Fatal it's a great thread to read and enjoy for us Jala heads,size seems spot on to me I've grown a few so called large gigantic/Mammoth Jalas all sucommed to loss of heat,glad to see your F5 ..most of them keeping the heat and best for the future.🙂👍
 
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It seems the poor Jalapeño has been milded to death more than any pepper out there.
I was happy to just grow my favorites & enjoy them as they came however that's just not going to work anymore for me.
So here is the way to a more satisfying Jalapeño by breeding back better & putting the fire back into a hotter daily pepper.

When I was growing up in Panama the Jalapeño were hot we sweat & stayed cool in the tropical heat.
It seems to call the faint hearted the new Jalapeño, they bread the heat out of it & made it a mild pepper instead.
I love large Poppers only it's hard to find large hot jalapeños anywhere, I guess the answer breed hot ones yourself.

 
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It seems the poor Jalapeño has been milded to death more than any pepper out there.
I was happy to just grow my favorites & enjoy them as they came however that's just not going to work anymore for me.
So here is the way to a more satisfying Jalapeño by breeding back better & putting the fire back into a hotter daily pepper.

When I was growing up in Panama the Jalapeño were hot we sweat & stayed cool in the tropical heat.
It seems to call the faint hearted the new Jalapeño, they bread the heat out of it & made it a mild pepper instead.
I love large Poppers only it's hard to find large hot jalapeños anywhere, I guess the answer breed hot ones yourself.


My Mucho Nacho Jalapenos this past season were fairly large and had pretty good heat.
 
My Mucho Nacho Jalapenos this past season were fairly large and had pretty good heat.

Do you think the heat of Fla has anything to do with the heat? I heard that however does your Brandywine tomato taste better than my NC grown tomato because? See it sounds a little to easy, I see a lot further into what a pepper could be with proper breading & a bit of luck of course.

I'm planning over winter my best plants from now on.
 
I do think the poor jalapeno has been done to death breed wise sometimes and it's hard for a beginner or indeed the advanced grower starting afresh on the variety's crosses that are available today.
Some of the original strains are still hot but a few have been lost some out of Mexico and indeed the U.S but many are still grown by many Gardner's in both areas for generations and this is why passing on seeds to friends is very important as it gives these Older strains life to carry on into the future.
 
Following up on my large jalapeno stabilization project:

Going to F7 for 2022, I had to decide between two clear and obvious champion plants from the prior year. One plant featured peppers hot as f*ck, but a bit shorter and squattier in stature. The other bore a bit longer and slenderer peppers (perfect shape I'm chasing), but only moderately hot. I want that searing jala flavor, and taste is most important, so we selected the hotter sibling for the 2022 crop.

All of the plants produced identically, and on target. Fruit was large, thick walled, plentiful and hot as f*ck. Flavor was true to jalapeno (as some earlier generations produced almost bell pepper flavor). These plants looked basically like clones, all robust and with very large and thick leaves. I received a few weirdo pods on some plants, but overwhelmingly the pods were consistent and true. The squattier shoulders from the parent selection carried through in all plants. I had expected at least one would keep that slimmer body. Oh well.

Selection of next year's champion wasn't easy, as the plants were all so darn similar. It kind of makes me nervous, because there are so many varying traits that just aren't visible and are probably still varying between each plant. Anyways, anyone of them probably would have been fine. I think selection in generations forward will be pretty nuanced, and likely far less impactful on trait results. We'll see.

Some pics attached.
 

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