Capsicum "Cardenasii" CGN 20497

This has been a very fun one to watch grow cool leaf shape and growth habit. I cant wait to see it flower and fruit.
 
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pretty cool looking growth, have to admit I know almost nothing about these rare varieties as I've always ever grown chinense but keep seeing these cool, rare, difficult to germ types here on THP. will have to give them a try some day if I can find seeds that is. I know some of these are extremely rare and the seeds themselves are worth their weight in gold lol. I love growing chinense so damn much it's hard to find room for new types in the ever expanding grow
 
Hi Robert, That is a nice cardenasii plant and the eximium is pretty good also,  those are two nice varities, I plan to get some more eximium seeds from Judy.  I'm waiting to see just what she will be adding to her site as she said something about 60 more pepper varieties, I'm hoping she will add a few new wild types also. I saving some seeds from the wild ones I have now, I know that some will have crossed with some of my other varieties, it will be interesting to see what sprouts.
 
Hey scorched check out Judy's  site www.pepperlover.com she has lots of wilds and a great many others.
 
Where`s cmpman1974 when you need him?!?!?!?!? Or Pr0digal_son?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
 
I realize you are using quotes for a reason on your cardenasii!
 
Chris grew CGN 20497 this year and his turned out to be a cross, almost certainly with C.pubescens. People in Italy also got a similar result. The current thinking is that the CGN 20497 in circulation is actually a Rocopica. It`s still possible that the seeds at the CGN seed bank are true C.cardenasii, but they don`t give them out, so it`s hard to say. 
 
C.cardenasii does appear to be self-incompatible and is very prone to crossing with eximium and pubescens. I grew 2 plants from seeds taken from a true C.cardenasii plant, but both plants I got were crosses - one with pubescens, one with eximium. 
 
Both Chris and I have spent considerable time looking for true C.cardenasii through as many people as we both know. So far, we have struck out. The guys at www.wildchilli.eu DO have the real thing, actually collected in Bolivia by them. They are not, however, giving out seeds. 
 
Because of all this above, the vast majority that are growing "C.cardenasii" are growing a cardenasii cross. I am seriously considering a trip to Bolivia next spring, to find Capsicums in the wild and photograph them. I do not know yet whether any seeds could be collected legally, but I`m trying to find out.
 
Nigel said:
Where`s cmpman1974 when you need him?!?!?!?!? Or Pr0digal_son?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
 
I realize you are using quotes for a reason on your cardenasii!
 
Chris grew CGN 20497 this year and his turned out to be a cross, almost certainly with C.pubescens. People in Italy also got a similar result. The current thinking is that the CGN 20497 in circulation is actually a Rocopica. It`s still possible that the seeds at the CGN seed bank are true C.cardenasii, but they don`t give them out, so it`s hard to say. 
 
C.cardenasii does appear to be self-incompatible and is very prone to crossing with eximium and pubescens. I grew 2 plants from seeds taken from a true C.cardenasii plant, but both plants I got were crosses - one with pubescens, one with eximium. 
 
Both Chris and I have spent considerable time looking for true C.cardenasii through as many people as we both know. So far, we have struck out. The guys at www.wildchilli.eu DO have the real thing, actually collected in Bolivia by them. They are not, however, giving out seeds. 
 
Because of all this above, the vast majority that are growing "C.cardenasii" are growing a cardenasii cross. I am seriously considering a trip to Bolivia next spring, to find Capsicums in the wild and photograph them. I do not know yet whether any seeds could be collected legally, but I`m trying to find out.
 
$1,000,000 question:  Why would someone not make these particular seeds available?
 
The one from wildchilli.eu is claimed to be under contract with a seed bank and therefore they are unable to distribute seeds. I have no idea if that is true, but I`m always inclined to believe people until proven otherwise. 
 
Nigel said:
Where`s cmpman1974 when you need him?!?!?!?!? Or Pr0digal_son?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
 
I realize you are using quotes for a reason on your cardenasii!
 
Chris grew CGN 20497 this year and his turned out to be a cross, almost certainly with C.pubescens. People in Italy also got a similar result. The current thinking is that the CGN 20497 in circulation is actually a Rocopica. It`s still possible that the seeds at the CGN seed bank are true C.cardenasii, but they don`t give them out, so it`s hard to say. 
 
C.cardenasii does appear to be self-incompatible and is very prone to crossing with eximium and pubescens. I grew 2 plants from seeds taken from a true C.cardenasii plant, but both plants I got were crosses - one with pubescens, one with eximium. 
 
Both Chris and I have spent considerable time looking for true C.cardenasii through as many people as we both know. So far, we have struck out. The guys at www.wildchilli.eu DO have the real thing, actually collected in Bolivia by them. They are not, however, giving out seeds. 
 
Because of all this above, the vast majority that are growing "C.cardenasii" are growing a cardenasii cross. I am seriously considering a trip to Bolivia next spring, to find Capsicums in the wild and photograph them. I do not know yet whether any seeds could be collected legally, but I`m trying to find out.
Buy a bird down there. feed it all the peppers you want to grow. come back with the bird and wait for nature to call.
 
Hi Nigel I know the owner of Rocoto.com is Bolivian and went there on a trip to collect seeds, but went there either to early or to late, but did collect some Aji and Rocoto seeds I think all he had was a collectors note to export said seeds, but that was back about 2003 or 04 maybe earlier.
Being that neither you , Chris cmpman1974 nor prOdical son has had any luck? I wonder if there is any true cardenasii out there that isn't under Lock and Key.  Having said that I think the best hope of finding a real cardenasii would be to take a trip to find where it is growing wild and take photo's of it and collect a few seeds to grow out and check for crosses, maybe in the same trip collect any other seeds from wild species that might be growing there. To bad you can't do that in Brazil with some of the Eastern types but they are under a no export law there, I hope that hasn't happen in Peru or Boliva. Has anyone with contacts with our GRIN Seed Banks tried to find out if the cardenasii that they have is a cross or not ?
 
I agree with you George, going to Bolivia is possibly the only way to get seeds. I am serious about going there next spring, but we`ll have to wait and see whether I can swing the trip or not. I have the GPS co-ordinates for cardenasii collection sites, as well as a few other Bolivian wild species. The problem is that Bolivia is extremely mountainous and getting around is far from straightforward. There are also very few detailed maps of Bolivia, unlike south eastern Brazil.
 
Most of the wild species occur at around 10-12,000 feet altitude, so there is that to contend with, as well. I have spent numerous weeks at 9,000-10,000 feet in the Rockies and probably got altitude sickness 50% of the times I was there. That is not fun at all!
 
Nigel said:
I agree with you George, going to Bolivia is possibly the only way to get seeds. I am serious about going there next spring, but we`ll have to wait and see whether I can swing the trip or not. I have the GPS co-ordinates for cardenasii collection sites, as well as a few other Bolivian wild species. The problem is that Bolivia is extremely mountainous and getting around is far from straightforward. There are also very few detailed maps of Bolivia, unlike south eastern Brazil.
 
Most of the wild species occur at around 10-12,000 feet altitude, so there is that to contend with, as well. I have spent numerous weeks at 9,000-10,000 feet in the Rockies and probably got altitude sickness 50% of the times I was there. That is not fun at all!
you'd probably have to hire a guide, no? Too bad it's not the Peruvian altitude you would be dealing with. They have a certain leaf you can chew on. I hear it's quite effective at curing altitude sickness, not to mention, boosting endurance!
 
I was just going to say the same thing, All the locals chew especially when they get really high up keeps the minds clear and helps them breath. Getting a guid would be your best luck to tracking them down. I have seen some of the mountain slopes there and Steep doesn't begin to describe them. You could try going to the big open Market where they are selling fresh produce they might have a small pile of Ulupica, but then you would have to ask if they were grown next to any other species of pepper that it might have crossed with, they might give you an idea where they are located at least. 
 
I believe said leaf is available in Bolivia and Peru at Gas Stations for a few cents a bag! The other thing that helps with altitude is viagra  :shocked:  No, really, it is actually true. 
 
C.cardenasii was first described from plants grown from pods found in a market in La Paz, Bolivia, so searching local markets is a must-do when there. It would be great fun, too!
 
A guide would be indispensable, but whether reliable guides are available in Bolivia is a question I can`t answer at the moment. 
 
maybe OP should reconsider sharing a few seeds with Nigel or some other serious grower who has a similar passion for chillies? can't imagine growing such a fascinating variety alone and thereby denying others a chance to grow it out to be much fun.. i could understand it if it was some secret cross project he was working on but this one exists naturally, no?

oh well :/
 
RoninCat said:
maybe OP should reconsider sharing a few seeds with Nigel or some other serious grower who has a similar passion for chillies? can't imagine growing such a fascinating variety alone and thereby denying others a chance to grow it out to be much fun.. i could understand it if it was some secret cross project he was working on but this one exists naturally, no?

oh well :/
I have a variety that has been floating around for a while that is not an actual Cardenasii but a  Cardenasii cross that is mislabeled as Cardenasii hence the Quotations the true Cardenasii is Very rare to come by this variety has been shared for years I have even shared with a few people
 
RoninCat said:
Ah, I didn't notice that.  :oops: 

I apologise for the hasty comment.
 
No worries, it`s stupidly complicated! I had seeds this year from a real species expert in Italy and they ended up being crosses. It`s a very tough species to keep clean and true. CGN 20497 is claimed to be C.cardenasii,  but the few that have grown it out this year have found that it is a cross between cardenasii and pubescens. Whether what the CGN seed bank in Holland has is real cardenasii or not is debatable, as they have not given out seeds in a decade. 
 
I am also friends with Nightshade, so we are in contact about what his seeds produce. 
 
I have a small amount of CGN 20497 that I will be growing out this coming 2015 season, I'm hoping to get at least 3 plants out of it,  the bag they are in it looks like the post office ran it through a sorting machine a couple of times as there are pressure marks on the baggy, so I hope they didn't get crushed. I got some other seeds that were in the envelope,  that also had presser marks those seeds may have come through as they were still in their tiny pods. The post office may have run the plain envelope through their sorting machine, but I should have looked harder and found the bubble wrap envelopes that I had and sent them instead,  lesson learned.
It will still be fun to see if these show signs of being crossed with a rocoto or eximium, although It may take some time to get the real cardenasii species.
 
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