Capturing second year crosses growing process

Last year I grew a few accidental crosses, so putting this grow log together to capture the second year variations when they come in.

One was a Habanero x Wild Colombian, which is the center right column in the picture below. These were somewhat fleshy, but very juicy, often containing so much water the skins would rip and burst if left on the plant too long. They had the flavor of a Habanero, but more heat and a much longer burn duration, but very tolerable. When they started to ripen they'd take only a couple days to fully ripen. These made a really good hot sauce, or as a modifier to heat up dishes without using a lot of pods. These unfortunately did not dehydrate well, becoming almost like a dehydrated apple, so they didn't make good flakes.

Second was a Reaper x Wild Colombian, and it's the center left column in the picture. They have a somewhat Reaper appearance, but with the Colombian "belly button" end instead of the Reaper tails. They were small, often smaller than a US quarter, and usually had less than 5 seeds per pod. These are ridiculously hot, and are the only pepper I actually don't like eating. The burn is long, upwards of 20 minutes from a single bite. They are also very juicy, but more on the oily side which makes it difficult to eat without it coating your whole mouth with an instant burn sensation. I've planted about 15 of these this year, so I'm excited to see what F2 ends up like.

Both of these are accidental and I did nothing to control the crossing/pollination. In the picture from left two right (top and bottom are the same for all), Carolina Reapers, Reaper x Colombian, Habanero x Colombian, and Caribbean Red Habanero.

 

[wiicek]

Oh, I'm excitrd with you then, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing all those variations created by ourselves hanging there in grear amounts!

Have a prolific and interesting season!

 

[shibby]

First peppers are sprouting from pod 22. I numbered all the pods so I know which plants theoretically should be the same. These have a smoother texture and are missing the small point at the end that last year's peppers had, but they still have a ways to go before ripe. These might end up looking like the Habanero hybrids more than the reaper. I also have no idea what these crossed with. They were surrounded by half a dozen other plants. Another 22 plant has some really purple pollen, it's hard to capture the depth of the color in a picture.

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

Accidental crossings are always a lot of fun! However, always evaluate the remote possibility that the original parental seeds were already from open pollinated plants, and that there is always some variability in shapes and spiciness between plants, and differences in phenotype due to environmental conditions. In any case, the F2 generation will be able to tell you more! Good luck with your project

 

[PaulG]

Very interesting. Good luck with your grow this season.

 

[shibby]

Some pepper ripened already. They did not get bigger, and none of them have produced seeds. There's a couple plants with larger peppers that have not ripened yet, hopefully they have seeds.

These ones are not very hot, probably on par with a Jalapeno, but have a slightly fruity flavor. It's like a milder, bite size Habanero.

 

[HerbCasa]

Hey, those look awesome.
I'm going to be following this grow to see how they turn out.

How will you be selecting them?
Are you trying to make this into a project?
I also like that they are cross of a wild specimen

Keep up the good work

 

[shibby]

Hey, those look awesome.
I'm going to be following this grow to see how they turn out.

How will you be selecting them?
Are you trying to make this into a project?
I also like that they are cross of a wild specimen

Keep up the good work

I'm not really selecting or controlling the cross pollination, just letting nature do it for me. This plant that ripened first was one I planted early December, so it's been a good 7+ months growing already.

I do plan on cloning the plants that make fruits I like. I wished I did that with the parent plants last year.

 

[shibby]

Some progress pictures before everything starts to ripen. The small round peppers I posted last month were all seedless and had zero pith. I believe they were just premature and started growing before I got them in the ground. I took them all off and let the plants start over with new flowers.

First set is of the non-hybrids. I like seeing how everything is coming along. Not all of my plants have sprouted peppers yet. I'm holding out hope for my Dragon's Breath and Naga Vipers but they are very late at this point.

And for the hybrids... Each number after the dash is the pod it came from. So 16.1 and 16.2 are from the same pod and theoretically should have the same looking peppers, but they're slightly different. I think one received more nutrients than the other. Otherwise they both seem to have the same bumpy texture.

16.2 is the cross I was hoping for the most, but 17 is exciting too. All of these crosses came from one of three F1 plants, and those three plants all came from the same F0 parent. So F2 came all this way from one plant, kind of exciting to see the changes over time. Some of the seeds are from different pods of the same F1 parent but a different cross. All of the F1 crosses I believe are either Wild Colombian x Reaper or Wild Colombian x Ghost. My guess for the F2 crosses this year are:

• F2-2 --> F1 x Thai Chili
• F2-16.1/2 --> F1 x Ghost
• F2-17 --> F1 x Thai Dragon
• F2-24 --> F1 x Habanero or Wicked Ghost
• F2-23 --> F1 x Wicked Ghost

I'm really hoping something crosses with the Hallows Eve or the Leopards. I'd love to see a black/orange/red coloration on a fully ripened pepper, and some of them are planted right next to the Hallows Eve so it's more likely than not.

Something I've noticed on all of the hybrids is the lack of a skinny tail. This is what makes me believe the F1 is a cross with a Ghost pepper and not a Reaper. They're also the only pepper I've seen with an "inny" tail, where the bottom makes a small inward dip instead of coming to an outward point. This is noticeable in the first picture I posted on the cutting board as well.

So far, I'm really happy with the variety that's come out of a single random plant I bought for the heck of it 2 years ago. I'll be cloning plants 16.2, 23, and Hallows Eve for sure this fall. If the others turn out to be super hot or good flavor I may clone more.

 

[shibby]

Some ripe peppers. First are hallows eve, but for some reason they lost all their dark coloration when turning red. They smell really nice, I plan to make pepper flakes from this plant.

Next is one of the hybrids, I believe from pod 22. I don't have a picture of it in the previous post, but it's close to the habanero cross from the very first post.

Last is from pod 17, but not the same 17 as the previous post. I have two plant 17's and they made vastly different peppers. So I either mislabeled the plants or mixed up the seeds. Either way, this one is the original hottest and same as the very first post's center left peppers. It has a very spongy outer shell, almost like the shell is the same as the pithe, and is usually oily. I absolutely don't like eating this one. Hiccups, burning ears, watery eyes/nose, whole nine yards, from a single bite sized pepper.

 

[shibby]

One of the #16 plants is starting to ripen. This one is almost a copy of the #17 from the previous post in terms of heat, smell, and flavor. It's just bigger and more gnarly looking. The shell is extremely soft, and the inside almost feels like a wet sponge. Very soft and squishy.

 

[shibby]

This is the majority of the crosses now. First are WC x habanero, not too hot but good flavor. These will become hot sauces.

Next are #17 (not the small originals), they are most likely WC x Ghost. Very hot, and fairly large peppers. I really like these ones and plan to clone them.

Another likely WC x Ghost cross, but these ones ended up being smaller.

Then I ended up with a weird cross of a ghost pepper and something else. I thought this would be a plain ghost pepper, but turned out neat none the less. They all have the tops unripened for some reason, leaving a green tint to the skin.

These were supposed to be Leopard peppers, but clearly crossed with something else. Again, most likely is a ghost pepper since they grew in close proximity. I'm going to clone this one too and see what it does next year. These still aren't ripe yet and are taking a very long time to turn. They've been green and black for 1.5 months.

 

[shibby]

I really like the look of this one. Not all of the peppers on this plant look like this, but I'm going to see if I can grow this one specifically. The overlapping walls with a center spike just looks cool.

 

[shibby]

The leopard pepper cross finally ripenned, turned out kind of cool. Definitely saving this one.

 

[shibby]

Probably the last post for the season. A mid-ripening pic of the leopard crosses above, and a scoville heat unit test on peppers 16 and 17 above. I just thought the colors of the mid-ripe pepper were really cool, it eventually turned black and red. The scoville test was just for fun, I knew the peppers were hot, and was curious just how hot. I can say I have a hybrid cross of 1M SHU, but I know that number it's highly variable.

 

[growyourown]

how much does that testing cost, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[shibby]

That specific lab was $63 per sample for dehydrated powder. Sending fresh peppers costs extra. They need at least 10g of powder to work with, which I think came out to around 20 peppers since they were fairly small and thin walled.

 

[growyourown]

neat! it would be awesome if more people did this so they could advertise their peppers/sauces with an actual heat level.

 

[FroggyMamma]

im making habanero jalaepeno hybrid in er um week 5 of the plant is looking much like habanero thus far i havent started clog of that yet but perhaps soon i hope the jalapeno speeds up the habanero is reason i like my plants to go faster plus get annoyed with slow rippening and wanting bigger pods is my motivastion of crossing as of yet am waiting of flowers but am going to attemp to make bell pepper super hots crosses fingers crossed and never know people say i couldnt do jalapeno habanero but i did and see it works all peppers might cross but is not always likely weee gardening i use soil but prefer hydroponics bleassed gardening i like your doing crosses is thing i like to do also blessed

 

[wiicek]

Im sorry, I wrote something stupid, because of weird misundetstanding. I will go now and die silently of shame...