ChilliCrosser Crosses

I've opted to keep details of my crossing projects in this dedicated thread rather than include it in my 2021 Glog

Edited this post to summarise what crosses I've got and where they are at, I will try and keep it current. Dates in status column reflect when I've updated the information not when the cross was actually made. I've not included every historic cross I've ever made and ignores anything where I haven't got at least F1 seeds unless I thought it was useful to record. Information might be useful to someone at some point.

ChilliCrosser Cross	Current Status
X001 : Bolivian Rainbow x Cheiro Roxa (C.Annuum x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: F1 seeds, not grown on yet.
X002 : Fijian Bongo x Cheiro Roxa (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Only had a single F1 seed even though this was an intraspecific, strange result and the seed didn't germinate. End of cross project.
X003 : Brazilian Starfish Red x [CGN21500 x 7 Pot Barrackpore] (C.Baccatum x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Had plenty of F1 seeds from the original F0 pods. First attempt to grow an F1 was ended when weather finished off the plant before any fruiting. Currently growing four F1 plants outdoors in the 2021 season. All looking healthy but concerned I've not seen any fruit setting yet. Possibly sterile but reserving judgement until the end of the season.
X004 : Tasmanian Habanero x Giant White Habanero (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Growing F2 plants, some initial pods setting.
X005 : Fidalgo Roxa x Giant White Habanero (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Growing F2 plants, no pods set yet.
X006 : Fidalgo Roxa x Fijian Bongo (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Growing F2 plants, some initial pods setting.
X007 : Fijian Bongo x Aji Jobito (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Growing F2 plants, some initial pods setting.
X008 : Fijian Bongo x Brazilian Starfish Yellow (C.Chinense x C.Baccatum)	16/8/21: F1 seeds.
X009 : Brazilian Starfish Yellow x C.Flexuosum (C.Baccatum x C.Flexuosum)	16/8/21: Very small F0 pod set but zero F1 seeds. Inside of pod looked healthy. Lack of F1 seeds could have been due to pod size. One for me to try again at some point I think.
X010 : Brazilian Starfish Yellow x [CGN21500 x Grao De Bode] (C.Baccatum x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Had 4 F1 seeds from a single F0 pod, only 1 germinated. F1 plant taken out by a storm. End of cross project.
X011 : Giant White Habanero x Fijian Bongo (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Summary of wide range of phenotypes from F2 here. Currently have F3 seeds for all phenotypes and have been growing a batch of F3 plants for the red phenotypes outdoors this season, waiting on F3 pods from these so hope to have F4 seeds this year. Most likely to also grow forward the Apricot Peach phenos to stabilise.
X012 : Brazilian Starfish Yellow x Tasmanian Habanero (C.Baccatum x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: Had an F0 pod but no F1 seeds. End of cross project.
X013 : White Bhut Jolokia JW x Variegated Jalapeno (C.Chinense x C.Annuum)	16/8/21: F1 seeds, not grown on yet.
X014 : White Bhut Jolokia JW x Sweet Apple Kambe (C.Chinense x C.Annuum)	16/8/21: Single F1 seed, not grown on yet.
X015 : White Bhut Jolokia JW x Scotch Brains XCP Chocolate (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: F1 seeds, not grown on yet.
X016 : White Bhut Jolokia JW x Brazilian Starfish Red (C.Chinense x C.Baccatum)	16/8/21: Had 2 F1 seeds from a small F0 pod, both failed to germinate. End of cross project.
X017 : White Bhut Jolokia JW x Sugar Rush Stripey (C.Chinense x C.Baccatum)	16/8/21: Had 2 F1 seeds from a small F0 pod, both failed to germinate. End of cross project.
X018 : Brazilian Starfish Red x Peppacream (C.Baccatum x C.Baccatum)	16/8/21: Started as an accidental cross. Starting to get ripe F1 pods with F2 seeds. Super tasty!
X019 : Clavo Peach x Sugar Rush Stripey (C.Chinense x C.Baccatum)	16/8/21: Had 3 F0 pods, each with healthy looking F1 seeds. Started germination for some F1 seeds from each of the F0 pods on 14/8/21, waiting to see if viable.
X020 : Scarlett's Chilli x Indian Chilli Bullet (C.Annuum x C.Annuum)	16/8/21: F1 seeds, not grown on yet.
X021 : Sugar Rush Stripey x White Bhut Jolokia JW (C.Baccatum x C.Chinense)	16/8/21: First F0 pod was unhealthy inside, only 1 F1 seed formed which still looked non-viable, tried to germinate it anyway but no surprises when it failed. Have another F0 pod ripening, waiting to see if that's any better.
X022 : Clavo Peach x Brazilian Starfish Yellow (C.Chinense x C.Baccatum)	16/8/21: F1 seeds, not grown on yet.
X023 : [BOC x Aji Pineapple] x Sugar Rush Stripey ([C.Chinense x C.Baccatum] x C.Baccatum)	16/8/21: F1 seeds, not grown on yet.

FAQs
- Why so many crosses? Please check my username.

- Seriously, why so many crosses? I like to have plenty of F1 seeds available to pick from at the start of a growing cycle. For me personally it stops me wishing I'd made some more crosses 6 months ago and when a particular cross project hits a dead end or doesn't look interesting I have something else I can quickly switch to. You'll see quite a few interspecific crosses in my list, they are often doomed to failure so having a Plan B helps.

- Are you attempting to stabilise all of these? No, only ones which head in a direction I like.

- How many plants do you grow? 90% of my crosses are started on indoor plants grown in mini-hydro kratky jars, 240ml/8oz. Plants are kept really small and I typically only get one or two F0 pods to get F1 seeds from. So far I've normally grown two F1 plants if possible, plant numbers in subsequent generations depend on how much space I have available in each growing cycle.

- Isn't it better to just focus on a single cross? If you like all your eggs in one basket and you're not concerned with sequentially growing projects over a very long time period then yes. This is just a hobby for me so I like to keep it varied and fun whilst still attempting to stabilise my favourites.

- Why haven't you given your crosses silly names? That time will come as is traditional in the chilli pepper world. I likely won't bother until I have something vaguely stable and predictable, possibly F4 onwards.

---

A summary of my live projects where I'm growing plants as of June 2021 are:

• X003 : Brazilian Starfish Red x [CGN21500 x 7 Pot Barrackpore] (C.Baccatum x C.Chinense)
• X004 : Tasmanian Habanero x Giant White Habanero (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)
• X005 : Fidalgo Roxa x Giant White Habanero (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)
• X006 : Fidalgo Roxa x Fijian Bongo (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)
• X007 : Fijian Bongo x Aji Jobito (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)
• X011 : Giant White Habanero x Fijian Bongo (C.Chinense x C.Chinense)

More details of where I'm at with generations, phenotypes, plants and photos in subsequent posts on this thread. Everything is early on and ranges from F1 to F3. I've also attempted some new crosses already this season so will also mention those.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

X011 F3 Apricot Peach line : Giant White Habanero x Fijian Bongo

Another pod from this F3 plant, still liking the colour.

 

[PaulG]

Nice 2"+ pods. Looks like a great cross.

 

[MarcV]

Very large and a beautiful color!

 

[ChilliCrosser]

 

[ChilliCrosser]

Re-homed an F2 from my X034 project (Sugar Rush Stripey x PDN). Only have a small number of F2s started on this as I was late harvesting seeds and apparently don't have infinite space Most of them don't even have true leaves yet.

This one has definitely hung on to the dark traits from the F1.

I've used Aerogardens for quite some time, still amazes me how quickly things grow in them when younger. One week later!

 

[ChilliCrosser]

A couple of examples from yesterdays update episode on my #stripeystarfish project.
Now getting ripe F1 pods on the orange breeding line (Brazilian Starfish Orange x Sugar Rush Stripey).

They ripen to red but the stripes are lurking in there if you look closely. Showing some areas which are more peach, similar but not as extreme as I saw on the ripe red pods on my X034 cross (Sugar Rush Stripey x PDN).

 

[ChilliCrosser]

Extra dark seedling compared to the other F2s just popped up on X034 (Sugar Rush Stripey x PDN). May not reflect in later growth but will watch and see.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

F2s on the alternative orange breeding line for #stripeystarfish up and running

 

[ChilliCrosser]

I may or may not have forgotten to do my weekly bonchi watering
On the upside the droopy leaves did draw this pod to my attention that I hadn't noticed forming
Yet another quirky one on the old F2 plant from my X011 Apricot Peach line. Recently I'd been posting pods from an F3.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

A couple of examples from yesterdays update episode on my #stripeystarfish project.
Now getting ripe F1 pods on the orange breeding line (Brazilian Starfish Orange x Sugar Rush Stripey).

They ripen to red but the stripes are lurking in there if you look closely. Showing some areas which are more peach, similar but not as extreme as I saw on the ripe red pods on my X034 cross (Sugar Rush Stripey x PDN).

Some better examples of hidden striping in the F1s on the orange breeding line of my #stripeystarfish project. An unripe pod on one of my F1 plants, it'll end up red but the underlying striping characteristics are more clearly visible. Should be good for non-red F2s although this specific F1 pod is one of the non-starfish shaped ones.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

X033 F1 : Brazilian Starfish Orange (C.Baccatum) x Jays Peach Ghost Scorpion (C.Chinense)

First ripe pod, looks slightly lighter yellow-orange in real life. Initial views:

• No super wacky shaped pods as yet on the F1, most are just like a slightly off-pheno orange starfish
• F1 plant looks terrible as squashed into an Aerogarden and had to hack it back several times to keep growth under control
• Wasn't sure if the cross had taken, plant slightly bushy for a starfish but all flower traits were Baccatum and no Chinense influences
• Ripe pod colour shade differs to the mother plant
• Quite oily inside, slight Chinense smell but not as strong as others I've had on interspecific crosses
• Taste was different! Initially you get the orange starfish flavour and then after a while you get hit with Chinense heat which then lingers. Had already cut placenta out to get the F2 seeds but I'd guess 2-3x the heat of a Sugar Rush Stripey. Will revise view when I have a handful of ripe pods to try.
• F2 seeds look healthy enough

F2 seeds seem viable, 11 days to emerge

 

[ChilliCrosser]

Small F1 plant for X024 : Indian Chilli Bullet (clustering) x Antep Aci Dolma. Nice low fork and first bud about to open.

 

[HeatMiser]

I've been following your glog and you have some pretty amazing stuff here. Hopefully you end up getting that stripey Brazilian Starfish - results look promising so far!

I have one question though - for your mini-kratky - how do you keep the plants from getting too big? With the amount of plants you are growing, I believe you have to keep a pretty good trimming regimen going. I'd love to see your setup.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

First pod formed on X024 F1 : Indian Chilli Bullet x Antep Aci Dolma

 

[ChilliCrosser]

I have one question though - for your mini-kratky - how do you keep the plants from getting too big? With the amount of plants you are growing, I believe you have to keep a pretty good trimming regimen going. I'd love to see your setup.

For big numbers of plants I'm always growing outdoors in pots.

For indoor growing I use a mix of:

• 240ml glass mason jars (kratky), 330ml cans (kratky), 16oz solo cups (coco) : for making crosses or growing F1s if they are likely to be seed heavy. Wire mesh shelving that most people use with LED strip lights
• 5 Aerogardens, 4 big & 1 small, that I use mainly for F1 plants where I need more pods or for occasional F2+ gen plants
• mini-DWC (1L) tubs in a 4'x2' tent for a mixture of plants. Only using that since late last year and worked very well but plants were bigger than I needed even in 1L tubs.

For keeping plants small I mainly use two approaches, firstly don't give them that much nitrogen, secondly keep selectively pruning as required. Some plants just want to be big, so that can be a challenge.

The Aerogardens pose the bigger challenge when trying to keep plants under control, the bigger models have 5L tanks which is a lot of root space! Sometimes you can grow multiple plants in a single Aerogarden to fruit but I find it often needs careful nutrient management.

What I really need is a big tent, a big greenhouse or tunnel or a large garden with a favourable climate. In the absence of all of those I make do with what I can :-)

 

[ChilliCrosser]

#stripeystarfish F2 nursery getting bigger every day, photo from last week, 50 plants. Now up to around 100, more yet to harden off.

 

[HellfireFarm]

For keeping plants small I mainly use two approaches, firstly don't give them that much nitrogen, secondly keep selectively pruning as required. Some plants just want to be big, so that can be a challenge.

Do you find that limiting root growth affects the size at all, or makes no difference?

 

[ChilliCrosser]

Do you find that limiting root growth affects the size at all, or makes no difference?

Yes it does to an extent. A small root system isn't going to support a massive plant. Plants can still get pretty big in small containers though so pruning needed sometimes.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

This thread has been devoid of updates for a few weeks. Plenty going on in pepper land but mostly repotting and wrestling with too many plants

First flower due to open soon on this F2 for X034 : Sugar Rush Stripey (C.Chinense) x Pimenta Da Neyde (C.Chinense). This one has had its flowering delayed as I've needed to prune it often to manage its growth in an AeroGarden. Have another 12 F2s for this which I'm growing outdoors in small pots.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

Forgot to post the final images of the random stinger pod that appeared again on my old X011 F2 Apricot Peach bonchi plant. I'm currently up to F4 plants on that colour. Not seen a plant consistently giving pods of this shape so far, unfortunately.