Sorry for taking so long to respond. I went on an impromptu cycling trip, and took a break from the inter-tubes. It looks like a number of you are already experimenting with these and similar crosses. I definitely plan on looking up tutorials for crossing on youtube, just to brush up. Luckily I've also learned how to cross pollinate flowers at school. This fall I'll be putting my orders in for the seeds of the varieties that I plan on using in these crosses. Any suggestion for preferred venders would be appreciated. I was thinking of ordering most from Atlantic Pepper Seeds, seen as how they have a large variety of seeds, and they are actively developing varieties for their cool, short Maritime summers.
After doing a bit of research, I think I've come to the conclusion that one of the hottest and earliest of annuums is Purira (still not sure if this actually a frutescens), which I have grown before. It does seem to be quite early, cool tolerant, and very hot. Another one I've recently come across was Firecracker (again, there seems to be confusion on line if it's annuum or frutescens). There appears to be mixed reports on it's heat level and days to maturity, no doubt due in part to it not being very common, so there's probably not a lot of grower experience. Some say 70 days, others 90 days. And the scoville rating is said to be anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 shu. So, perhaps like the Purira, there is variation in heat levels from plant to plant. Interestingly enough, it has multi-coloured fruits, like a Purira, but they are short and fat, and all point completely upwards, and taste fruity. The plants are suppose to be compact as well, and do well in containers. This is a new one for me, and sounds like such an interesting pepper, that it may be worth growing on it's own, as well as for use in crosses.
I also looked into cayennes, with an eye for larger, +100,000 shu, with early fruit. All I came across was the Charleston Cayenne. Not sure if this is early, I think it's 70-75 days. 60-65 days would be ideal. Ring of Fire Cayenne is a good one which actually is 65 days, but it's only 80,000 shu, and the fruits are smaller. I've had really good success with that variety in my area, and I'd consider it a the standard cayenne for coastal BC/ Lower Mainland/ Fraser Valley.
Of course, there are lots of more options if maximizing the heat isn't a limiting factor, and I can think of many varieties of annuums that will produce reliable in cool, short summers. In BC, the ones that have become common in the trade are Bulgarian Carrot, Hungarian Hot Wax (and a few other similar varieties), Early Jalapeno, Serrano, and Orange Hab and Red Caribbean Hab. Hot Paper Lantern seems to be common in a lot of seed catalogues in Canada, but it doesn't seem to be produced commercially, at least not out west. Another one I've had my eye on is Nigel's Outdoor Pepper from the Real Seed Company in the UK, which is said to be the only hot pepper that can produce fully ripened peppers planted outdoors in most parts of England and Wales. In fact, their website claims that it ripen reliably outdoors in Wales, which is pretty impressive given Wales reputation for being cold, wet, and basically not getting what we in NA would consider a real summer. So I'm definitely going to be ordering that one, if not for crossing, then just to have one more reliable outdoor hot pepper for this region. Yellow Siam is also suppose to be quite hot, and remains productive in cooler climates. [SIZE=11pt]Chimayo sounds like a good one, to, the description on the Adaptive Seed website says it's only 65 days, but it sounds like the fruits are only moderately hot, but they sound super tasty.
Anyway, that's what I've come across so far. I'll keep you all posted as the project progresses, and may have some seed to trade or give away at some point. All and any advice and pointers would be appreciated, and I'd definitely like to hear about what ever crosses anyone else has already worked on.[/SIZE]
