I know there have been many questions on breeding/crossing chiles over the last couple of days and I thought it would be nice to post a guide of sorts to show those who are interested in breeding one way to accomplish it.
These pictures are not from me but are courtesy of www.fatalii.net
First, let's get to know the anatomy of the chile plant flower
The Sigma and Pistol are the female parts of the flower. The Stamens are the male parts of the flower
The next step is to choose the 2 compatiable types you would like to try to cross (I will post a chart below that shows which species are compatiable)
Choose the type you would like to be the female (mother) of your cross. Select an UNOPENED flower from your mother plant. If you wait until the flower is opened, there is a chance that it could have already been pollinated, either by another plant or itself.
Using tweezers, carefully remove the petals from your unopened flower. Sometimes a magnifying glass is needed. This process of removing the petals and stamens is called emasculating.
After all the petals are removed you should see this:
Next, using tweezers, carefully remove all of the stamens. Be extra careful not to damage the stigma or pistol
After all of the stamens are removed you should see this:
You now have a purely female flower.
Next step is to get yourself a q-tip and rub it around the center of the opened flower on your father plant. You then want to take the pollen on the q-tip and transfer it to the pistol of your pure female flower.
***You may want to emasculate more than one unopened flower on your mother plant to increase your chance of success.***
After this is done, you should label or mark the flowers on the female plant with the species you crossed and any other information you may need.
If the cross is successful you should see a pod start to form. if the flower drops off then you will know the cross didn't take. If this happens, it does not mean that the 2 species cannot cross, it just means that it did not take on that particular flower. Don't give up if it doesn't take on the first time.
The following chart shows which species will cross.
If you are lucky and do happen to get a pod from a flower you crossed, you will not be able to tell a difference. The genetic information for the cross is stored inside the seeds of that pod. You would have to harvest those seeds and plant them to see the results of your cross.
I hope this helps answer some questions anybody may have had about breeding chiles.
Thanks for looking,
Vincent
These pictures are not from me but are courtesy of www.fatalii.net
First, let's get to know the anatomy of the chile plant flower
The Sigma and Pistol are the female parts of the flower. The Stamens are the male parts of the flower
The next step is to choose the 2 compatiable types you would like to try to cross (I will post a chart below that shows which species are compatiable)
Choose the type you would like to be the female (mother) of your cross. Select an UNOPENED flower from your mother plant. If you wait until the flower is opened, there is a chance that it could have already been pollinated, either by another plant or itself.
Using tweezers, carefully remove the petals from your unopened flower. Sometimes a magnifying glass is needed. This process of removing the petals and stamens is called emasculating.
After all the petals are removed you should see this:
Next, using tweezers, carefully remove all of the stamens. Be extra careful not to damage the stigma or pistol
After all of the stamens are removed you should see this:
You now have a purely female flower.
Next step is to get yourself a q-tip and rub it around the center of the opened flower on your father plant. You then want to take the pollen on the q-tip and transfer it to the pistol of your pure female flower.
***You may want to emasculate more than one unopened flower on your mother plant to increase your chance of success.***
After this is done, you should label or mark the flowers on the female plant with the species you crossed and any other information you may need.
If the cross is successful you should see a pod start to form. if the flower drops off then you will know the cross didn't take. If this happens, it does not mean that the 2 species cannot cross, it just means that it did not take on that particular flower. Don't give up if it doesn't take on the first time.
The following chart shows which species will cross.
If you are lucky and do happen to get a pod from a flower you crossed, you will not be able to tell a difference. The genetic information for the cross is stored inside the seeds of that pod. You would have to harvest those seeds and plant them to see the results of your cross.
I hope this helps answer some questions anybody may have had about breeding chiles.
Thanks for looking,
Vincent
