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“Okay, I reckon the hare gets fucked”

Here we go again. Summer 2021 : I hand pollinated some Aji Ahuachapan (aka CAP 220) flowers with Hallow’s Eve pollen. I was hoping to create a hybrid with the taste and production of the Aji (a favorite of mine) but on a dark plant bearing hotter fruits. I didn't use mini Ziploc bags or any other pollen "barriers" because I wanted to prevent the pollinated flowers from overheating and then falling off. A fruit finally formed on one of them so I thought my first cross was born!

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Next year (2022). I grew a single F1 plant. The foliage was beautiful with its dark margins and veins, as were the stems. The flowers looked great too, showing characteristics of both species.

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Unfortunately, the fruits took too long to ripen and frost came early so I ended up collecting very few seeds. Of the lot, only 9 proved viable.

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This year, all plants (F2) grew quite well (except plant #6 which did not survive) but only plant #4 expressed a good quantity of anthocyanin. However, as soon as the pods started to form, I noticed something weird: the presence of a bleeding calyx on some fruits🤔 Since neither parent had this trait I immediately knew “my cross” wasn’t mine but rather the work of bees or ants. I'm not a genetic engineer but I highly doubt this could be the result of a spontaneous mutation either. In other words I’m stuck with another pure basterd, hence the name of this GLOG "Okay, I reckon the hare gets fucked" (a quote from the Snatch movie). Dammit!!

I went back to look at my 2021 planting map to confirm that I had only grown 2 BBG crosses at the time, including 3 Midnight BBG plants that were nearby my CAP 220. 🤯What were the odds for this kind of bad luck happening, with a flower I hand pollinated earlier on?! However, my initial disappointment was short-lived as I now have an orange C. baccatum x C. chinense cross with dark foliage and a bleeding calyx genetic to play with! From now on this cross will be called AAx. Here are photos of the current generation (F2).

AAx 1 (a very slow grower; might ripen to yellow)

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AAx 2

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AAx 3

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AAx 4 (🏆the chosen one!)

The only one to show the lankier growth habit commonly observed with Pimenta de Neyde crosses. It's a very good producer of heavy, thick-walled and crunchy pods that retained the main flavor of CAP220 with only a tiny hint of that crappy soapy aftertaste!

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AAx 5

A lot of placental tissue here but the pod texture is softer and not crunchy at all.

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AAx 6 (RIP!)

AAx 7 (another slow grower!)

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AAx 8

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AAx 9
(the only yellow, so far!)

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The latter has that usual citrusy flavor profile while also being quite "soapy"🤢
 
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How are you going to separate all those seedlings?
It is way easier than it seems and even if I break some smaller roots during the process they should recover quite fast. Sometimes the tiny roots get too tangled, so I just pour a little water over the rootball and, as the soil washes away, I can separate and select the seedlings I want to keep.
 
The official AAx F3 roster (10 plants with strong anthocyanin expression + 2 variegated). I also decided to sow another batch of seeds just in case I could find more of these unexpected variegated seedlings🤞

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Awesome stuff. Love to see the artistry of a chilli crossing professor!!
!!! Thanks Trippa but I'll have to pass your kind words on to the bees and ants when they will resurrect from our not yet finished winter!

Even though my manual pollination attempt seemed to have been successful at first (the pod took), I'm almost certain that cross pollination occurred because the supposed father (Hallow's Eve) doesn't have a bleeding calyx, but the sneaky neighbor did (Midnight BBG)!
 
AAx variegated update

At this point I am confident that the variegation pattern will continue to express itself as the plant grows.

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It's still early to tell but given the appearance of the cotyledons so far, this other seedling seems even more promising!

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AAx variegated

Although 2 of my 3 specimens have lost most of their variegation since baking under the sun, all produce flowers with curved petals🤔

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AAx variegated

Another curiosity: even though they just start producing, unlike their non-variegated siblings it seems that their fruits will more closely resemble those of Capsicum baccatum.
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Hi Bou, I haven't been active here for a long time, but now im finally back to growing again! I hope we can exchange some seeds after the season like we talked about :)

It's so fun to follow your crosses and honest reviews! Thats how we all should do it :)
 
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So, after updating my DRx GLOG, why not update this one too?!

The 3rd generation of AAx produced mixed results with significant variability between plants, including the apparition of variegation. Some expressed their Pimenta de Neyde DNA more than others, producing dark but also tall and lanky plants with very long internodes and limited + late production. On the other hand, some became "bushier", but productivity remained uneven between plants. While shapes were all over the place, at least the bleeding calyx from last year reappeared on many specimens. In most cases, the fruit had the same flavor, level of crunch and spiciness as last year. Although plant #6 was targeted by stink bugs, the overall yield was very good with an average weight of 21.3g per pod. Even if my decision is not final at this point, it could be the one that will be used to move foward.

Plant #1
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#2
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#3 More elongated shapes here
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#4 This one was not very productive but a real stink bug magnet 🙄
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#5
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#6 Heavy and thick-walled but another stink bugs target (less than plant #4 though)
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#7 Slender plant with pods similar to those from the mother. Ridiculous production with only a handful of fruits in total!
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#8 Very high productivity with this one but also a stink bugs favorite.
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#9 Similar to #8 but for some unknown reasons not at all attractive to stink bugs.
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#10 Found dead dry about a month or so after planting, probably dug up by a skunk looking for food. Side story: a skunk family has been using the underside of my front porch as an apartment since 2022. As they live there rent-free (except for the fact that they rid my lawn of grubs), no way I'm not petting the babies!
For those who are about to say ":pics:", eat this:

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