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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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AAxV (variegated)

Among all the seeds collected last year from AAx4 F2 (I planted them all!) 3 variegated plants emerged. As posted before, all 3 produced flowers with curved petals. The plants reached 3 feet (height/width) and were very bushy, almost as if they had been topped younger. The fruits were not very spicy but some had a noticeable heat attacking mainly the lips. Also, it looks like my stink bugs had absolutely no fuck to give about these variegated plants, which is good news😅

AAxV1
Variegation somehow faded as this plant grew but new shoots were all very pale compared to the older leaves (it looked like a plant with some kind of mineral deficiency!) Production was very good with golf ball sized fruits averaging just over 16.5g each. The thick-fleshed fruits had a very sweet aroma and a taste close to Aji Ahuachapan but not as strong.

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AAxV2
The variegation was less apparent in this one right from the start and it faded even more once under the sun. Great producer of large fruits weighing 23.3g on average. More pronounced citrus taste here with a very subtle soapiness in the background (not persistent). Thick-walled fruits easy to deseed.

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AAxV3

The third plant looked good but turned out to be a total disappointment as it only produced a few flowers. The foliage was not as variegated as that of AAxV1 but much more so than that of the AAxV2. The only fruits I harvested looked exactly like those of plant #1.

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I collected a heap of seeds from plants #1 and #2 (none from plant #3).. I will sow everything next February to maximize my chances of finding other variegated plants in the next generation🤞
 

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AAxV2 is a really beauty, I love the picture of the giant one. What a shape! 😍
Yeah me too it's almost perfectly symmetrical!
 
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A small batch of AAxV1 and V2 seeds was sown on November 9 to test for viability. Hoping to find variegation and Neyde influences in the next generation.

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AAxV1
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AAxV2
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Perhaps among the first variegated C. baccatum x C. chinense. All it takes is a little anthocyanin in the mix for the win🥳
 
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