Pequaccio F2 Selection

[Donnie]

This is another of my crosses. The mother variety was the dwarf pequin-type, Pequin da Ischia, and the pollen donor was a cluster type. 50 F2-plants were grown, only 5 showed the mazzetti/cluster-trait wanted. This is the one selected for further development, it is compact, early and pods dry nicely on the plant for ease of storing. A nice one for window sill growing...



 

 

[Datil]

Another nice one Donnie.
Just a question, given that you're growing a big enough numbers of plants, why dont'you go with the selection path with an existing variety instead of trying many crosses? E.g. select hotter/faster producing plants of Pequin da Ischia year after year until they're fully adapted to your weather? Seems faster to me.

Cya

Datil

 

[Donnie]

Datil, I am not sure I understand your question, so please ask again if question not covered...:-) Initially, I have to make a cross/hybridization with Pequin da Ischia (already a stable variety) in order to get variation from the F2-generation on. From there I do not see a faster way of stabilizing than selecting the best plant each generation and growing from isolated/selfed seeds. So, I am not familiar with a way of creating a stable new variety faster than this...
To me, it seems I am following common practice when it comes to breeding, here's an example from The Chili Pepper Institute... http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/content/files/Garnet.pdf

 

[Datil]

If your goal is about having a variety producing earlier and resisting better to cold it's easier imho to select than cross. You choose the fastest/strongest plant of an already stable variety, save seeds and do the same year after year until they're fully acclimatized (think eg of Dorset Naga or Spanish Naga). If you like to create something new you're obviously right (you can backcross or do some other tricks but is out of my question).

Cya

Datil

 

[Donnie]

Most strains of Naga and Bhut were not stable at all when they first landed in the hands of hobby growers or CPI, I actually grew 4 quite different plants of Naga Morich back in 2007. Everybody seemed to have a slightly different type when comparing pictures back then. Add to this that a lot of new hybrids show up due to unintentional crossing, this is why there is such a vast number of Bhut and Naga types/strains around. The Pequin da Ischia on the other hand has been very stable for me for about 10 years of growing, no real differences, so would not be able to select one plant over the other. If we are talking adaptation of a stable variety to a colder climate, I believe we are talking more than a few years of growing...
But I am trying to create something new, not perfecting an existing variety, this would not be very interesting to me.