Hello, I'm new to the forums here. I wanted to bring up a cross I came upon when growing carolina reapers and jalapenos in a community garden. I've been told that jalapeno crosses are very rare and seeds of a resulting cross don't tend to produce fruit. I guess I proved that wrong? The F1 pod I saved the seeds for were super hot with a knotty outside flesh of a reaper, but elongated shape of a jalapeno. The pepper flesh was on the thin side like that of a ghost pepper, and about as hot as a ghost pepper, but tasted almost exactly like a jalapeno.
With the idea that these crosses are rare, I saved the seeds and planted an F2 bunch of seedlings in my closet for the winter in small pots AND THEY GREW. I separated 1 of them and self pollinated it and then let the other 4 all cross pollinate each other freely. the self pollinated one, AKA Grouchy, flowered and grew pods the quickest. Grouchy grew larger pods of the same shape as the F1 cross, but it was MUCH hotter (comparable to a reaper). Grouchy pods had VERY thin knotty flesh with oozing capsaicin on the inside walls of the pod. Oddly though, the flesh of a Grouchy pod had a bit of a savory flavor and almost tomato like, but nothing like jalapenos. Grouchy pods also had NO spice for at least 10 seconds, and then BOOM immediate hit of heat to the back of the throat that lasted for a good 15-30 minutes.
2 of the other F2 crosses never grew flowers which I thought was odd, and then the other 2 F2 crosses left grew two different pods, I'll call them Vincent and Julius.
Vincent grew runt pods that were the size of a grape. Vincent's pods took FOREVER to polinate and took even longer to ripen, but also superhot with a floral flavor similar to reaper. Vincent, least attractive of the bunch, looked similar to the F1 cross, but was very similar heat level to the F1 cross, but had the flavor of a reaper.
Julius was similar to Grouchy, but grew the largest leaves, sprouted the quickest, grew tall very quickly, but the pods had very similar aspects to Grouchy's pods. The only real differences was the heat was even hotter with an immediate, longer lasting burn and a thicker flesh.
I don't really want to pay $60 bucks to get one of these tested for heat level, and also I want to find a stable hybrid before doing so anyway. I'm very new to cross breeding, but I've been gardening for quite a bit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will take pictures of the plants in my closet with some of the pods ripening and a cross section of one of Vincent's pods for demonstration.
with my thumb as a guide to size, the smallest is from Vincent, the bigger green one is from Julius and the orange bigger one is from Grouchy.
With the idea that these crosses are rare, I saved the seeds and planted an F2 bunch of seedlings in my closet for the winter in small pots AND THEY GREW. I separated 1 of them and self pollinated it and then let the other 4 all cross pollinate each other freely. the self pollinated one, AKA Grouchy, flowered and grew pods the quickest. Grouchy grew larger pods of the same shape as the F1 cross, but it was MUCH hotter (comparable to a reaper). Grouchy pods had VERY thin knotty flesh with oozing capsaicin on the inside walls of the pod. Oddly though, the flesh of a Grouchy pod had a bit of a savory flavor and almost tomato like, but nothing like jalapenos. Grouchy pods also had NO spice for at least 10 seconds, and then BOOM immediate hit of heat to the back of the throat that lasted for a good 15-30 minutes.
2 of the other F2 crosses never grew flowers which I thought was odd, and then the other 2 F2 crosses left grew two different pods, I'll call them Vincent and Julius.
Vincent grew runt pods that were the size of a grape. Vincent's pods took FOREVER to polinate and took even longer to ripen, but also superhot with a floral flavor similar to reaper. Vincent, least attractive of the bunch, looked similar to the F1 cross, but was very similar heat level to the F1 cross, but had the flavor of a reaper.
Julius was similar to Grouchy, but grew the largest leaves, sprouted the quickest, grew tall very quickly, but the pods had very similar aspects to Grouchy's pods. The only real differences was the heat was even hotter with an immediate, longer lasting burn and a thicker flesh.
I don't really want to pay $60 bucks to get one of these tested for heat level, and also I want to find a stable hybrid before doing so anyway. I'm very new to cross breeding, but I've been gardening for quite a bit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will take pictures of the plants in my closet with some of the pods ripening and a cross section of one of Vincent's pods for demonstration.
with my thumb as a guide to size, the smallest is from Vincent, the bigger green one is from Julius and the orange bigger one is from Grouchy.
