According to the Urban Dictionnary, the word "unexpectational" refers to the active state of not having any expectations...
In 2020, I grew a single Devil’s Rib plant, a habanero relative coming from Ghana. To be completely honest, it was without much expectation as I’m not really a big habanero fan! Our summer was exceptional that year so the plant grew very healthy and reached massive proportions. It gave me a shitload of pods averaging 20 grams each, with some weighing just over 25 grams. They were tasty and quite hot too, somewhere between the alleged 414 000 SHU and Ghost pepper level I’d say. At the end of the season I was quite happy I decided to grow it!
As usual, I kept seeds from the nicest pods and planted about 30 last year (2021). To my surprise, some seedlings grew green but others showed variable amount of anthocyanins. I ended up culling all the green and lighter purples to keep only the darkest, too curious to see what would come out of it (could also have been an id error
…). As the little plant was growing, the purple started to fade considerably.
Once outside in the raised bed, the plant lost most of its dark foliage but the stems remained dark purple. Flowers were mostly white with some purple tint inside.
The plant ended up being less bushy/dense but lankier compared to its mother. The leaves were narrower too and stayed pale green all season. The pods started green then turned to purple before ripening to a vivid glossy red. They were rather ellongated and small, weighing only around 8 grams each. Some had four lobes and a majority showed a flattened side. They had moderately thin walls, a decent amount of placenta and they were oily as fuck!! Taste wise they were fruity but not overly sweet and they had that kind of Reaper-like aftertaste. The heat was there too, high enough to gift you with a painful and persistent mouth glow! Harvest was ok but nothing near exceptional.
Seeds (OP) were collected from two pods: the first one to ripen (earlier in the season = less flowers and a reduced risk of cross pollination) and later from the biggest pods with four lobes (nice looking shape IMO).
Now the big question: who is the father?? Well the mess starts here…! I grew over 70 plants that year and among the bunch many were dark strains. According to my plan, all surrounding plants were dark except for the Cheiro Cream and Fatalii Mortalii. Even if it could come from a distant pollen donor, logically the father should be among these: Black Kathumby, MOJO Blackie, Leopard Reaper, Purple Uprising Red, SepiaReaper x PDN and Pimenta Black Bhut.
Obviously, there is no way I can tell which one is the father for now and possibly never will! But, when I tasted the F1 pods, I got hit hard, much harder than I expected and I immediately perceived that infamous Reaper-like aftertaste, which leads me to believe I could probably narrow the potential father’s list from 6 to only 2 candidates: Leopard Reaper and SepiaReaper x PDN. The Leopard Reaper was a direct neighbor of the Devil’s Rib while the SepiaReaper x PDN was just across in the opposite raised bed (maximum 4 feet apart). Hopefully, the Reaper flavor didn’t lead me on the wrong path!
Background and description of the two potential fathers (most likely)
Leopard Reaper (F3)
A spontaneous hybrid between Pimenta Leopard (Bhut Jolokia x Pimenta de Neyde from MOJO peppers) and Carolina Reaper that appeared in Emanuele Addis’s garden (Italia) a few years ago.
My seedling was pitch black and the mature plant got even darker, with its leaves showing silvery metallic sheen under full sun. It grew up to 6 feet tall and was very lanky, like many crosses containing Pimenta de Neyde genes. The fruits were rather small, had sinuses on the sides and had no tail. I don’t have any pic of the pods because none had time to fully ripen; I pushed my luck and they finally froze on the plant while I was away for work… However they looked mostly like these bad boys (blocky shaped with thin skin) except that the skin was rougher on mine (pic courtesy of Danilo Marini).
SepiaReaper x PDN (F3)
The SepiaReaper was created by crossing a Sepia Serpent (a Trinidad Scorpion Butch Taylor x 7-Pot Trinidad Douglah hybrid made by Silver Surfer) with a Carolina Reaper by a grower named Chili Riot. Then, it was later crossed again with a Pimenta de Neyde to give birth to the SepiaReaper x PDN.
In 2020, the plant reached about 4 feet tall, was very bushy with a lot of lateral branches. Foliage was also black at first but soon became a little lighter (but remained dark though). The harvest was good and came in two waves. The first one produced reddish and bigger fruits while the second gave smaller but way more beautiful pods, colored with this molten lava kind of blush. Shape wise, pods from both waves looked almost identical. They had medium thick walls, a good amount of placenta and were very oily. The flavor was fruity but not sweet and heat wise I would say they could almost fit into the superhot category. All in all, a very good pepper!
Note: Seeds from both potential fathers were ordered in December 2019. Far from being stable at that time (only at F3) means that the description I provided here can easily be way off from the hybridizer current standards as they both should be around F5-F6 as I’m writing this.
My hypothesis
Based on my observations, the mother plant had a greater influence on the phenotypic expression of the current generation (F1). Fruits were elongated, a few had some sort of longitudinal sinuses just like the Leopard Reaper, others were slightly ribbed like the original Devil’s Rib but most had that flattened side, a trait that somehow reminds me of the SepiaReaper x PDN pod shape. I might be wrong here but I believe there is a greater chance that the SepiaReaper x PDN might be the father, although it is still very early to call the shot!! Only time should tell... maybe!
My goals
I’m planning to grow this accidental cross over the upcoming seasons, not only to discover if my hypothesis is correct but to see if I can find something cool out of it. This thread will serve 2 main purposes. First of all, it will be a way for me to keep straight records and track of things further down the road. It will also be the closest thing to what you call a “GLOG” here on THP, something I probably never would have done otherwise! That being said, don’t expect me to update it on a daily basis but when I’ll do I’ll try to add as much details as possible.
Now buckle up and let's see where this journey will take us! Oh and most importantly, feel free to interact as much as you want
In 2020, I grew a single Devil’s Rib plant, a habanero relative coming from Ghana. To be completely honest, it was without much expectation as I’m not really a big habanero fan! Our summer was exceptional that year so the plant grew very healthy and reached massive proportions. It gave me a shitload of pods averaging 20 grams each, with some weighing just over 25 grams. They were tasty and quite hot too, somewhere between the alleged 414 000 SHU and Ghost pepper level I’d say. At the end of the season I was quite happy I decided to grow it!
As usual, I kept seeds from the nicest pods and planted about 30 last year (2021). To my surprise, some seedlings grew green but others showed variable amount of anthocyanins. I ended up culling all the green and lighter purples to keep only the darkest, too curious to see what would come out of it (could also have been an id error
…). As the little plant was growing, the purple started to fade considerably.Once outside in the raised bed, the plant lost most of its dark foliage but the stems remained dark purple. Flowers were mostly white with some purple tint inside.
The plant ended up being less bushy/dense but lankier compared to its mother. The leaves were narrower too and stayed pale green all season. The pods started green then turned to purple before ripening to a vivid glossy red. They were rather ellongated and small, weighing only around 8 grams each. Some had four lobes and a majority showed a flattened side. They had moderately thin walls, a decent amount of placenta and they were oily as fuck!! Taste wise they were fruity but not overly sweet and they had that kind of Reaper-like aftertaste. The heat was there too, high enough to gift you with a painful and persistent mouth glow! Harvest was ok but nothing near exceptional.
Seeds (OP) were collected from two pods: the first one to ripen (earlier in the season = less flowers and a reduced risk of cross pollination) and later from the biggest pods with four lobes (nice looking shape IMO).
Now the big question: who is the father?? Well the mess starts here…! I grew over 70 plants that year and among the bunch many were dark strains. According to my plan, all surrounding plants were dark except for the Cheiro Cream and Fatalii Mortalii. Even if it could come from a distant pollen donor, logically the father should be among these: Black Kathumby, MOJO Blackie, Leopard Reaper, Purple Uprising Red, SepiaReaper x PDN and Pimenta Black Bhut.
Obviously, there is no way I can tell which one is the father for now and possibly never will! But, when I tasted the F1 pods, I got hit hard, much harder than I expected and I immediately perceived that infamous Reaper-like aftertaste, which leads me to believe I could probably narrow the potential father’s list from 6 to only 2 candidates: Leopard Reaper and SepiaReaper x PDN. The Leopard Reaper was a direct neighbor of the Devil’s Rib while the SepiaReaper x PDN was just across in the opposite raised bed (maximum 4 feet apart). Hopefully, the Reaper flavor didn’t lead me on the wrong path!
Background and description of the two potential fathers (most likely)
Leopard Reaper (F3)
A spontaneous hybrid between Pimenta Leopard (Bhut Jolokia x Pimenta de Neyde from MOJO peppers) and Carolina Reaper that appeared in Emanuele Addis’s garden (Italia) a few years ago.
My seedling was pitch black and the mature plant got even darker, with its leaves showing silvery metallic sheen under full sun. It grew up to 6 feet tall and was very lanky, like many crosses containing Pimenta de Neyde genes. The fruits were rather small, had sinuses on the sides and had no tail. I don’t have any pic of the pods because none had time to fully ripen; I pushed my luck and they finally froze on the plant while I was away for work… However they looked mostly like these bad boys (blocky shaped with thin skin) except that the skin was rougher on mine (pic courtesy of Danilo Marini).
SepiaReaper x PDN (F3)
The SepiaReaper was created by crossing a Sepia Serpent (a Trinidad Scorpion Butch Taylor x 7-Pot Trinidad Douglah hybrid made by Silver Surfer) with a Carolina Reaper by a grower named Chili Riot. Then, it was later crossed again with a Pimenta de Neyde to give birth to the SepiaReaper x PDN.
In 2020, the plant reached about 4 feet tall, was very bushy with a lot of lateral branches. Foliage was also black at first but soon became a little lighter (but remained dark though). The harvest was good and came in two waves. The first one produced reddish and bigger fruits while the second gave smaller but way more beautiful pods, colored with this molten lava kind of blush. Shape wise, pods from both waves looked almost identical. They had medium thick walls, a good amount of placenta and were very oily. The flavor was fruity but not sweet and heat wise I would say they could almost fit into the superhot category. All in all, a very good pepper!
Note: Seeds from both potential fathers were ordered in December 2019. Far from being stable at that time (only at F3) means that the description I provided here can easily be way off from the hybridizer current standards as they both should be around F5-F6 as I’m writing this.
My hypothesis
Based on my observations, the mother plant had a greater influence on the phenotypic expression of the current generation (F1). Fruits were elongated, a few had some sort of longitudinal sinuses just like the Leopard Reaper, others were slightly ribbed like the original Devil’s Rib but most had that flattened side, a trait that somehow reminds me of the SepiaReaper x PDN pod shape. I might be wrong here but I believe there is a greater chance that the SepiaReaper x PDN might be the father, although it is still very early to call the shot!! Only time should tell... maybe!
My goals
I’m planning to grow this accidental cross over the upcoming seasons, not only to discover if my hypothesis is correct but to see if I can find something cool out of it. This thread will serve 2 main purposes. First of all, it will be a way for me to keep straight records and track of things further down the road. It will also be the closest thing to what you call a “GLOG” here on THP, something I probably never would have done otherwise! That being said, don’t expect me to update it on a daily basis but when I’ll do I’ll try to add as much details as possible.
Now buckle up and let's see where this journey will take us! Oh and most importantly, feel free to interact as much as you want
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OTOH the transplants look healthy
