Wild, Indeed, Community Thread

Just getting this started so I can get a url.
I will post more about this in a couple of days.

Happy New Year, 2021!

 

[ChilliCrosser]

C.tovarii size parade, no banana available for scale.

 

[Pr0digal_son]

All glory to the venerable ones,Clayton Ribeiro and Chris Fowler! Their dream of saving rare Capsicum from extinction is alive and well. Since I am done harvesting C.friburgense,it's time to start some sort of seed train for a vetted group of folks on THP. It's probably a good time to get this moving in the near future as you'll need to be sowing these no later than the start of February in order to get ripe pods in a season.

To the individuals linked: If there are members you feel are not total clowns,thieves,reprobates or in cahoots with the Pepper Darlings or Brazilian Mafia then link them here and we will dig through the names. It has been a very long time since I have saved or shared seeds of peppers and I'm hoping that this will have an old THP following,maybe even a community Glog. And hope that it steers completely clear of the what have you done for me lately mentality,or canning of good friends for simple seeds with literally no value. Cheers!

P.S. Any PM will get you barred from the offer.

@PaulG
@CaneDog
@ahayastani
@ChilliCrosser

 

[ahayastani]

My kids tell me I'm a total clown though... But, in all seriousness, I don't think I can participate, even if I wanted. Mail from the US simply doesn't arrive anymore, not even registered mail. Registered mail from Europe arrives in 1-2 months. Getting seeds out also is a problem: mailing seeds is illegal, and because I'm living near the border, everything I want to send by mail (including documents) has to be cleared by customs. I succesfully worked around that problem a few times by sending bags of dried peppers, but success is not guaranteed

 

[ahayastani]

I visited a platain farm in Suchiate. Hot... 35ºC and 75% RH, my synapses felt "cleaned" after the trip. Photos are shitty, but to my defense, it's damn hard to take a decent shot under those conditions.

I came across two pepper plants. The first plant was found by chance. I spotted a creeper on top of something... That something turned out to be a pepper plant (chiltepe-type) in a miserable condition but with very taste chiltepes.

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The second plant looked a lot healthier, but nothing special taste-wise.

​

 

[CaneDog]

Since I am done harvesting C.friburgense,it's time to start some sort of seed train for a vetted group of folks on THP. It's probably a good time to get this moving in the near future as you'll need to be sowing these no later than the start of February in order to get ripe pods in a season.

Sounds like a cool idea - and generous! Are you thinking of just a quick C.friburgense-only train or something where riders might chip in with other wild varieties for sharing as well?

 

[CaneDog]

I visited a platain farm in Suchiate. Hot... 35ºC and 75% RH, my synapses felt "cleaned" after the trip. Photos are shitty, but to my defense, it's damn hard to take a decent shot under those conditions.

I came across two pepper plants. The first plant was found by chance. I spotted a creeper on top of something... That something turned out to be a pepper plant (chiltepe-type) in a miserable condition but with very taste chiltepes.

The second plant looked a lot healthier, but nothing special taste-wise.

That's really cool ahayastani. Thanks for posting up the pics. That creeper-tepin sounds like a winner. Did you save a few seeds from the pod you tasted to grow one out?

 

[PaulinaFK]

C.tovarii seems to just soak up whatever the weather throws at it. Best performing plant during variable weather last year and this.

Great Pictures! Im dreaming of having some success with the wild ones next season :-)

 

[Pr0digal_son]

My kids tell me I'm a total clown though... But, in all seriousness, I don't think I can participate, even if I wanted. Mail from the US simply doesn't arrive anymore, not even registered mail. Registered mail from Europe arrives in 1-2 months. Getting seeds out also is a problem: mailing seeds is illegal, and because I'm living near the border, everything I want to send by mail (including documents) has to be cleared by customs. I succesfully worked around that problem a few times by sending bags of dried peppers, but success is not guaranteed

Hmmm...... you'll have to be taken care of separately.

Sounds like a cool idea - and generous! Are you thinking of just a quick C.friburgense-only train or something where riders might chip in with other wild varieties for sharing as well

Was just thinking of dumping off these friburgense seeds to minimize the thievery that is going on. I guess it can evolve however. I am not a fan of trains to be honest. They lead to diseases and deception but like I said,it can evolve and run until the seeds are gone. I wanted to get it started early and to honest people on this forum.

 

[ahayastani]

That's really cool ahayastani. Thanks for posting up the pics. That creeper-tepin sounds like a winner. Did you save a few seeds from the pod you tasted to grow one out?

What do you think... I will sow one of the following days.

 

[ahayastani]

Hmmm...... you'll have to be taken care of separately.

If a European is involved in the project who'd be kind enough to forward me some seeds, that might work I'd happily pay P&H costs.

It would be an interesting trial, especially because most of you have polar-like climates and I'm in the tropics. The climate of Nova Friburgo looks temperate to me, and C. friburgense reportedly grows at high altitude.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

I don’t really follow or frequent places where any drama happens so can’t really comment. I just grow things to learn, share where I can and try to make not-quite-as-nice-as-nature new things

Back to the pictures as I need to catchup.

PI260567 (C.baccatum var. baccatum)

C.flexuosum

C.rabenii x PI 260567 F1 hybrid

C.rhomboideum, love growing these. Must look amazing in the wild when established as a big, dense, plant covered in flower and fruit clusters

CAP 1445 (C.chacoense), really like the flavour on this one

Bigger berries to come on most of these but left to right:
C.lanceolatum
C.flexuosum
C.tovarii
C.rhomboideum

 

[ahayastani]

CAP 1445 (C.chacoense), really like the flavour on this one

100% agreed.

 

[BarbarianFires]

If a European is involved in the project who'd be kind enough to forward me some seeds, that might work I'd happily pay P&H costs.

It would be an interesting trial, especially because most of you have polar-like climates and I'm in the tropics. The climate of Nova Friburgo looks temperate to me, and C. friburgense reportedly grows at high altitude.

European reporting for duty, Although i won't be growing these kind of peppers, I would be happy to help to get them to you

 

[Pr0digal_son]

@ChilliCrosser that is a good mindset to have. I cut my teeth on forums where it is community first so sometimes I get caught up in stuff I should leave alone.

I have never seen the Venezuelan version of C.rhomboideum in the wild. I think that is what we all are growing if I am not mistaken. I have seen a version in the lowlands of Southern Colombia that is quite different. I never tried to post videos here but I will try to see if it s possible. There were some 4m specimens,ones with wine coloured berries and some young plants acting like ground cover in 30m patches.

I find myself guilty of always looking to the rarest and coolest,but C.rhomboideum is a great plant. The Andean Clade species are incredible and in my opinion,not studied enough.

 

[Pr0digal_son]

@ChilliCrosser

This is a section of a 30m swath of C.rhomboideum seedlings.

Here is a 3m specimen taken over by what appears to be a species of Ipomoea. This version has a viny habit with cascading branches. It's less prolific,has different shaped leaves than the standard and often times a wine or purple berry. There was a paper written in 2016 or 2017 about this version and the designation they gave it gives the impression that it was influenced by humans. These larger populations were found along the fence lines of farms in the valleys so that makes sense I guess. What a tasteless,heatless berry brings to the table is beyond me though.

 

[ahayastani]

These larger populations were found along the fence lines of farms in the valleys so that makes sense I guess. What a tasteless,heatless berry brings to the table is beyond me though.

I can't speak for the region you visited, but for where I live, the answer would be "tradition". I've been confronted several times with situations where the farmers didn't know much about some of the plants they were growing on their premises. There are some plants they cultivate because, in one way or the other, it's sown into their memory that they have to grown them.

 

[Grass Snake]

[These larger populations were found along the fence lines of farms in the valleys so that makes sense I guess. What a tasteless,heatless berry brings to the table is beyond me though.

An overgrown fence line can provide a nice refuge for birds and other animals, especially when natural habit is limited due to agriculture and other human activities. My guess is birds are spreading the seeds along the fence line and since it's overgrown and unmaintained that's where you'll most likely find it growing.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

This is a section of a 30m swath of C.rhomboideum seedlings.

Wow, that's crazy! Perhaps it's really a ground cover bedding plant

Nice illustration of the differing leaf shape, interesting. I had heard of the darker ripe berry colour variant, probably from something you'd posted here before and I see it's shown in the monograph too. Thanks for sharing all those pictures above.

I find myself guilty of always looking to the rarest and coolest,but C.rhomboideum is a great plant. The Andean Clade species are incredible and in my opinion,not studied enough.

There sure are some lookers in that clade!

 

[ChilliCrosser]

Partial harvest of one of my C.rhomboideum plants today in a less than tropical UK.

A fasciated berry hiding in there

One of the C.tovarii plants now showing a range of colours

 

[ChilliCrosser]

I’ll try not to pollute this thread with my mutts but here are a couple from today.

C.rabenii x C.tovarii F1 still catching the remaining rays but nothing ripe yet.

C.rabenii x PI260567 (C.baccatum var. baccatum) F1 feels like it needs more berries before giving me a ripe one.