2022 Pepper Growouts / Breeding Experiments / Ideas

[Greenie DeS]

Might be moving, reducing my growouts significantly. Final grow list is pending some big decisions but what's already in the ground:

Annuum

Lots of doe hill and greek pepperoncini
Chimayo
Targu mures
Sarit gat
Haskorea
Shishito
Piment de bresse
Early jalapeno
Kalugenitsa

My hungarian black x matchbox cross pod is growing nicely, and I think I've rediscovered the matchbox x hungarian black cross, though I still will make it again it won't hurt growing those seeds out too.

The plan for this year is now to take pollen from anything tasty and put onto pots of doe hill (which fruited in my cool climate) and see where that gets me, I can always move with the pots if need be.

Will probably be starting no more than 20 or so more annuum varieties.

Pubescens

I have my first flower bud on Mini Olive. These plants are a delight to work with: their foliage smells beautiful, they're compact with a nice short internode and a tendency to branch. My plan is to randomly transfer pollen between these plans as soon as I have enough flowers, before I've even tasted the first fruits, just to give myself something to play with later. There really doesn't look like a tremendous variety between them all so far.

Others

First true leaves on:

Aji delight
Aji marchant
C praetermissum
Yellow and chocolate habs

I have some other baccatums I want to get in this year, but again need to refine my list.

[Greenie DeS]

My pubescens are starting to flower, just Aji Lucento so far so I can't do any crosses yet. I'm surprised that was the first, I'd expected it to be mini olive.

I put the seeds from Matchbox x Hungarian Black F1 in a flat today. I can't wait to see what comes up. Still watching the Hungarian Black x Matchbox and waiting for it to ripen.

Shifted focus to some grexes for largescale production this summer, more on those when I have access to my notes on what was in them.

[Greenie DeS]

Some interesting observations:

When I crossed black hungarian into matchbox, I used two different matchbox plants as mothers. Both were pretty similar, but one was more viny, one was more bushy. I kept those two batches of seed separate and it turns out the offspring look very different: one set of F1s is a uniform 4" tall, the other set is a uniform 5" tall.

Chimayo and targu mures were absolutely the first peppers to fruit, they just raced towards those first flowers.

My saved pepperoncini seeds are pretty early too.

Doe hill was devastated by spider mites before I got it outdoors so it's lagging behind some.

Sarit gat seems to be reasonably quick too.

My last year's matchbox plants, after producing an early february flush of pods and giving me the chance to use them in crosses, are now totally covered in pods and I'm going to transfer them from their 1-gallon pots to hanging baskets. They look spectacular and I'm fond of the pods steeped in rice wine vinegar. I wonder how many years I can expect to get out of them?

[Greenie DeS]

The taller of my matchbox x hungarian black cross is blooming with lovely purple-ringed white flowers. The shorter has white flowers that just look like matchbox, though the leaves are maybe a touch bigger (my adult matchbox plants have been in the same pots over a year now, their leaves might be smaller because of that?). Blooms on all of them though, the pods will tell.

Meantime I've been eating c pubescens, the lucento wasn't too spicy at all, and the largo also wasn't too bad. The montufar was a little hot for me. They're delightful crispy sweet peppers.

I'm finally getting some of the little starts potted up to bigger containers and they're looking much happier.

Shishito and my greek pepperoncini early (that was one early plant in a packet of much later ones) should do nicely next year too outdoors, they seem to be good in my climate.

Surprisingly (? maybe not, it was bred in Wales) Sugar Rush Peach is doing well for me. If it tastes good I'll need to see what it's compatible with, IIRC it's an interspecies cross between baccatum and annuum. I have the strong desire to cross everything to matchbox just for earliness, but maybe some of the other earlies this year are on the table. Doe hill, even?

[Greenie DeS]

Planted the hungarian black x matchbox seeds today, and potted up the matchbox x hungarian black plants. Now to wait.

[Levon]

Have you considered any of the (traditional or modern) New Mexican chile varieties (all C. annum)?  There's still a fair amount of diversity in the traditional landrace chiles (generally named after the town/pueblo where the seeds were originally collected).  There is some color variation among the kinds, though mostly green->red (some darker with purples).  The modern improved varieties are bigger, more vigorous more uniformly fruited, etc., but they are also a little more picky about their environment.  The landrace chiles grow well with little/irregular water, generally don't exhibit blossom end rot, and tolerate poor soil.  They vary in elevation; the Jemez variety started around 7000', most of the other traditional varieties (Chimayo, Hernandez, Santo Domingo, Nambe) come from around 5500-6000'.  They travel well; my sister in Iowa grew some and they were bigger than anything that I could grow up in the mountains!  They tend to end up more mild in better soil with more rain, if that is a concern.

The modern varieties have their benefits as well.  There are varieties bred for color rather than flavor (yellows, oranges, purples).  They tend to be bigger plants and set bigger chiles.  I think at least one of the "traditional" named varieties likely has some commercial ancestry.  But, I find that in my own garden, the traditional varieties do well, and the modern varieties can be more hit-or-miss (some have done great, some have blossom end rot when the monsoons are in full force). 

you mention purples,  is that anthocyanin but change to mature colour red/yellow etc.  I am very interested in producing a purple if possible at full maturity. if anyone is aware of a variety or some genetics like green retainer gene but for purple I would be super interested

[AndrewB]

you mention purples,  is that anthocyanin but change to mature colour red/yellow etc.  I am very interested in producing a purple if possible at full maturity. if anyone is aware of a variety or some genetics like green retainer gene but for purple I would be super interested

Zia Pueblo, Negro de Valle, Tarahumara Chile Colorado, Vallero, etc. from NATIVE SEEDS SEARCH look kinda purple / brownish. Not all of these look available on their current website, but perhaps an email to them could provide you with more info. Waybackmachine shows some photos of these on their old website. Looks like they sometimes have mixes or landraces with variability in them.

[Levon]

Zia Pueblo, Negro de Valle, Tarahumara Chile Colorado, Vallero, etc.

Thanks Andrew,  I have had a look at these and that brownish end colour is a combination of the chlorophyll retainer gene aka Green with red capsicum pigment.  Like mixing red and green paint, result is brown.  Allot of high Anthocyanin cultivars use this combo in an attempt to keep the appearance of purple once the Anthocyanin wears off.  Was thinking it would be good to try and retain the stronger Anthocyanin colour, purples to near black.

[Justin Jardinier]

Mountain Roaster - Same story as the Perfect Sweet Italian Swarm pepper (Unknown days to maturity - probably early, most likely sweet around 0 SHU)

Has anyone info on this, or their 'Holy Italian' Sweet Pepper? Here are the links for 'Mountain Roaster':
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/mountain-roaster-pepper?_pos=23&_sid=0e40e9a92&_ss=r

And 'Holy Italian':
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/holy-italian-sweet-pepper?_pos=25&_sid=0e40e9a92&_ss=r

I could not find 'Perfect Sweet Italian Swarm'. I'd be really interested if anyone can share how these two (or 3) compare with Nardello in terms of doing well in cooler climates and in terms of taste eaten raw.And in general how it would compete against sweet peppers know to do well in cooler climates like... Healthy Pepper and King of the North (and I heard Bell of Lebanon might be good also)? And, if they do well, how I might be able to obtain a few seeds? They're both sold out.

[Garrett Schantz]

Has anyone info on this, or their 'Holy Italian' Sweet Pepper? Here are the links for 'Mountain Roaster':
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/mountain-roaster-pepper?_pos=23&_sid=0e40e9a92&_ss=r

And 'Holy Italian':
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/holy-italian-sweet-pepper?_pos=25&_sid=0e40e9a92&_ss=r

I could not find 'Perfect Sweet Italian Swarm'. I'd be really interested if anyone can share how these two (or 3) compare with Nardello in terms of doing well in cooler climates and in terms of taste eaten raw.And in general how it would compete against sweet peppers know to do well in cooler climates like... Healthy Pepper and King of the North (and I heard Bell of Lebanon might be good also)? And, if they do well, how I might be able to obtain a few seeds? They're both sold out.

https://wildmountainseeds.com/product-category/sweet-peppers/

https://wildmountainseeds.com/product-category/vegetable-seeds/hot-peppers/


Sorry, haven't updated stuff here.

I moved, a lot of peppers were planted late or didn't germinate.

I should've waited after the move.


Regardless, these guys are where The Experimental Farm Network got their seed for those varieties.

They're a bit cheaper here. Simply because they're sending seed to EFN, which is then resold.


Factoring in shipping, the higher cost of buying from two different sites would even out - or close to it.


They also sell other neat varieties.

Apologies for the late response.

[Justin Jardinier]

Ah thanks Garrett. Hard to keep up with all the threads with so much plant work to do! See you on my sweet pepper thread :-)

[AndrewB]

Have you considered any of the (traditional or modern) New Mexican chile varieties (all C. annum)?  There's still a fair amount of diversity in the traditional landrace chiles (generally named after the town/pueblo where the seeds were originally collected).  There is some color variation among the kinds, though mostly green->red (some darker with purples).  The modern improved varieties are bigger, more vigorous more uniformly fruited, etc., but they are also a little more picky about their environment.  The landrace chiles grow well with little/irregular water, generally don't exhibit blossom end rot, and tolerate poor soil.  They vary in elevation; the Jemez variety started around 7000', most of the other traditional varieties (Chimayo, Hernandez, Santo Domingo, Nambe) come from around 5500-6000'.  They travel well; my sister in Iowa grew some and they were bigger than anything that I could grow up in the mountains!  They tend to end up more mild in better soil with more rain, if that is a concern.

The modern varieties have their benefits as well.  There are varieties bred for color rather than flavor (yellows, oranges, purples).  They tend to be bigger plants and set bigger chiles.  I think at least one of the "traditional" named varieties likely has some commercial ancestry.  But, I find that in my own garden, the traditional varieties do well, and the modern varieties can be more hit-or-miss (some have done great, some have blossom end rot when the monsoons are in full force). 

Yes, I am looking into them. Starting with more modern and may work my way back. Wanting to breed green chiles for northern Colorado. We are equal in elevation to most of those Pueblo in NM, so I imagine they will adapt easily. I will be attempting to first cross the orange ripening NuMex Sunset from NMSU with NuMex 'Española Improved'. I want that orange ripening,  but with more heat.

[AndrewB]

My interest in Canoncito has come back. Can't seem to find any seed sources online except from Europe. Would love to find a somewhat direct source from New Mexico if possible, but I don't know how to get into contact with Loreta Sandoval or Mary Campbell or Carmella Padilla.

[AndrewB]

This year's pepper trial is looking good. Two early exceptional standouts are Alpine Poblano and Cañoncito (landrace). Alpine Poblano is already a beast compared to the other seedlings and is the largest of the batch. Cañoncito is unusually early precocious flowering! These two crossed together would create an exceptional cross.

[Tim DH]

Hi Andrew,
     Following on from the encouraging results creating tomato F1s, I'm thinking of 'dipping my toe' into the world of making Pepper F1s this year.
     I also did a little Pepper grafting. Only three rootstock germinated but I got six grafts out of them.

Tim DH