Interesting volunteer pepper
 

I talked to my brother in Houston last night, and he mentioned an
interesting pepper he has this year. He grew Trinidad Spice peppers
last year (habanero-type chinense pepper with no heat at all), and a few
jalapenos. Apparently they crossed, because he kept some volunteer
plants and one of them looks like a habanero plant, and the peppers are
dark green, thick-walled and look like a misshapened jalapeno -- and
they are extremely hot like a normal habanero or maybe even hotter. The
heat hits you like a big hammer and then subsides quickly; not at all
like a jalapeno. He says the flavor is jalapeno-like, but also has some
habanero fruitiness to it. The peppers have very few seeds. He's gonna
take some cuttings to try to keep it alive over the winter just in case
it's a mule.

It sounds like a great pepper to try to inbreed for a few generations
and select for a pure strain. But I'll bet it's sterile.

Best regards,
Bob

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:57:58 -0500, zxcvbob
wrote:

I talked to my brother in Houston last night, and he mentioned an
interesting pepper he has this year. He grew Trinidad Spice peppers
last year (habanero-type chinense pepper with no heat at all), and a few
jalapenos. Apparently they crossed, because he kept some volunteer
plants and one of them looks like a habanero plant, and the peppers are
dark green, thick-walled and look like a misshapened jalapeno

What are they like when he lets them get ripe? There are at least
a couple of Trinidad spice peppers, did the original ripen to red
or yellow?



-- and
they are extremely hot like a normal habanero or maybe even hotter. The
heat hits you like a big hammer and then subsides quickly; not at all
like a jalapeno. He says the flavor is jalapeno-like, but also has some
habanero fruitiness to it. The peppers have very few seeds. He's gonna
take some cuttings to try to keep it alive over the winter just in case
it's a mule.

Please keep us informed, I'd love to hear what he ends up with.
It does sound like an interesting pepper.

It sounds like a great pepper to try to inbreed for a few generations
and select for a pure strain. But I'll bet it's sterile.

If it is producing seeds, why do you think the seeds will be
sterile? Not all hybrids are sterile

Hmm, couldn't he test a few of the seeds now by putting them
moist paper towel and seeing if they sprout?

Penelope



--
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."
"ElissaAnn"

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:57:58 -0500, zxcvbob
wrote:

I talked to my brother in Houston last night, and he mentioned an
interesting pepper he has this year. He grew Trinidad Spice peppers
last year (habanero-type chinense pepper with no heat at all), and a few
jalapenos. Apparently they crossed, because he kept some volunteer
plants and one of them looks like a habanero plant, and the peppers are
dark green, thick-walled and look like a misshapened jalapeno

What are they like when he lets them get ripe? There are at least
a couple of Trinidad spice peppers, did the original ripen to red
or yellow?



-- and
they are extremely hot like a normal habanero or maybe even hotter. The
heat hits you like a big hammer and then subsides quickly; not at all
like a jalapeno. He says the flavor is jalapeno-like, but also has some
habanero fruitiness to it. The peppers have very few seeds. He's gonna
take some cuttings to try to keep it alive over the winter just in case
it's a mule.

Please keep us informed, I'd love to hear what he ends up with.
It does sound like an interesting pepper.

It sounds like a great pepper to try to inbreed for a few generations
and select for a pure strain. But I'll bet it's sterile.

If it is producing seeds, why do you think the seeds will be
sterile? Not all hybrids are sterile

Hmm, couldn't he test a few of the seeds now by putting them
moist paper towel and seeing if they sprout?

Penelope



--
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."
"ElissaAnn"

Penelope Periwinkle wrote:
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:57:58 -0500, zxcvbob wrote:

I talked to my brother in Houston last night, and he mentioned an
interesting pepper he has this year. He grew Trinidad Spice peppers
last year (habanero-type chinense pepper with no heat at all), and a few
jalapenos. Apparently they crossed, because he kept some volunteer
plants and one of them looks like a habanero plant, and the peppers are
dark green, thick-walled and look like a misshapened jalapeno

What are they like when he lets them get ripe? There are at least
a couple of Trinidad spice peppers, did the original ripen to red
or yellow?

Red.

-- and
they are extremely hot like a normal habanero or maybe even hotter. The
heat hits you like a big hammer and then subsides quickly; not at all
like a jalapeno. He says the flavor is jalapeno-like, but also has some
habanero fruitiness to it. The peppers have very few seeds. He's gonna
take some cuttings to try to keep it alive over the winter just in case
it's a mule.

Please keep us informed, I'd love to hear what he ends up with.
It does sound like an interesting pepper.

It sounds like a great pepper to try to inbreed for a few generations
and select for a pure strain. But I'll bet it's sterile.

If it is producing seeds, why do you think the seeds will be
sterile? Not all hybrids are sterile

This would be a cross-species hybrid. Capsicum annuum x chinense. The
fact that it produces very few seeds is not a good sign.

Hmm, couldn't he test a few of the seeds now by putting them
moist paper towel and seeing if they sprout?


Hopefully he will. But if the seeds grow, very few are likely to
resemble the parent plant. I had some seeds saved from an extremely hot
brown pepper called "Jamaican Hot Chocolate". Most of the seedlings
were red-fruited. After several generations of saving seeds and getting
red peppers, I had a brown one show up again. I kept it alive in a big
pot for several years.

Bob

Penelope Periwinkle wrote:
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:57:58 -0500, zxcvbob wrote:

I talked to my brother in Houston last night, and he mentioned an
interesting pepper he has this year. He grew Trinidad Spice peppers
last year (habanero-type chinense pepper with no heat at all), and a few
jalapenos. Apparently they crossed, because he kept some volunteer
plants and one of them looks like a habanero plant, and the peppers are
dark green, thick-walled and look like a misshapened jalapeno

What are they like when he lets them get ripe? There are at least
a couple of Trinidad spice peppers, did the original ripen to red
or yellow?

Red.

-- and
they are extremely hot like a normal habanero or maybe even hotter. The
heat hits you like a big hammer and then subsides quickly; not at all
like a jalapeno. He says the flavor is jalapeno-like, but also has some
habanero fruitiness to it. The peppers have very few seeds. He's gonna
take some cuttings to try to keep it alive over the winter just in case
it's a mule.

Please keep us informed, I'd love to hear what he ends up with.
It does sound like an interesting pepper.

It sounds like a great pepper to try to inbreed for a few generations
and select for a pure strain. But I'll bet it's sterile.

If it is producing seeds, why do you think the seeds will be
sterile? Not all hybrids are sterile

This would be a cross-species hybrid. Capsicum annuum x chinense. The
fact that it produces very few seeds is not a good sign.

Hmm, couldn't he test a few of the seeds now by putting them
moist paper towel and seeing if they sprout?


Hopefully he will. But if the seeds grow, very few are likely to
resemble the parent plant. I had some seeds saved from an extremely hot
brown pepper called "Jamaican Hot Chocolate". Most of the seedlings
were red-fruited. After several generations of saving seeds and getting
red peppers, I had a brown one show up again. I kept it alive in a big
pot for several years.

Bob