Fish Peppers

[travis]

Chris,

You sent me several pepper varieties. The ones I started this year all sprouted well. The Fish had near 100% germination. I look forward to sprouting some of your other peppers next year or this fall.

By the way, do you have any idea what the pepper that came out of the Congo Black might be? It has very slender, smooth leaves and slightly fuzzy stems especially in the area of new growth at the tops of the growing tips. The rest of the Congo Blacks have the typical broad, crinkly leaves.

PV

[Trudi]

Gimme, my Mom used to make Fish and Peppers, I thought it was one of the best suppers we had when we were growing up.

She would saute bell pepper strips and then mix them with a can of Cambells New England Clam Chowder and half a soup can of milk. She would then pour that sauce over a pound brick of cod that was cut into four pieces, then it baked in a hot oven until the sauce was bubbling. Sometimes she added grated cheese on top, but it was good either way. She served it over rice or mashed potatoes. Yumyum Yumyum.

[PaulF]

I am growing Fish mostly because the name...it and my last are the same. Also because of the picture and blurb in SSE. Now because of all the posts and links I am glad I "discovered" it.

One thing; mine are growing in 5 gal pots and one is variegated and one not so variegated (just a white tinge on one leaf). They are still pretty small and I am looking forward to blossom and fruit.

[Tomstrees]

looks and sounds like a
winner to me -
I'm gonna give it a go
next season ~

Tom

ps.
I will report, I've got flowers
on all 9 of my hot peppas ~

[Trudi]

my fish peppers yesterday. They had a set of true leaves which took a while to develop because of the cold weather we had for a few weeks. The true leaves aren't showing any vairegation--they may just be too wee small for that, but maybe in a few weeks the streaking will show up.

It's 90degrees here so when I transplanted the peppers I immediately topdressed them with a thin layer of fresh grass clippings--must have worked great because I didn't have a single bit of wilt. Today I'm finishing up transplanting my toms and flowers into this large tomato section--I plant in two large beds--one is rectangular and this one, the one I've put the fish peppers into, is laid out like a domino game--the beds were originally made as lasagna beds and each year I added a few 4' x 8' sections--so it's kinda domino-game like, lol.

T

[travis]

ABNORMAL FISH


Chris sent me three Fish pepper pods. I extracted all the seeds and put them in envelopes of 12 seeds each after washing and drying them.

I sent some envelopes out, saved a few, and planted 12 seeds from one envelope. Obviously, the seeds from the individual pods were mixed together in the process.

After growing the 12 seeds (every one germinated), I gave away 8 of the plants. Now I have four Fish pepper plants growing in containers pretty much side by side.

One of these plants is extremely variegated with loads of white spotches, streaks, and some pale green patches. Two of the plants are modestly variegated. These three plants all have typical Fish pepper pods starting to grow ... pointed, but kind of faintly twisted or curved a bit. And the pods show some variegation.

But the fourth plant set pods much earlier and lower on the plant than the three others ... and the pods are longer, a little fatter, very uniform, straight, smooth, and totally green about the color of serranos. They have a distinct point though. I'm absolutely sure this plant came from the Fish seeds because I processed those pods first and planted the seeds first and kept them segregated at my office because that was the one variety I was most interested in growing this summer.

So, I have something here that may not be 100% Fish unless the variety is known for variants.

PV

[cmpman1974]

Interesting observation about the 4th Fish Pepper PapaVic. Can you post pictures? They sure are beautiful plants, aren't they? I wish I would have grown one this year just for looks.

Chris

[travis]

Chris,

I'll take some pictures this evening.

I'll try and get some posted, but I'm not real high tech in that regard.

PV

[travis]

Chris, here is a photo of the most variegated Fish of the four



And here are the first pepper pods on the variegated Fish



Here's the Fish that hasn't shown any variegation yet



And here are the pods on the unvariegated Fish


Really, I guess there isn't that much difference between the pods. A few days ago, the unvariegated pods seemed longer, smoother, and more pointed. But since they are beginning to fill out with seeds, they are getting as lumpy as the variegated pods and are assuming more irregular shapes.

PV

[nctomatoman]

Peppers cross so easily - it is really hard to keep them pure! My feeling is the unvariegated Fish is not really Fish, but either a direct cross (an F1), or outcomes of the cross - F2 and beyond. Both the fruit as well as foliage should have green/white variegation (the unripe fruit, anyway!)

Also, if a catalog refers to Fish as having violet variegation, this is not correct, either. I've grown Fish for quite few years, and it is cleanly green and white variegation, with none of the purples that show up in other variegated varieties such as Peruvian Purple, Variegata, or Filius Blue.

[nctomatoman]

Here is my Fish plant thus far -

[travis]

Okay, Craig, that's more variegated than any of the four I have. One of mine gets close, but not that mottled all over.

And yours looks a little darker green and a little denser foliage or denser branching maybe.

I do have striped pods on three of the four Fish. But not on every pepper on each plant ... most every pepper, but not all of them are striped.

And that unvariegated one I say came from a Fish pod ... I'm 99.94% sure it did ... now the pods are really getting large even for a serrano type ... as large as a small Jalapeno and nearly as fat ... but lumpy.

I'll post some more shots next week ... that is if whatever is raiding my peppers lays off ... whatever it is is snapping the plants off mid-stem on the smaller plants and mid-branch on the older plants.

Somethin' besides my pepper plants may die this weekend

PV

[Gimme3]

Craig....a simple question...HOW..do you segregate, and maintain.....thru time..the Purity...of yo fish peppers ?

[nctomatoman]

Hey Gimme - I save seeds from just the first few fruit, then again very late, before and after the bees are active. It is not foolproof, but I've had pretty good luck with maintaining purity. I've found that with Fish, the variegation will vanish if there is crossing, so it doesn't take long to tell if the seedlings are true to type.

[Gimme3]

Craig...a Practical way....that i'm Sure...your Expertise, deserves credit for. Ty for the Answer...)))