Hot Pepper Research and Development

[nctomatoman]

Hi, Denise - it seems to vary. For me last year, #5 ended up with the darkest foliage, but as a very young seedling isn't nearly the darkest. For the most part, to end up very purple, they start out with at least some purple. I am learning lots as I go through this growout!

I am going to add one pic to the thread above - it is a shot of all of those I didn't transplant - when all together it shows the amazing variety of leaf shades!

[ddsack]

My peppers are doing great, but badly need to be transplanted from their individual 2" cells into permanent quarters. (Why are there only 24 hours in a day?)

The main difference I see in the three varieties that I am growing is that #1 and #38 tend to have a thinner, more delicate upright growth, while #5 is more broader leaved and bushy. I would guess that this might portend #5 being a larger, more robust pepper plant, while the other two remind me more of Bolivian Rainbow (which is a delicate little ornamental) but they are twice as tall as my Bolivian Rainbows right now. Of course, this could all change when I get them into the ground or pots with more leg room.

Some of the #1 plants have put up blossoms, and I was tickled to see that two green variants (the only two with more normal green, not dark purple leaves) have bi-color blossoms, which I have personally never seen in a pepper. I can't wait to see what the cluster of blossoms will look like on the second plant, but the buds sure look bi-color. Aren't they pretty?

[nctomatoman]

Yes! In general, I've seen dark purple, medium purple, white/purple bicolor, white with just a touch of purple, and pure white flowers on these. I've never seen a pure white flower on a purple foliaged plant. I've seen purple and bicolored flowers on green or only slightly purple foliaged plants. then we get into leaf size.....

So, yes, this is a fun project for those who delight in the possibilities!

[rutabagaboy]

These are my 12 #1 hot peppers as of May 23 - more than 3 months since planting seeds. Refer to pot labels in photos for plant numbers.

1-1 2.50" tall, Green, no buds
1-2 6.00" tall, Purple -> Green, buds
1-3 3.00" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
1-4 3.00" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
1-5 5.50" tall, Green, buds
1-6 4.50" tall, mostly Purple, no buds
1-7 2.50" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
1-8 2.25" tall, Green, buds
1-9 2.50" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
1-10 3.00" tall, Light Green, no buds
1-11 4.25" tall, mostly Green, many buds
1-12 2.50" tall, mostly green, no buds

My favorite is 1-11, followed by 1-2 and 1-6. If I were pressed for space, I'd scrap everything less than 4" tall.

[rutabagaboy]

These are my 11 #14 hot peppers as of May 23 - more than 3 months since planting seeds. Refer to pot labels in photos for plant numbers.

14-1 1.50" tall, Green, no buds
14-2 3.50" tall, Green, no buds
14-3 1.50" tall, Green, buds
14-4 3.75" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
14-5 5.75" tall, Green w/ purple veins, buds
14-6 2.75" tall, Green w/ purple veins, buds
14-7 6.00" tall, Green, buds
14-8 2.75" tall, Green w/ purple veins, no buds
14-9 4.50" tall, Green, no buds, multi-stem
14-10 4.25" tall, Green w/ purple stems, no buds, multi-stem
14-11 6.75" tall, Green w/ purple stems, buds, multi-stem

My favorite is 14-11, followed by 14-5, 14-7 and 14-9. If I were pressed for space, I'd scrap everything less than 4" tall.

[rutabagaboy]

These are my 10 #38 hot peppers as of May 23 - more than 3 months since planting seeds. Refer to pot labels in photos for plant numbers.

38-1 2.00" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
38-2 9.50" tall, Purple -> Green, buds
38-3 7.25" tall, Purple -> Green, buds
38-4 2.00" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
38-5 5.25" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
38-6 2.25" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
38-7 8.00" tall, Purple -> Green, no buds
38-8 2.00" tall, Purple w/ tad of green, no buds
38-9 9.50" tall, Purple -> Green, buds
38-10 5.75" tall, Purple -> Green, buds


This family of plants is less pleasing to my eye than #1 or #14 because they are more spindly and less bushy. Nevertheless, my favorites are 38-2 and 38-9, followed by 38-3, 38-7 and 38-10. If I were pressed for space, I'd scrap everything less than 4" tall.

[ddsack]

Very nice summaries and pictures, rbboy. Your #11 for pepper 1 is a gorgeous little plant. I agree about the pepper 38 family being more spindly than the others. With mine, I just assumed it was because the 6 cell packs I have them in is crowding them and forcing them to grow up and not out, and this ought to be remedied when they get into larger pots. Mine do seem to have plenty of little starter branches near the bottom, they just have not bushed out very far.

Your updates are so good! Just want to add that I am also reading the ones you have posted in the dwarf tom section. Keep up the good work!

Dee

[nctomatoman]

From this project, I find that the taller, more spindly plants can be very rewarding and produced some of the very best looking plants. Hard to predict in this project!

[Barbee]

I was out watering this morning. My plain jane #8's have fruit! And the fruit is yellow, which makes it stand out. I'll have to check the others today and see what's going on with them and get some pics.

[nctomatoman]

It will be interesting to see if those tiny yellow fruit turn lavender as they grow...or stay yellow! And the shape...and the size....etc.

[Barbee]

Here you go Craig
Pepper 1 with purple vari foliage. You can see dark purple peppers:


Pepper 1 w/green foliage has bi colored flowers and bi colored fruit, too! Hard to tell from this pic but if you look close there are yellow and green peppers:


Pepper 8 has lemon yellow peppers:


Pepper 47 has bi colored foliage. No peppers yet. I'll post a pic when there's something to see.

[nctomatoman]

Very cool - nice pics. When the fruit get a bit larger, we can compare with what the seeds came from (the pics in the first post!)

[WVTomatoMan]

Sorry I haven't done this sooner, but here is my update:

Variations is the theme. Not just between the different numbered varieties, but also amongst individual varieties. My guess would be that these are F2 or F3 plants based on what I'm seeing.

The following pictures were taken just before I transplanted. I had read here that the seeds were slow to germinate. I guess I had the luck of the draw or Murphy's law because all of mine germinated in the regular amount of time (7-10 days) as I posted earlier. So, many of them had flowered and/or set fruit when I transplanted.

I've decided to grow the ones I'm keeping in containers, and my buddy is going to grow the remainder in the ground (he's not really into containers). I thought it would be a good experiment.

Number 9: Speaking of variations, you have everything from light green splattered with purple to regular colored green to almost all purple/black leaves (it's a little hard to see but the leftmost in the back row exhibits this).


Number 14: All of number 14s seedlings are small plants and I think they're going to be that way, like they were dwarfs or something:


Just to show that even though the Number 14 plants are small they are well grown and have a proper root system:


Number 37:
Again we have the variations this time not only with the different colored foliage, but also plant size.



Number 43:
Look at how lightly colored all of these are. The variations here are with the structure of the plant even though this is the most consistent (fewest variations). Notice how the branching starts almost at the soil line on the leftmost plant.



BTW, there are purple fruit, light green fruit, and regular dark green colored fruit.

I'll try to report back in a couple of weeks with pictures and progress.

BTW, Craig, I have overhead pictures that perhaps provide a better view of the foliage variations. Ask and I'll post.

Randy

[nctomatoman]

Pretty cool plants, aren't they! I think we are indeed looking at F3, perhaps F4 in some cases - but the cross must have been pretty wide the variants we are seeing. I hope everyone is enjoying the project - it is addictively fun for anyone who likes the thrill of the gardening unknown!

Wait until I ask you to taste the fruits and give heat ratings!!!

I took a fresh set of pics yesterday, but not sure if they are advanced enough to post....may wait another week. I've got buds on most, and a few open blossoms.

But in general, there are some that are quite compact, some that are quite lanky, and some that are taller and spreading.

[Suze]

Some Hot #38 pictures attached - 5/28 (as usual, larger versions of the pics can be found here)

I can't really see any differences of note between the two plants I have in, but will be sure to keep an eye out. Edit - The plant to the left seems slightly more vigorous/bushy, but then the set on the right plant is a little larger (earlier) so far.