Chile and other edible garden by JartsaP

[Sauli Särkkä]

A large-scale test should be carried out by selecting a wide range of different chilies, at different stages of maturity. Natural selection would step in here and take care of the plants that are the least adaptable to colder climates and/or a prolonged dormant state. The survivors of the first winter would get harvested the following summer and those seeds would be planted right after they mature, in the fall, and have a chance to grow a while before the cold sets in again -> this would establish an annual cycle for the plant to follow. When the next summer comes, if you still have survivors, you'd have third generation, cold-climate -chilies ready to go on.

..that is, if all goes perfectly.

I suppose one would need at least 5-10 plants of, say, 10-15 varieties. Of those varieties that do survive, each variety would be carried on with at least 50 plants per each variety that survived towards the next season. This experiment needs quite a bit of room and time and could stand as the ultimate chili project for Finnish growers in 2007.

Would there be interest in a large-scale, widespread and well documented project like this? If yes, we need to get going on laying out the details and plans by the end of the year.



-Sale

[svalli]

JartsaP, your root cellar Tepin being alive is great news. So chiles can be grown as perennials like some tender flowers which my mother-in-aw used to keep in their root cellar. Storing the plants in a root cellar may be better than    in our ordinary basement, which stays warmer and the plants do not go totally dormant.

One important aspect of having wild northern chile is the seed germination in nature. I had some ornamental chiles outside in their pots over the winter. Spring time I tried germinating the seeds from ripe pods, but none of them sprouted. I have heard that chile seeds will germinate, if they have been enough dry before freezing. I have an other trial in a corner of our yard. I buried a lot of pepper seeds into the ground last fall. So far I have not seen any sprouts.

[JartsaP]

Well, I consider this as a kind of "opposite" branch of investigation, comparing to the idea of a wild annual chile, which could quickly set fruit during the summer and stay alive as seeds over winter. In best case, it may even be possible to obtain both, perennial and annual hardy chile, but I'm not entirely sure if one plant can ever have both features.

Dormant plant can survive much worse conditions than what it would otherwise, but there's still a huge difference betweeen cellar +5 and outdoor -30C. Here, near South-West coast of Finland we don't usually get very much protecting snow before frosts, so the plants often have to take severe frost without it.  Spring frosts can also go down to -10C without any snow cover.

[Aji Inferno]

IT'S ALIVE!

Cold cellar overwintered tepin has survived - it must have been extremely deeply dormant, for it has taken a long time to wake up. But now there's tiny new growth in some crotches.

I think this is very important new knowledge. As my opinion, this means that it might be possible to find or breed a chile, which can go dormant and stay alive even through Finnish near-arctic winter.

This is an interesting subject, indeed... From my accidental cold-test of last winter, one Brazilean chinense survived - all the others died, meaning most of my plants. One cardenasii almost made it, as did one Tepin.

Yet, two mature flexuosums had no problems handling even constant freezing conditions. That certainly surprised me... Tough little fellows. Flexuosum just might be able to handle southern Finland's climate somehow, since it tends to be a very early bloomer and doesn't seem to mind even temps of -5C or so. Chances are that it'd have enough time to prepare its seeds in time... Something to test, isn't it? The only problem: since it's a very, very rare plant, who'd have heart to torture his/her precious plant like that..? Well, I did last winter - but as said, it was an accident.  I hope this year my 3 flexus would produce enough seeds for giving away. Did I say 3? Well, yes... My older flexu had a baby! Apparently, a fallen fruit produced a new surprise seedling beside her mother... I love those plants, absolutely!

[JartsaP]

One small problem with the cellar-tepin: it has not even started to flower yet, I think there are few flower buds now, but it's definately too late for it to produce ripe fruit before winter, even in the greenhouse. So its dormancy was way too deep (or our summer is too short).

Does anybody have any idea, if C. flexuosum can be crossed with any other Capsicum species? If it has so good cold tolerancy, it might be worth trying.

[Aji Inferno]

One small problem with the cellar-tepin: it has not even started to flower yet, I think there are few flower buds now, but it's definately too late for it to produce ripe fruit before winter, even in the greenhouse. So its dormancy was way too deep (or our summer is too short).

Does anybody have any idea, if C. flexuosum can be crossed with any other Capsicum species? If it has so good cold tolerancy, it might be worth trying.

Brazilean researchers have suggested (even before this new info about cold-resistance) that flexuosum should be closely investigated for breeding/crossing purposes... There isn't reliable public information yet. Flexuosum can't really be grown in balcony conditions since it doesn't appear to be very self-compatible. It would need insects, several plants etc. in order to produce fruit, let alone cross with other capsicums. So, it's a project I can't do in my current setup - but those of you with own gardens etc, please go on!

[JartsaP]

New photo of my "cellar-tepin" posted to overwintering thread in Finnish:
http://javu.kapsi.fi/inferno/viewtopic.php?p=21964#21964

Flowering and some fruits even maturing slowly. I still think that this plant still being alive is a huge thing.

I'm already considering new ways to torment this persistent plant. Maybe I'll just leave it to the greenhouse, or try to overwinter it in the ground with some protection. I'm beginning to believe that it might survive even that... But hey, I also grow grapevines outdoors (and in the greenhouse, where I have just been eating my first home grown grapes ever), and I have three pear trees on front lawn, in Finland... Both may sound strange, but I also know people who have succesfully overwintered the most hardy palms, cactuses and figs out in the ground in the warmest parts of our country, so nothing is impossible. (Btw. if anybody has some 'Brown Turkey' fig cuttings to offer, I'd be happy to trade).