Crossing sweet peppers, some interesting genetics

Fusion_power · October 18, 2015

I love the taste and crisp texture of Orange Bell peppers, but they have several seriously negative traits such as extremely brittle stems and relatively long season to maturity. It is a superb variety here in the south, but not very well adapted to the northern tier of states or to Canada.

Frank Morton gave me a few samples of his peppers when I visited Oregon in 2012 including Little Bells which is an early maturity but relatively thin walled red sweet pepper. I decided to try crossing Orange Bell X Little Bells when Frank asked specifically about developing an orange sweet pepper from the same breeding lines that led to Little Bells. I told him at the time that the genetics were not present and that he would need an outcross to an orange variety. Since then, he has brought out several yellow/gold lines which you can see at http://www.wildgardenseed.com/

I interplanted Orange Bell and Little Bells plants in my garden in 2014, then saved seed only from the Orange Bell plants. This year, I grew the seed out and put about 30 plants in my garden. I got lucky, one single plant was a natural bee made cross! I saved seed from that plant and sent about 100 seed back to Frank in hopes he will grow it out and develop a short season orange sweet pepper adapted to his climate. I also saved enough seed to grow out next year and see what shows up here in North Alabama.

The F1 cross showed up with bright red fruits which indicates the gene involved in Orange Bell is actually the tangerine gene, not beta carotene. The F1 plant matured fruit at least 2 weeks prior to the pure Orange Bell plants set out at the same time. Fruit flavor was poorer than Orange Bell, less crispy, and fruit walls were thinner. I'm hoping segregation in the F2 will moderate some of these traits. I will target large thick walled sweet peppers on sturdy compact plants with early maturity and heavy production.

October 18, 2015	#1
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Crossing sweet peppers, some interesting genetics I love the taste and crisp texture of Orange Bell peppers, but they have several seriously negative traits such as extremely brittle stems and relatively long season to maturity. It is a superb variety here in the south, but not very well adapted to the northern tier of states or to Canada. Frank Morton gave me a few samples of his peppers when I visited Oregon in 2012 including Little Bells which is an early maturity but relatively thin walled red sweet pepper. I decided to try crossing Orange Bell X Little Bells when Frank asked specifically about developing an orange sweet pepper from the same breeding lines that led to Little Bells. I told him at the time that the genetics were not present and that he would need an outcross to an orange variety. Since then, he has brought out several yellow/gold lines which you can see at http://www.wildgardenseed.com/ I interplanted Orange Bell and Little Bells plants in my garden in 2014, then saved seed only from the Orange Bell plants. This year, I grew the seed out and put about 30 plants in my garden. I got lucky, one single plant was a natural bee made cross! I saved seed from that plant and sent about 100 seed back to Frank in hopes he will grow it out and develop a short season orange sweet pepper adapted to his climate. I also saved enough seed to grow out next year and see what shows up here in North Alabama. The F1 cross showed up with bright red fruits which indicates the gene involved in Orange Bell is actually the tangerine gene, not beta carotene. The F1 plant matured fruit at least 2 weeks prior to the pure Orange Bell plants set out at the same time. Fruit flavor was poorer than Orange Bell, less crispy, and fruit walls were thinner. I'm hoping segregation in the F2 will moderate some of these traits. I will target large thick walled sweet peppers on sturdy compact plants with early maturity and heavy production.