Sweet Pepper Long Red Marconi

[peterwicker]

I have been growing these peppers for the last couple of years and they produce lovely large red tapering fruits. They are supposed to be mild flavoured sweet peppers but this year the fruit on one of our plants are exceedingly hot. Can you explain the reason for this? Fresh seed was used. They are in a greenhouse with some hot chilli peppers also growing there. Could they have cross-pollinated and produced a new chilli variety "Long Red Hot Marconi"?

[Primrose]

Peter. I think this is quite possible as in the past I,ve found cross pollination has happened between sweet peppers and chillies. I usually grow Hungarian wax chillies which are supposed to be on the milder side but one year I grew half a dozen different varieties of chilli, some prettyf hot and a few of my Hungarian Wax chillies near blew my head off so I think youcan get cross pollination between different chillies too . The annoying thing is that you cant just look at a fruit and tell it's going to be abnormal.

I,m also growing the Long red Marconi peppers. Mine haven,t been quite as long this year as last year but I think last year they loved the exceptionally hot summer . Well worth growing in my view. The only time I think the Californian type bell peppers are better is when you want to bake and stuff them because the skins are much thicker and the fruits don,t collapse.

[Colin2016]

I grow these as well usually eat before they get red as do not find they taste any different. Found my chillies have been late getting hot. Any way you can tell by looking if they are hot?

[Tony Hague]

I don't think you'll tell by looking. It is easy for cross pollination to occur, perhaps even at the seed producer ?

But I think chilli heat depends on ripeness and weather. Some varieties do vary in heat, mostly mild but with the hidden surprise amongst them !

I don't really know enough biology to know for certain if cross-pollination can affect fruit heat in that season, i.e, if the genetics of the pollen affect more of the fruit than the seeds. I am inclined to doubt it.

[Westi]

I suppose the only way to tell is to experiment next year & keep the chillies away from the sweet peppers to see if cross pollination is the reason or whether it is the built in genes from their ancestors & a great summer that triggers the oddities!

[Monika]

I have had a rogue seed in the past - could that be it, Peter?

[Primrose]

It,s pretty impossible to tell the difference between a dry chilli seed and a dry red pepper seed so if they're both being packed on the same bench in the packing station and the odd one is left lying around it would be pretty easy to mistake it and just add it to the current packed being loaded up.

I suppose it's always possible the seed are being packed on April Fools Day, or somebody is having a "bad hair day" and they just sneakily slip the odd wrong seed in a packet to keep us all in our toes, although I usually save my own chilli and red pepper seeds so only have myself to blame. I don't packet them up at the same time though.