Wow - little berry! "Feeble calculations" - what wrong with them to call them "feeble"? There is always a chance that somebody would put us down - but why do it to yourself? You will get a bunch of new seedlings - and some of them will be red semidoubles with wavy leaves with red backs - because these genes are available. Why not all - because you do not know what is hiding in a recessive pool of genes combined with dominant genes. You do not know if ruffled leaves on Evergrace are double dominant or dominant with something else recessive. Tha's why you asked questions about parentage - if you would have all the genealogy - you would have better idea. My guess is - selfing is the answer - it will give you all combinations of recessive and dominant genes - and you will have Mendel laws in statistics. As far as I understand there are complex genes as well - that control not only flower type but leaf type - example - wasp comes with bustle leaves, etc, etc. Plus you can predict to some extent how your combinations will show themselves- but you do not know if it will be WOW or so-so. But to start with - we need strong vigorous symmetrically growing plants - and you have excellent parents to start. Waiting for the results Irina

Hi, I don't know about books, but there are many web sites that deal with hybridizing plants. Most deal with very specific genera, not hybridizing in general. So it would help knowing what you intend to try your hand at to start with. The basic step is very simple: put some pollen (male part) on the stigma (female part) of the plant. That being said, the anatomy of a plant can be very different depending on the genus: in some genera, there are male plants and female plants while on most, the 2 reproductive organs can be found on the same plant. Sometimes, what appears to be a flower in not, it is rather made of several flowers that look like a single bloom. On others, the flower seems to be very big because of its colored bracts, but the flower itself is very tiny. In some genera, species can be crossed easily (interspecific) while in others, it is harder. In yet other cases, crosses can easily be made between different genera (intergeneric). Then you have the seeds you have to wait for until they rippen. Some will germinate very easily, other are very hard to germinate like peonies. Some will bloom very fast after sowing, others will take years before they do. You say you are new to gardening, so I suppose that you have never taken care of plants either indoors or outdoors. A good way to start would be with african violets: they are indoor plants and can be grown year round, they are small and take less room and less care than many other more demanding plants, sexual parts are easily identified, and you wont have to wait years to see the results of your work when you make a cross between 2 plants. Sounds hard? Don't worry, it seems worst than it really is. Hope this helps a bit, but I'm not sure... Anyway, welcome to the wonderful world of hybridizing. Laurier My web site

I'm a noob when it comes to hybridization, but I'm thinking about trying to graft some Bhut to some Tepin and/or Pequin rootstock. These rootstocks should allow survival in harsh conditions like we have here, I think. I've never had or seen BER on these two native peppers, so maybe that'd take care of that problem too. A link to a pepper hybridization site would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

First, I tried to answer the question about the definition of OP using the same genetic terms that pennyrile used. So that's an attempt to defione an OP based on genetic issues alone. What Trudi posted is a definition based more on a functional basis. Here's what Trudi quoted from her source: (In addition to their long history of use, the heirloom vegetables that are routinely grown from seed are open-pollinated, meaning that they set seed "naturally," often aided by wind, rain, or pollinating insects, and can thus be renewed by sowing the seeds harvested from each generation of plants. Known also as standard or non-hybrid, open-pollinated varieties tend to be stable and true-breeding. They differ from F1 hybrids, which in usual practice result from deliberate crossing of two distinct, highly inbred parent lines. (The term "F1" to describe the hybrid offspring indicates the "first filial" generation, with respect to the parent lines.)) Trudi, I know that definition well and used to use it when asked, but a couple of things about it started bothering me. (are open-pollinated, meaning that they set seed "naturally," often aided by wind, rain, or pollinating insects, and can thus be renewed by sowing the seeds harvested from each generation of plants. Known also as standard or non-hybrid, open-pollinated varieties tend to be stable and true-breeding.) Possible Problem #1; if cross pollinated by pollinating insects a variety is no longer genetically stable, as in true brreding. Possible Problem #2; nothing was said about spontaneous mutations which can also alter varieties. Possible Problem #3. What about all the varieties that were bred by individuals and done so deliberately? Would then one still consider all of TOm Wagner's varieties such as Green Zebra, Green Grape, Elberta Girl and on and on, as OP's b'c they didn't come about via natural means? Same comment for all of the ones bred by joe Bratka such as Snow White, Super Snow White, Ghost, Rabbit, Marizol Purple, aka Marizol Bratka, and all the Sara thises and that's that he bred. Since they were bred are they to be considered OP? s And what about all the ones bred by Joe's father, such as Box Car Willie, Mule Team, Red Barn, Great Divide and Pasture. Are they OP's using the "natural" definition? And there are more examples. ( They differ from F1 hybrids, which in usual practice result from deliberate crossing of two distinct, highly inbred parent lines. (The term "F1" to describe the hybrid offspring indicates the "first filial" generation, with respect to the parent lines.)) The purpose here is to produce F1 seed for sale whereas the deliberate crosses made by Tom Wagner, Joe Bratka, his father, Tad Smith and others is not to produce F1 seed, rather, to dehybridize the F1's that they create to develop OP's from selections at the F2, F3, level, for instance. I guess what I'm saying is that I've know that functional definition of OP for a long time and that goes back to the late 80's. But in more recent years we do have lots of folks making their own crosses, so it seems maybe a bit problematic now to say that an OP can only arise by natural means, forgetting the comment about X pollination by insects. Just something to think about. Carolyn