Mystery plant.... Help!?!?!

8 years ago

I started 2 varieties this year, Black Pearl & Carolina Reaper. From both seed packs, I had an 85% germination rate. I have 16 Black pearls, 5 Carolina Reapers, and one ???....

May first, the mystery plant looked almost identical to the Reapers, but as my seedlings matured, it looks different from the others. The veins on leaves are still green, but the main stem started taking on a darker color, as did the leaf stems, and are almost burgundy-purplish. Here is one of my normal Reapers....

And this is my mystery plant....

Does anyone have any idea what it might be? They haven't set nodes yet, but it looks like they're starting to. Please help!! Thx

Featured Answer

habjolokia z 6b/7

8 years ago

charleygreko,

many things are a factor in plant growth, soil, fertlizer, temperature, how often you water. I would need more info, start a new thread many will assist.

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Comments (12)

kentishman
8 years ago
Purple coloration may be the result of exposure to a lot of light. It's the plant's version of sunburn.
habjolokia z 6b/7
8 years ago
Purple is normal as kentishman pointed out sunburn, mine do that all the time. As for what variety I would still go with reaper until you get pods/flowers it will be near impossible to identify.
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ronnyb123
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Agreed, we need some kind of flower pics or pods to at least have a shot at guessing. It could be a hybrid Reaper for all we know.
Annie
Original Author
8 years ago
None of my plant have ever been in full sun more than an hour a day, since I started them. I live in an apartment complex & have all my plants on my balcony, which is covered. I guess fruit & flower would make it easier to identify for sure, lol, sorry about that!! I will post pics as soon as I have flowers.... Thx!!
Annie
Original Author
8 years ago
**** UPDATE ****

My "mystery" plant is finally showing its 1st blooms. The flowers are white, with a lilac fringe on the outer edge of the petals. This is my 1st crop of Carolina Reapers, and with the exception of 1 of my Black Pearl, none of my other plants are blooming yet, so I have no flowers for comparison. As I posted earlier, this plant look similar to my other Reapers, aside from the striated burgundy coloration in the stems & leaf veining. While this one has me perplexed, it is a beautiful plant nonetheless. Does anyone know (or could venture a guess) what type of pepper plant this is? I apologize for the 2nd pic being a bit blurred, my phone wouldn't focus properly, due to the lighting!
the_northeast_chileman
8 years ago

Can we assume the seeds came from a swap?
charleygreko
8 years ago
Habjolokia help I have a carolina reaper but i have no idea whats happening its not growing and puts out flowers but i never get any peppers it is supposed to get like 5 ft tall but mine is barley 1-2 ft please help if you can heres my email if you need it charleygreko@gmail.com
Annie
Original Author
8 years ago
The_northeast_chileman.... No, they're not from a swap. I purchased the seeds online, from 2 separate individuals. My Carolina reapers came from PA, while the Black Pearls came from AZ. I bought one pack of each. This "mystery" plant came from the reaper seeds. This is my 1st crop of reapers (6 plants including this one), so I honestly have no idea what they're supposed to look like when they set flowers. This particular plant looks similar to the others in leaf shape & growth, but the whole plant looks a bit different in color from them. It has burgundy streaking in the stems & veins. Please help me figure this one out?!?!
Annie
Original Author
8 years ago
*** UPDATE ***

Mystery plant is producing flowers like crazy... Tho it did drop its 1st few blooms. One of the new flowers has already dried up & it seems promising that a pod has formed!! The flowers on this plant (see pic below) are white, with a lilac fringe on the edges of the petals, and purplish in the middle. Any idea what it is?

None of my Reapers have started blooming yet, they just keep getting taller & bushier. On the other hand, my Black Pearl plants are all flowering as well.... And one even has a few definite pods!! This is my first time growing either of these varieties, so I'm pretty anxious!!

1st pod forming on mystery plant:

Mystery Plant flowers:

Black Pearl flowers & pods!!

I also attempted cross-pollenation of the mystery pepper with one of my Black Pearls. Since I have no clue what variety the mystery plant is, it will be interesting to see what I end up with, if my experiment is successful! How can I tell if my cross was successful? I have never tried creating hybrids before, so any advice would be greatly appreciated
habjolokia z 6b/7
8 years ago
Annie,

we must have ended up with the same variety here is one of my post from 2013

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2103885/mystery-pepper-plant-identification-please
Annie thanked habjolokia z 6b/7
Annie
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you Mark. The plant does seem to have similar traits to the one you had, although the leaves look bigger, like double the size of my BPs....actually the whole plant is about 29" tall (it's keeping pace w/ the smallest of my reapers, and healthier). Mine came out of the batch of Reaper seeds tho, so I do hope it may be a strange cross of that. Did you ever determine what exactly it was? And how did the ghost cross with that plant turn out?