Would it be possible to cross breed a Carolina Reaper ghost pepper plant

[Jamastiene]

with a regular cayenne pepper plant to get cayenne shaped peppers that still have more of the cayenne flavor but are hotter?

I have never tried cross breeding plants before. It is really hard to do? I would love any information on cross breeding too. So, if you have any experiences you are willing to share, I would love that too.

[WhiteTara]

1. you take the pollen from the Reaper

and mix it with the pollen of the cayenne. Mark the plant and the flower so you can collect the right seeds. Let us know how it goes!

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. A few things....(I've done a lot of tomato crossing, haven't done peppers yet - but...)

like tomatoes pepper flowers are "perfect" - both anthers (pollen bearing - male) and style (end of the pistil - the female - which ends with the ovary that swells if pollination happens) are on the same flowers.

The first is to know that a Carolina Reaper is a Cap. chinense, and a Cayenne is a Cap. annum. Two different species - but from what I've just read, they can be crossed.

You need to remove the anthers from a partially opened flower to remove the male parts, exposing the style (tip of the pistil, entry of the pollen tube). Collect pollen from the one you want to use as the male by vibrating open flowers over a smooth, dark surface (I like to use a black plastic spoon, so you can easily see the pollen grains). Using an electric toothbrush can help vibrate the pollen from the flowers.

Go to the flower that has the exposed style - gently dip the tip into the spoon - pollen should adhere. Repeat this a few times a day, for a few days.

If a pepper forms, that one will likely be the hybrid. I don't know which shape is dominant - the skinny cayenne or fat reaper. But let the fruit form, let it turn red, save the seeds - let them dry.

Next season, plant some of the seeds - the resulting peppers may or may not look different than the plant that the pepper that produced the hybrid seeds came from. Save lots of seed - by letting the peppers mature and turn red, then dry.

The next year, grow a lot of seeds - this is where segregation into different combinations will be seen.. You can test all of the cayenne shaped ones to see if they have the distinct chinense aroma. If you find one that does, let the peppers ripen, save seeds, repeat the following year.

It can take up to 8-10 generations to create a new, stable variety. But it is fun - involve your gardening friends!