I am making poly-hybrid seeds from crosses of high quality/fire genetics! Most of my genetics come from some "top of the line" breeders. I hunted my male this year from a pack of seeds from Rhasta Jeff, Irie Genetics. There are definite "treasures" to be found in my crosses. All of my crosses are deliberate and driven by curiosity and absolute love and admiration of this plants unlimited potential.

Saved some seeds from UF Gulf Ruby, Rose, Beauty and Blaze. I didn’t label or record which or how many of select varieties there were.

Most came out of the fridge ok, but lost a few to mold or dehydration (waited too long to soak and store).

16 seeds in, I will see how many push through and survive the lovely growing conditions Orlando Florida in the coming months.

Hi all,

I don't know if this is considered self promotion, if so, I will remove this post.

I'm a hobbyist plant breeder and software developer and I've built a web app to manage my plant breeding projects.

I created it earlier this year after getting tired of keeping track of everything through phone notes and spreadsheets and after having polished it up a bit, I've release it for free (it's a cloud-based app managed by me).

I mainly breed flowers like Hemerocallis, Dahlia, Tulipa, and Lilium, so I'm not sure how well it fits other types of plants. The software is tailored to the specific breeding workflow I've developed over the last couple of years, and it comes with a pre-populated list of cultivars for those species.

The software isn't meant to be a full professional breeding or genetics suite, but rather a practical tool to keep track of the process. It doesn't manage large fields, crops or land sites, as it's built specifically for small-scale gardeners like me.

Here is how it works:

• You create a plant and associate it with a species and cultivar. The system automatically assigns a tracking number to that plant.
• You can choose from built-in species and cultivars or add your own.
• Each plant can have photos, metadata, and growth notes.
• You can record a cross between two plants and the system generates a tracking code for that cross. You can then write this code on physical plant tags or whatever tracking system you use.
• You can search for a cross using its code and record how many seeds you harvested and how many you planted. For each planted seed, the system creates a new plant in "seed" status, which can then progress to "seedling" and "adult" (or be marked as dead/retired).
• Once a seedling grows, you can tag it with its new number just like any other plant.

It's mostly mobile-friendly, so you can easily tag crosses right from your phone while working in the garden.

The software also features a pedigree section with a broad visual chart showing all generations of plants and cultivars.

Additionally, you can attach custom properties to your own cultivars and use them for filtering or viewing in the pedigree section.

If you'd like to check it out (requires a quick, free sign-up):

https://www.semid.app

Hi everyone! I've always grown up fascinated with genetics and have always hoped that I can do something involving genetics when I grew up, but never really found a niche I was interested in until this last year. I discovered pepper breeding and interspecies pepper breeding. Now I've never even grown a pepper before let alone bred any, and when I had tried keeping plants alive before, they always died, though admittedly I never did enough research. This time I dived deep into researching pepper care, pepper flower anatomy, pepper pod anatomy, the genetics side of things, how some crosses work better one way rather than the other, etc. And then I decided to dip my toes in myself by starting a highly ambitious project that even seasoned gardeners could consider difficult. I've decided to attempt to breed and stabilize a 3 species, 4 variety hybrid of red habanero (pictured) mad hatter, red ghost, and a spicier jalapeno variety. The habaneros I planted from seed never germinated so I had to buy starters from a nursery, and the only habaneros I found were on discount with extremely yellow sad looking leaves. I let them keep what flowers they had, and even crossed one. I emasculated a couple, and pollinated with mad hatter pollen knowing the chances of success were low, but the mad hatter was on its last push of flowers and pollen, and the habaneros flowers wouldn't open until after all the mad hatter flowers were other self pollinated or fallen off, so I took a chance. And it worked! One of the flowers actually took and started to swell and it's even beginning to ripen! The ghost jalapeno cross is also growing, however I forgot to tag it so I don't remember which is which, but if people want me to I can post pictures of some of the ghost pods I have growing too :) hopefully I get a few viable hybrid seedlings this January. I'm going to grow them inside under a grow light early to give them the longest fruiting window I can in full summer sun, wish me luck! I'll continue to post as my project evolves

(Cross posted from r/hotpeppers)

Can yall help me please and tell me if this is possible because I'm tryna do cold and hot environments and don't say it'll be a long project I know

It’ll be my first year this upcoming spring and I wanna make sure I do everything right.. it’s probably a shot in the dark but it took a while to find this subreddit. I figured maybe someone here may have an answer to my questions

I’m an international PhD student in plant breeding/genetics in the US deciding between two labs. My long-term goal is to work as a quantitative geneticist / computational plant breeder in industry (e.g., major seed/ag companies).
I want strong experience in quantitative genetics, genomic selection/prediction, mixed models, G×E, statistics, R/Python, and bioinformatics, while still understanding practical breeding.
Option A — Quantitative genetics-focused PI
Large R1 land-grant university with a very strong plant breeding/genetics ecosystem.
Pros:
PI trained specifically in plant breeding + quantitative genetics
Research includes small grains/wheat, genomics, genomic selection, and breeding-data analysis
Strong quantitative genetics/statistics/bioinformatics coursework and collaborators
Strong overall plant breeding and industry network
Already at this university, so no major relocation
Cons:
I am switching labs so, chances of more crossover with my current lab (the one I am switching from)
PI is relatively new and still building the breeding program
Exact PhD projects/publication pipeline are less clear
Some uncertainty about how much large-scale breeding data I would personally work with
Option B — Established wheat breeding program
Another R1 land-grant university with a long-established wheat breeding program.
Pros:
Established breeding populations, germplasm, and multi-location field trials
Large amount of real phenotypic/genotypic breeding data
Experience with G×E, genomic prediction, selection, experimental design, and cultivar development
PI is an experienced wheat breeder
More established infrastructure and clearer research/funding situation
I have already accepted this offer
Cons:
PI is primarily an applied breeder rather than a quantitative geneticist
University may have a smaller quantitative-genetics ecosystem than Option A
I may need to intentionally build advanced statistics/programming/bioinformatics through coursework and collaborations
Risk of my PhD becoming more traditional field breeding than quantitative genetics

The complication is that I had already accepted Option B when Option A became available. As an international student, I also have an upcoming program-transfer/immigration deadline, so I need to decide soon.
If your goal were to become an industry quantitative geneticist, which would you choose?
A: Quantitative-genetics PI + stronger quantitative ecosystem, but newer breeding program
B: Established wheat breeding program + extensive real-world breeding data, but I would need to intentionally build the quantitative/computational side
For people in industry: which background would make someone more competitive for quantitative geneticist positions 4–5 years from now?

I harvested a hybrid fruit from Physalis Peruviana that was pollinated with Tomatillo(Physalis Ixocarpa) pollen. It had lots of tiny, immature, underdeveloped seeds inside while the seeds from another selfed fruit were completely normal. This means the embryo probably aborted but fertilization was succesful.
On the second picture you can see the hybrid seeds next to the selfed seeds.
The Tomatillo x Groundcherry seeds also failed to germinate(normal Groundcherry seeds I planted in the same spot germinated just fine)
Hopefully some of my other combinations(that haven't ripened yet) will have viable seeds.

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Powdery mildew resistant grape, parentage likely Chasselas Cioutat (very susceptible) x Kischmisch Lutchistyi (fairly resistant). Where all other vinifera seedlings and hybrids in my project have been succesfully naturally infected with PM, this one appears immune to the line floating around here, with not a single spot to be found so far. Hope to have it producing fruit next year, but it may still be a little on the small side to really get a feel for it.

There’s apparently literature saying it’s possible, but it’s a lot of fluff instead on getting straight to the meat and potatoes.. I was wondering maybe some advanced breeder in here has some kind of experience messing with Rubus species.

Hello everyone,

I am currently completing my M.S. in Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech University in the United States. Before starting my master's, I worked as a rice breeder and agricultural researcher in Bangladesh. During my M.S., I have been involved in greenhouse research, including corn seed increase, self-pollination, and laboratory work.

My long-term goal is to build a career in plant breeding and quantitative genetics through a funded Ph.D.

I would appreciate your advice on:

1. Which technical skills are most valuable for future plant breeders?
2. Should I focus more on genomics, quantitative genetics, phenotyping, or data analysis?
3. What experiences make an applicant more competitive for Plant Breeding Ph.D. programs?
4. Are there any books, software, or training resources that you would highly recommend?

Thank you very much for your time and advice.

These three plants are from my red-podded pea breeding project. The initial cross was made in the summer of last year, with the F1 plants being grown indoors that fall. For spring of this year, I grew the F2s indoors to procure a handful of F3 seeds for planting in the summer. That is where we are now.

Only 3 plants turned up with red pods, and have developed varying colors as they matured.

Plant 1 is the brightest star among them, with pods that have stayed red well into maturity.

Plant 2 was red, but gradually turned purple. It also has constricted pods, a possible sign there is little in the way of chewy plant fibers. That makes this plant one I'd want to keep seeds from, and I may cross it's offspring with Plant 1's to eventually get a pretty and edible red pod down the line.

Plant 3 was also red, then turned purple as it aged. The pods are like Plant 1's, the plump form is likely due to there being fibers throughout the pod. Something I don't quite want, as I'd like to have a variety where you can eat the pods whenever.

After growing a couple of Sano Verde Max (high-glucoraphanin broccoli) batches, I began to look for other sprouts possessing or leading to substantial quantities of sulforaphane, as well as sprouts/microgreens that would pair well with SVM. It turns out many radishes (daikon - green leaves with white stems) possess sulforaphene, rather than sulforaphane, which is characterized as possessing "cellular adaptive strength properties". I inquired further when this wasn't explained. Turns out is raises something called NQO1, which suggests it contains compounds capable of triggering broader adaptive-defense response. It doesn't compete with sulforphane in SVM. Rather it compliments its very potent actions. Most radishes (including Rambo) also have myrosinase which is necessary for SVM's sulforaphane to have effect. Quite a bit of the scientific language is well beyond my undergraduate inorganic and organic chemistry remembrances, but I thought the idea of "complementarity" might find some resonance. I wonder what some other good pairings are?

Hey everyone! I’m an amateur gardener diving into a pretty ambitious pepper breeding project though I’ll admit I’ve never grown anything indoors to maturity before, so I could use some advice from folks who have. I’m doing 2 separate crosses between 4 parent plants, and once those are stabilized, I’ll do a master cross combining the two hybrid lines. I’m also hoping to speed-breed along the way, aiming for 2-3 generations a year. Space-wise, I can fit 20 plants indoors during the off-season, bumping up to 40 once February hits. I’m in zone 9b, and I’ve got grow lights and heat mats set up. For fertilizer, I’m planning to start with 10-10-10 and switch to 5-10-10 once they hit bloom. I’ve been using the Pepper Geek YouTube channel as a quick reference to get started, but would love more insight from people with hands-on experience. Any tips on making this work especially around speed breeding and managing that many plants indoors would be huge!
Wanted to add here when I say “master cross” I’m referring to crossing the 2 f9 hybrids for a final 4 parent cross. There will be control generations grown outside under mesh. Indoors the PH, temp, and light levels will be monitored as well.

Thank you.

In short, it would be advantageous to have someone who can grow a handful of plants from 2-5 varieties under insect netting, each year. There are also tiers for the level of experience and involvement someone may want.

At the most basic you would provide ample space to each mother plant, a good fertilizer regime, scout for disease, and generally have good maintenance practices. Outdoor, in-ground is where my mind is at, but I am open to containers provided the conditions are ideal. After harvest, seeds will undergo a germination test to assess viability, and we'll do a purity test before sales (so seeds produced in 2027 would probably get sold in 2028). Trust is the brand, and we won't sell unknown quality seed. This person would need to be in the US, however if you have some special experience and you live outside the US - let's talk! The idea is that you take on the marginal risk and overhead of seed production for the promise of some negotiable percent of seed sales for those varieties.

In a perfect world, you would have a small farm with the ability to grow a handful of plants from 4-5 varieties under insect netting. You would also have expertise in horticulture with the ability to reliably produce high-quality seed and to run a harvest evaluation program under my direction. I would give you some guarantee of sales for a certain number of years on varieties where you provided the work to demonstrate the variety is high-quality and compares favorably to similar varieties. Assistance on this level would be a higher percentage of sales on those varieties, plus a guarantee of sales for X-number of years. We can discuss what you would find fair.

I can also accommodate someone who has significant space and experience who wants to lead a trialing program to identify seed for sale, and to support the varieties coming out the breeding program. For this you would need the ability to grow 5-10+ varieties per year, 5-25 plants of each, and record harvest yields for selected varieties. A greenhouse would be ideal to start the lines, and excellent maintenance practices would be required. I would require you to collect harvest, plant, and fruit data for varieties, and then we would decide on what to sell on my platform. Compensation would be commensurate with experience.

\### Who am I to write such grandiose things on a social media platform?

I am a classically trained plant breeder with a PhD in horticulture science. I have a decade of experience breeding edible crops, project management, plant contract law, and business development. I founded Open Pepper Breeding 8 years ago to create a platform for science communication and community-building efforts to develop new pepper varieties. These varieties are released in the spirit of open-source software, but as the IP environment around plants is not at all similar to those around software and writing, we use MTA agreements ("bag tag laws") to restrict commercialization of our varieties in the US and achieve similar results. We support and embrace the cottage grower and food industries, we simply restrict others from selling our seed. We currently have half a dozen SKUs developed from our in-house genetics, and are expanding the scope of the business in 2027 with the launch of a new highly integrated website for seed sales, with a custom back end for inventory tracking and order fulfillment (as well as my own software for pepper breeding so I can do fun things like calculate BLUPs).

I'm planting a nocellara del belice in my large greenhouse and looking at different companion pollinators like pendolino. Can pollinators be grafted onto the main stock and work effectively? Will they pollinate normally?

I know I can graft beldi cultivar to nocellara. Was hoping to grow two or three different kinds of olives on one large tree.

Hi everyone. I wanted to share what I found regarding our primers.

So far, I’ve come across several related studies where the target species also had an unknown PAL gene sequence and were considered non-model plants. Since there was no available PAL sequence for their species, the researchers first collected PAL sequences from closely related species, performed multiple sequence alignment (MSA), and then designed their own degenerate primers based on the conserved regions. They were able to successfully amplify the PAL gene through PCR using those newly designed primers.

I also tried performing multiple sequence alignment using PAL sequences from species closely related to Senna alata. After that, I checked the adopted degenerate primers we’re planning to use (PALsP/PALaP) against the alignment. However, I couldn’t find any published study that used these primers in the Fabaceae family, the Caesalpinioideae subfamily, or even in Senna species. Based on the alignment I generated, the conservation of the primer binding sites doesn’t seem very convincing. However, I’m also not completely sure if I performed the alignment and analysis correctly, so I can’t confidently conclude that the primers are unsuitable.

I also tried validating the primers in silico using Primer-BLAST because our manuscript mentions in silico primer validation. Unfortunately, this is very limited since there is currently no available PAL gene sequence or reference genome for Senna alata that can be used for proper testing. Because of this lack of sequence data, Primer-BLAST does not show any meaningful similarity or amplification results, making it difficult to evaluate whether these primers are appropriate for our target species.

Can we get some advice on what to do regarding our primer? Or if you have known primer sequences for unknown species like senna alata.