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tom_h_88

Crossing pepper, tomato (nightshade family)

tom_h_88
21 years ago

I don't know how close peppers and tomato's are to each other but i hear they are both members of the nightshade family. I was just curious, are they close enough (related) to be crossed. Also, are tomatillo's hybrids?

Tom

Comments (19)

  • agrinerd
    21 years ago

    Sorry, they're both in the same family, but nowhere near enough to cross. Tomatillos are in a whole different genus, Physalis, as are Ground Cherries, Chinese Lanterns and the like. Universities have attempted crosses among species of Physalis, but they wouldn't cooperate.

  • maxfarms
    21 years ago

    eggplant and potatoe, and the pepo melon are in the same family as tomatoes as well good luck. We know tomatoes and potatoes can be grafted but they do not do as well as the plants do separatly .and to the best of my knowledge they have not been crossbred but try anyways what have you got to lose?

  • maineman
    20 years ago

    I think there might be some danger crossing tomatoes with other members of the Nightshade family because you could get a hybrid that had poisonous fruit. I have heard that certain parts of tomato plants are poisonous.

    -- Burton --

  • Rosa
    20 years ago

    what the heck is a pepo melon?

  • agrinerd
    20 years ago

    Not to worry. It will never happen. It's hard enough to produce hybrids between different tomato species. To do so, embryo recue is usually neccesary.

  • Walter_Pickett
    20 years ago

    Tomatoes have been crossed wtih a species that was then classified as a Solanum pennellii. This was about 20 years ago. That species was later changed to the genus of tomatoes.
    Waltseed

  • seedyoulater
    20 years ago

    isn't the "garden huckleberry" in the same genus what can it be crossed with?

  • seedyoulater
    20 years ago

    Can "pooha berries" cross with tomatillos ? what can narangilla cross with ? can the yellow, orange and black sweet potatoes cross with each other and with regular potatoes ? the pepo melon is an expensive fruit that is sold in larger supermarkets it is the size and shape of a persimmon similar thin skinned and point at not stem end pale yellow wth a few purple streaks .It has tiny tomato like seeds . what crossbreedings are possible in this genus ? where do I find out what the universities are offering money for ? especially $1 million strains.

  • flowersandthings
    20 years ago

    Tomatillos aren't hybrids they're there own species from Mexico.....

  • Raymondo
    20 years ago

    seedyoulater,
    The tomato, chili and garden huck are all in the same family (Deadly Nightshade or SOLANACAEA) but each in a different genus (Lycopersicon, Capsicum and Solanum respectively). You would at least want your plants to be in the same genus to have a chance of crossing. The members of the genus Brassica (broccoli and its relatives), for example, are reknowned for their readiness to cross. Being in the same family however isn't enough and even being in the same genus, for the most part, isn't enough (Brassicas notwithstanding of course). The more distant the plants the more remote becomes the possibility of crossing. If you were assigning probabilities, the likelihood of crossing two members of the same family but belonging to different genera is, for the most part, so small it might as well be considered zero. There are always exceptions of course.
    Someone above mentioned their nervousness at the idea of crossing members if the family SOLANACAE because so many of them are poisonous (hence the common name DEADLY Nightshade). But if you managed to cross any plants of different genera, no matter what family they belonged to, I personally would want a full toxicolgy workup done before I ate any part if the newly created plant! Combining genes can have many unexpected and unlooked for results - the Flavrsvr (?spelling) tomato was a case in point. Created through genetic manipulation to maintain a firm skin/shell even when fully ripe, it was a smashing success from this point of view. Unfortunately, by all reports, it had a rather unpleasant taste. It it wasn't poisonous though. There was also a potato, created through genetic manipulation to resist a common potato pest that unfortunately made people nauseous. It too has been withdrawn.
    I guess that's why nature is designed the way she is. Nasty things usually cannot leap the species barrier without some intervention!
    Did I get carried away here or what!! Sorry.

  • jkirk3279
    19 years ago

    Actually, I wrote a letter to the company that made the FlavorSaver Tomato. And I got an answer from one of their gene splicers.

    I had even sent them some heirloom seeds I had been saving. This is 15 years ago, I guess.

    I thought they might be interested, as their only real change to the FlavorSaver was to take out the gene that caused rotting to begin. And the tomato variety I had saved was unique in my experience, that it would go mushy in an hour and be gooey in three. I thought it might be interesting on that account, as it breaks down really fast and thus is the reverse of what they wanted.

    The lady doc sent the seeds back, explaining that their work was subject to too many controls to use unknown seeds. I understood that, of course.

    As for tomatoes and peppers, I raised those hollow stuffing tomatoes once, and they really aren't all that different from Bell Peppers.

    I read just the other day, a thread on GW, that the reason tomato foliage is inedible is that it contains anti-bacterial chemicals ! So, I think when I have to prune my tomatoes this year, I'll make a foliar spray out of Tomato Leaf Tea. Now that I think on it, very few critters will eat tomato foliage, other than the evil Tomato Hornworm.

    I hate those things !

  • Absent
    19 years ago

    The toxic potato wasn't a result of GM but of conventional breeding - they took wild relatives that weren't attacked by pests and crossed them into the line. Noone through to check why the plants were resistant - they produced a selection of alkaloids including solanine in all parts of the plant - even the white tubers.

  • STPU/ ShutThisPotatoUp
    6 years ago

    I think Solanum lycopersicum x Capsicum can exist. They are some of the Solainodeae subfamily plants.

  • Mokinu
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I've read anecdotal reports of potential tomato pepper crosses. One sounded like stuffing tomatoes. Another was about hot tomatoes. Another was supposedly a cross between a Purple Beauty pepper and a tomato.

    How many chromosomes do pepper and tomatoes each have?

    Apparently, Wikipedia lists Morelle De Balbis as a wild tomato (in the Eriopersicon group, along with S. peruvianum L., the latter of which I believe has been crossed with domestic tomatoes); I knew Morelle De Balbis was in the same genus, but considering it has husks and prickles, and is pretty much not very much like a tomato compared to other wild tomatoes I've read about and seen, I didn't think it actually would be considered a tomato. It hasn't crossed with my tomatoes, yet, to my knowledge, but I'm curious if it can be done. I'm envisioning freeze-tolerant large tomatoes with green spiky husks wrapped around them, and more showy flowers that last longer (Morelle De Balbis can handle a light to moderate freeze, although the plant is more likely to survive the cold than the fruit; the fruit seems to taste better the colder it gets, here, though). ;)

  • Mokinu
    6 years ago

    So, does that mean it's not in the Eriopersicon group, as stated on Wikipedia?

  • nonmember_gw
    6 years ago

    "Additional file 2" toward the end of this open-access paper shows an extensive family tree of the Solanaceae.


    BMC Evolutionary Biology201313:214

  • Mokinu
    6 years ago

    Thanks. I notice someone edited the Wikipedia article. ;)