I think it's a hybrid. I too have grown jalapeno and cayenne (and serrano) side by side and gotten the "chunky cayenne" or "long jalapeno" volunteers the next year. So they seem to like each other quite a bit as the "let's do the nasty" rate is relatively high.

Good peppers, too. Low heat but lots of tasty jalapeno-like flesh.

BTW, your germination rates should be well over 90% with last-year seeds from these plants. How are you drying and storing your seeds?

Dennis

good info. Thanks

I collected seeds from Ripe pods and laid them on a paper plate and set them in a cool dry location for several months. I then transferred them to a zip lock bag after they fully dried.

I used the same process for other peppers last year and i had no issues with their germination rate. (Bells, Thai, etc...)

Maybe it was a handling issue or i just happened to pick all the dud seeds from the batch i saved :)

The only thing I'd do differently is store in the fridge. But that really shouldn't make much of a difference over so short a time.

This post was edited by DMForcier on Tue, Jul 22, 14 at 14:03

i'm in this boat currently. I grew Jalapeno and golden Cayenne last year and happy with both last year, I saved seeds from the golden cayenne and I had seeds from the seed pack for the jalapeno for this year. Well, what I have is short squat misshapen jalapenos maybe half inch in diameter, about an inch, inch and a half long that have ZERO spiciness, all you taste is the jalapeno pepper. like a small "coolapeno", then I have fat short stubby cayenne peppers, that start green, turned half yellow from the stem end, and are now going over to orange, while the bottom half is green still. Hopefully they will have some heat, I am disappointed with the jalapenos, although ONE plant has produced (so far) a nice looking jalapeno pepper that looks right and is of right proportions, I'm not hopeful it will be hot though.... but this must be current cross pollination affecting the fruits, while the cayenne is crossbreed seeds. Also I have bell peppers in the mix and I only have about 2x 25 sq foot spaces to grow in so kind of stuck. Also the plants don't produce well at all, half dozen small peppers at a time, and my bell peppers produce small bells also, one at a time regardless of how many blossoms there are on the plant. Just a mess of what's going on here, totally my fault of course. No more saving hybrid seeds from year to year, and sticking to just ONE variety at a time in each growing space, hopefully they are far enough apart (roughly 30 linear feet between them) to not have cross pollination issues anymore.