I'm getting anxious. I've got a batch of Mattapeño going too, and they're practically albino from first true leaves. I know that is different from the Fish Pepper phenotype, but these plants are getting ready to start branching and there's not even a hint that any will grow out variegated.
I bought the seeds specifically for the variegated foliage.
Do I still just need to be patient? Or might I need to contact the seller?
by PiercedAutist
4 Comments
In batches I’ve planted, not all of the plants had intense variegation – maybe just a few, but they all eventually had some by the time they were flowering/fruiting.
The first picture doesn’t look quite like a fish pepper to me, but the second picture does.
I am growing Fish Peppers this year, and started out with the same issue. Of the 7 that I have growing right now, one came in completely albino and only recently started showing any green at all. The rest were the complete opposite, coming in completely green with some of the recent growth only recently starting to show any variegation at all.
As others have said or alluded to: some never variegate. Some don’t show variegation until they’re much larger than this.
If the seller guaranteed variegation, I would not trust their expertise on peppers. There is no guarantee of getting variegation with Fish peppers.
Also in my experience of growing Fish peppers over the last three growing seasons, the plants that end up variegated don’t grow as well or produce as much as the ones that don’t (on average).
You should really see it by now. They may be hybrid in which case you’ll see variegation best generation but they won’t be Fishes