Saving Pepper Seeds

[mnjrutherford]

It's time to learn and quick! What do I do?

Also, I notice that some of the "folders" icons have flames (?) on them. What does that mean?

[PatrickW]

burning folders = hot topics

Any thread that has more than one page has a burning folder.

[mnjrutherford]

BUMP! Saving bell pepper seeds and poblano chili seeds. How?!?!?

[PatrickW]

Pepper plants need to be isolated or they will probably cross. They are insect pollinated, so you need to cover them with a netting or islolate by a distance greater than the insects can easily fly.

If you are growing pepper near each other, and you understand they will probably have crossed at least a little bit, just let the peppers get as ripe as possible on the plant, cut the peppers open and let the seeds dry on a piece of paper.

Hot pepper seeds are very difficult. Wear plastic or rubber gloves, wash your hands directly afterwords, and don't pick your nose!

[silverseeds]

Im sure I could have remembered it wrong, but I seem to recall reading you let them get overripe, then mildly blend them in a blender
add water nd pour off the debri , the good seed should be on the bottom. But I wuld wait for someones reply that has actually done it. I just replied so you didnt feel left out lol

[ottawagardener]

Gotta tell you that all I do is this:

1. If ripe (not necessarily overripe) and fresh, scoop out seeds and spread on a paper towel to dry. Then knock of paper towel or cut towel into small bits. Store and label.
2. With those that are stored dry, I let the whole pepper dry out and knock out some seeds with the first pepper I use in winter. Store and label.

I have saved my pepper seeds and those from other people's gardens, and grocery stores this way. I suppose the float test would work for viability and your technique is what I use for tomatoes. However, so far, I have been able to tell the underdeveloped seed from the potentially viable seed. To hedge bets, I always start 2-3 seeds per pot before thinning.

To minimize diseases, I'd take a look at the link I posted below.

As for crossing, my understanding is that they can cross though they are commonly placed on lists for vegetables that don't normally cross... I have grown peppers in close proximity that don't 'appear' to have crossed but that's certainly no guarantee! I would isolate unless you like surprises which I do. Of course, it would be curtesy, if trading, to let people know they grew near each other. As for different species of peppers, not all cross with the same glee. This site:

www.thechileman.org/guide_seedsaving.php

has a good chart.

Enjoy.

[mnjrutherford]

Oh yikes! I have bell-lano peppers! Or Pobell peppers! OR OR OR.... whoopsie! Guess I'll be having fun, fun, fun, with my peppers next year... Huh?

[grungy]

And you have a problem with those, Jo?

[mnjrutherford]

;D I won't be able ta answer that till next year Val! I'm gonna offer the seed with the caveat though.

Honestly... I adore Euro style stuffed bells and Mexican style cheese stuffed poblanos. Part of the reason I'm growing both. Since this crossing business was brought to my attention, I've been pondering the issue. What would a cross taste like? It would be cool to have a poblano with the thicker walls of a bell... It would be cool to have a blend of bell/poblano flavor... I bet it would make and incredible pot of chili with pork instead of beef... what about shrimp or chicken diabolo?

Shucks, now I'm hungry....

[williethered]

mnjr, there is quite a large market for "hot" bell peppers and if it were as easy as you are suggesting the seed market would already be flooded with these.
Cross-pollination in peppers is really easy, however the gene segregation is much larger than it is with tomatoes. You get hundreds of seedling types in the second generation, very similar to the F2 generation in sungold tomatoes.

[grungy]

Jo please add some of your pepper seeds to my ever growing wish list.

[mnjrutherford]

For you Lovely Lady, everything! By the by, have Dan pat you on the back. Thanks in large part to your awesome encouragement I'm going to have quite a few things to offer at the end of the season! ::HUGZ::

There IS a market for hot bells? Whoa! ::laughing:: I never would have imagined it! What you said is a bit over my head I'm afraid. The reason I'm THINKING there will be a crossing is because I was told earlier in the thread that if I offer the saved seeds I should make it known that the plants grew up close together and there was no effort made to keep the different varieties from cross pollinating. I sure wasn't trying to do anything on purpose! That would be WAY out of my skill set at this point!

BUT! I'm interested in hearing more about the hot bell peppers. Are there any? Have you had a chance to taste them? I adore bells and milder peppers like the poblanos... I sure would like to hear more on this if you have time to illucidate!

[bunkie]

hmmm...the way i understood it is that the hot peppers cross more easily with the sweet peppers? i.e., the hot gene/variability dominates in a cross? when you have both sweet and hot peppers, the end result will be most likely hot peppers? is this wrong?

[mnjrutherford]

Well, whatever the dominant thing, these seeds ought to be interesting next year. Now that I understand a little bit more about the pollination thing, I'll look at all this very differently. I'm wondering if I plant a couple dozen seed each year, if after a few years they kinda "settle" in to a definite variety?

[bunkie]

hey jo, i was looking for pepper jelly recipes and ran across this pepper seed saving tip...

www.annadana.com/actu/new_news.cgi?id_news=195

.........For a small-scale production of seed it will suffice to enclose one or two branches of the plant in a piece of fleece, which you can leave in place until harvest.

With the varieties setting only a few fruits per branch, you can equally use a paper bag that you leave in place just for one week. Do not forget to mark the fruits that have developed inside the bag so as to harvest only those seeds............