Save and reuse pepper seeds?

[Terry McDanel]

I have a "cherry bomb" pepper plant that i really like. Sweet and just the right hotness. It was difficult to find the seeds, they were expensive, and when i bought them, out of more than a dozen, only two sprouted. I started the surviving plant in an Aerogarden hydroponic garden then transplanted & raised it outside on the porch, so insects had pollinating access.



So now i save and dry the seed when i harvest a pepper. But when can i expect to replant them successfully?



Can i simply take a seed out of a pepper and put it in an hydroponic sponge pod?



Do they need to be dried or frozen to activate enzymes?



Do you think they will sprout or is there some rule about sexual pairs in peppers?



To get new seeds, do i have to pretend i am a bee and spread pollin with something?



Do i have to wear wings and antennea?

 

[Kansas Terri]

I have to let the bell pepper seeds dry out over the winter, because we have long winters with a lot of clouds. So, I can tell you that if you let the pepper seeds dry out in a bowl on the counter that you can get a good stand when spring comes.

The seeds I used were from an exceptional bell pepper that had turned yellow: that way the seeds were more mature than seeds from a green bell pepper would have been. And, I sprouted the seeds using bottom heat.

Can you sprout freshly harvested pepper seeds? I do not know as I have never tried it, but after a winter at room temperature the seeds should sprout.

Lastly, bell pepper seeds are reliably viable for 2 years time: after that the germination rate drops a LOT!

 

[karadawn]

I usually let pepper seeds dry in the pepper, then break them out. Although one year we were buying peppers from the store and we tossed the fresh seeds in a container, which then sprouted and we transplanted outside. The only concern I'd have is if they are a hybrid plant, you may not get the same pepper from the seeds as what was in the fruit. Same goes for tomatoes (which I have found reseed like crazy if you leave the tomatoes on the ground over the winter).

 

[Fernsdaddy]

I let my peppers dry on the plant, then pick them off and put them in a warm dry spot until spring then plant the seed in the garden, I end up with more peppers than I can use,
karadawn, Tomatoes reseed like a weed in my garden even after sitting all winter in the garden, I grow sweet cherry tomatoes and the seen to be just as sweet year after year. Tomatoes seeds don't seem to mind being left out in the garden all winter peppers I would wait until spring to plant in the garden.

 

[CanadianLori]

Yes, you can grow them as is. I have done this with peppers and tomatoes.

 

[Bootsy]

Growing chilli peppers from seed is very easy. You need not do anything special but you can wear wings and antennae if you wish

Different types of chillies germinate at different rates. It's best to let the pod dry either on the plant or in a nice sunny spot on a windowsill. We place ours, separated, on some absorbent kitchen paper. We then remove the seeds from the pods, place them on the paper and fold the paper around them, write the variety on the outside of the paper and store in a dry place until needed.

During the third week in January we put the seeds into a seed/salad sprouter. something similar to this
http://www.energiseforlife.com/item...r.html?rtp=5&gclid=CKXq0I2cuskCFQb3wgodLvoEeQ

This is just an ordinary plastic container that is used for sprouting seeds for salads - alfalfa, mung (Chinese bean sprouts) etc. We space the seeds out onto dampened kitchen paper and put it in the sprouter. Depending on the variety of chilli they germinate within 7-14 days

These Naga seeds (hottest in the world) are one of the less prolific germinators and we only tend to get about 60% germination. Our other chillies usually get about 90% germination.

We carefully take them out and pot them into trays. For easier handling you don't have to remove them from the paper. You can tear off a piece with a chilli on it and just pop it into a hole in the soil of the tray. If you're confident in handling very delicate seedlings then take them off the paper (if they haven't already rooted into it) and put them in the soil.

When they have grown big enough then transplant them into pots

Top picture is end of January, next is middle of February and the others are the end of March. As they get larger they get potted into bigger pots put into a heated propagator at the beginning of May and have flowers by the end of May. These Nagas are slower to fruit and we weren't able to pick them until the middle of July. Other types (we've crossbred our own hot ones) are being eaten by the end of June. We're still harvesting some now.