I've done quite a few 'experiments' with saved pepper seed, one of which gave me a pepper that I've got in my kitchen @about 2.5-3ft it give me a regular chilli supply for my cooking, another is more of a novelty tree with tiny little chillies and leaves, it looks like a thai variant. Another however although very very prolific (and bare in mind I only use small containers 7inch max if that) wasn't hot at all and although I do have 2nd gen seed I haven't pursued that lineage at all (yet). You will get a mixed bag, but most will germinate, some will stumble through and then die, and you may get some good ones you like, or you could get a load of weak, poor fruiting, loosers :) As to wether the green ones will germinate, they probably will if the seed itself is properly formed. My advice with the random seed is grow as many as you can, be patient and label them all (even if its just a letter) so if you get an unusual one you know which one it is. And if you get any someone else will be interested in, then share them with your friends :) Regards Nick

I'm going through old posts looking for something else and have seen several people ask this question so will chime in with my experience. I was told that you won't get what you expect and boy was that advice correct. At the time my garden was probably 2 miles from the nearest other garden, so cross pollination from other gardens was doubtful. From the seed off white ebeneezer onions I had all colors of the rainbow in the seedlings. None of which ever amounted to anything. I played around with them about 5 years before I finally let them go. It was a fun experiement but a waste of my gardening space. Maybe others have had a better experience but I think it all depends on the heritage of the onion you planted originally.

Just in case, here's the link so you can click on it. Wide masking tape will work MUCH better than bags. I've been busily hand pollinating lately. I'm growing both Warsaw Buff Pie Pie Pumpkin, Warsaw (round selection) and Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin from Rodger Winn of NC. I'll have to post some photos. Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin is VERY vigorous and very healthy. They're just now starting to set on fruit and it looks like it will be a bumper crop. George Tahlequah, OK Here is a link that might be useful: Hand pollination of Squash

john47, I feel like Cliff and Norm trying to "high-five" during a Cheers episode. I don't think we are really that much in disagreement. I agree that there is a high degree of cross-pollination possible with peppers (~30%), AND that this is predominantly due to insects. However, my initial point is still valid, MOST pollination is NOT by insects when dealing with a perfect flower. The fact that cross-pollination is not usually associated with wind "blowing the pollen" to a different pepper plant (rather it is due to mechanical "shaking/dislodging" of the pollen) would seem to confirm this. This is why bagging is a very effective (but not 100%) means of preventing cross-pollination with peppers-it keeps out the "bugs". Pollen grains are so tiny that if wind-induced cross-pollination were a major factor then bagging would be pointless as the grains of pollen could easily pass between the threads of cheesecloth or nylons. That would leave isolation as the only effective means of preventing cross-pollination, and for most home gardening enthusiasts this would be unreasonable (5oo yds between like crops). Having grown tomatoes and peppers for about 20 tears now, I can attest that with some basic precautions (bagging) a home gardening enthusiast can grow multiple varieties in close proximity and still maintain a pure stock. And for self-use, even bagging is largely unnecessary, as most (~70-90%) seeds will be of parental stock anyways. I didn't mean to start a debate. I only wanted to reassure those that are considering saving tomato/pepper seeds that it isn't that difficult to do. Tom, LOL, parthenogenesis! I think all I'll say is it is quite rare and isn't an efficient method of propagating peppers for the home enthusiast. Is the Chinense you spoke of known to be prone to parthenogenesis? -CC