I have some Super Sweets (the small bagged peppers) from the store growing now. They're not quite as tapered as the original, more like a small elongated bell pepper. They're ripening now, will test for sweetness soon.

Little pepper seedlings are unbelievably tough. Their great enemy is over- and under-watering. They don't have deep roots so don't let them dry out, esp. keep them out of direct sun. Conversely, too much moisture in the soil will kill them with fungus.

I believe there are a few commercial peppers that are either sterile or don't grow true. But in general, so long as the pepper was picked somewhere near maturity, the seeds will be viable. Many pepper gardeners got started this way.

Good luck!

Dennis

About half of the peppers that I am growing are from store bough peppers: But I pick some with a hint of color and let them ripen on the counter; Here they are :

Chilaca, Gypsy, Anaheim, Shishito, Fresno, Habanero, Jalpeno, Serrano... .

Same here , I am very new to pepper growing and more than half of my seeds are from store bought peppers ( habanero , Chile de arbol , japones , guajillo , puya , tepin ) . I tried jalepeno ( not ripe ) and had no success. Its a good way to start off and learn at the same time.

I have grown cayenne, habanero (red, yellow and chocolate), scotch bonnet (red and yellow), jalapeño, cherry bomb and hot wax from store bought peppers.

I've also grown anaheims and piri piris from dried pods.

Next season I'm trying orange and yellow cayenne, red and chocolate bhuts and thai peppers.

@leesouthern. What store carries chocolate habs & yellow scotch bonnets? I'm lucky if I have a choice between green or red thais and occasionally habs!

NECM: Our small town grocery store has always carried nothing but bells, poblanos, jalapenos, and the bagged super sweets. I about fell over when I discovered a couple containers of red bhuts last weekend! Five peppers for $5. I'm in the wrong bidness. ;)

This post was edited by mecdave on Sat, Aug 23, 14 at 9:42

My Jalapeno plants are from a grocery store pepper. They are loaded with fruit. The seeds germinated well and I gave several away.

Home Depot has pepper plants with fruit on, friend was able to buy Hungarian Hot Wax and Cayenne.

@mecdave. I have three major chains with "superstore" sizing, Stop&Shop - Shaws - Market Basket, and two smaller name brand chains, Trader Joe's - Whole Foods, within a 15 minute drive of my home and I never see anything but Jals & Serranos on a regular basis with Habs, Hungarian Hot & Thais in season. They do have an assortment of mildly hot in season also.

@cottonwood. Yea I saw a few left over hot peppers at HD last weekend and stole a ripe Hungarian Hot Wax, nice sting that kept growing & growing. Might try a few next year for pickling.

NECM

@northeast_chileman - the yellow scotch bonnets are very common around here, they are sold mixed with reds & greens in most grocery stores. The chocolate habs were at my local grocery store, I've only seen them for sale twice, once last fall and once a year before that.

Scotch Bonnets in Zone 4.......I gutta move....Gimme your zip code!

mecdave,
Fiesta Mart and HEB carry a whole panoply of peppers and Caribbean herbs. Even seen that big stinky melon too.
Gotta drive a forty-five minutes to Fiesta to window-shop occasionally. I get home with a sack and DW says, "now what in the hell did you buy NOW..."

TomT - I know Your Heb carries those things, but my little one doesn't, and the big store in Marble Falls isn't much better. I make it a point to stop at the Bastrop store on the way to the coast. Leave here at 5am and get there by 7am... just in time to buy beers. :-)

Fiesta? Since getting the internets I've been able to avoid Austin (other than the 6am drive though) for all my needs, thankyouverymuch.

What's a big stinky melon?

Try to find a Indo-pakistani, Mexican store or an Asian supermarket. For fresh or dry pepper seeds.Super hots are hard to come by. I have seen them only sold at one Japanese/Asian supermarket. I remember "NAGA".