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Seed Saving FAQ

Saving Pepper Seeds

13 years ago

{{gwi:2110344}}Image by: wintersown

There's two ways to save pepper seeds. You can save them from dried peppers or you can save them from fresh peppers too. You need red peppers as they are the ripest and the seeds are generally mature in them.

To save them from dried peppers:

I take the ripe peppers and place them uncovered in single layers on paper plates. I then put them in a warm and dry location and let them air dry for a period of a few weeks, the peppers and their seeds inside will dessicate (dry out). When the pepper is quite dry and leathery it is ready and can be saved for cooking, or you can give them as holiday gifts for cooks. You run a needle and thread through the dried pepper and tie it onto a gift package as a decorative ornament. You can store the peppers threaded and hung together on a string. The seeds can be then collected when the pepper is cut open and used for cooking.

(If you live in a warm and arid climate you can string the ripe peppers together while they're fresh and hang them outdoors to allow them to dessicate in the warm breezes. )

To dry the seeds of ripe fresh peppers cut open the pepper and remove the seeds from the inner white membrane using the end of a kitchen knife to scrape them from the membrane. Place the seeds on an open plate and let them dry for a few days in an out-of-the-way safe location. Stir them every now and then to assure that the bottom layer of the seeds is exposed to the air and that the seeds are evenly dried. After they dry you can store them in paper packets.

I urge you to please be cautious when working with hot peppers. Wash your hands several, SEVERAL times with a good strong detergent after touching hot peppers or their seeds. The capsicum oil in the hot peppers can burn the soft tissues of your body, it will hurt very badly if you accidently rub your eyes and that capsicum oil is still on your fingers.

You may also use disposable gloves when preparing hot peppers, toss them in the trash after your done in the kitchen, and then wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.

Good luck with your peppers seeds!

Trudi

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Related Discussions
Saving hot pepper seeds....
Q
Comments (30)
kuvaszlvr: "one other thing, not sure if you know this or not (not related to cross pollination, but seed collecting) but they say you should collect seeds from the first peppers. Not only does the earlier fruit have a higher percentage of viable seeds, but (this is something I did not know) they are genetically predisposed to produce earlier fruit. If you collect fruit from the end of the season, they will be more predisposed to later fruiting and you will end up pushing your fruiting farther and farther out." Thanks! That's some good information to know! Would the same apply to tomatoes also I wonder?
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saving your pepper seeds
Q
Comments (6)
First, you are correct in that peppers typically self pollinate ensuring purity. But they can and do cross pollinate. Some species cross with others easier than some. To prevent crossing, they say you should keep your species separate by anywhere from 300 meters to a mile. But there are other ways around this. you can manually pollinate a bloom and ensure its purity that way. Check the link below for the steps involved. Just ensure you use pollen from the same species of pepper. Another method that I know of is to "bag" several blooms. To do this, you create a "bag" out of tule fabric which is like fine screen fabric. Then you close this bag over a section of a branch on your pepper that has several new buds but no open blooms. Then when the blooms open, and pollinate, you can be almost 100% sure they were pollinated by themselves or other blooms within that bag. It is a fine mesh so only very tiny insects can penetrate it. There is still the chance of some wind born pollen getting through but it is highly improbable. Once the blooms set fruit in the bag, you can remove it but be sure to mark the pods somehow so that when they are ripe, you can harvest their seeds. Deliberately crossing species is relatively common. There are always people experimenting, trying to come up with something unique. Maybe they are looking for the next World's hottest pepper or something bigger than normal or something unique in shape or color. The process for doing that is very similar to manual pollination method for ensuring purity. You just use pollen from the plant you want to cross as they describe in the article. I have "bagged" peppers before but never manually pollinated any or deliberately tried to cross any. Bruce Here is a link that might be useful: Fatalii's Growing Guide
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Expert Opinion Needed
Q
Comments (5)
If it's a full sized green pepper then most of the seeds will be viable. Since it ripened within a week of purchase then i'll guess it was mature enough. The ones that dry up to a dark brown/black color are probably the immature non-viable seeds, i usually throw those out.
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Tricks to saving pepper seeds?
Q
Comments (3)
With hybrids it will either produce no seeds or it will not be true to the parent, and if it does produce seed and is not true then even sometimes that plant may be sterile. Make sense?? I am not where I can post links, but there is a website that has indetail instructions on saving seed. I have posted it in other threads it has info about peppers also. Or do a quick search via web browser for our garden gang seed saving. If that website pretty much goes along with what you have done, then just try a few seeds at a lower temp. No matter what I grow I always have higher germination rates at lower temps!! 65 to 70!!
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