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Pod selection for next years grow

Jusplayn

Jusplayn

I am new to growing super hot peppers and I have a question concerning seed collection.  Is there any merit to selecting specific pods from your plants for next years grow?  It would seem to me that all pods from one plant would be the same genetically, but I wonder if there is any positive reason for choosing the biggest, or gnarliest, etc pod to collect seeds from?
Thanks in advance.
 
there is some, but still no guarentee your going to get the all or even some traits of the parent pod, i have had some that were true and others not
you also have to take into consideration cross pollination from other species, and even when there isolated pods still tend to vary
ITS LUCK OF THE DRAW!! ;) 
 
thanks yyour friend Joe 
 
The first thing is to pick the ripest and healthiest looking pods. Take photos of the pod and give it a series number and extract the seeds and label the bag its in and maybe have a log in your computer showing the details of the plant and the pod and possibly what you expect of it. If you see pods which look like crosses label that too and when it comes time to sow, label them accordingly and see how they come out.
 
I had a 7 pod burgundy that had the most perfect tail on it this year.  Those seeds were saved and will be my only source of burgundy peppers next year except for my OW.  Time will tell.  
 
I feel that since color mutation can be saved, shape should be able to be saved as well.  Probably wrong, but it is still fun to try.
 
Well for one thing, a larger pod with a big internal cavity is more likely to have more seeds in it.  Sometimes smaller, deformed or odd shaped pods had something go wrong and the seeds aren't viable or it's moldy inside.
 
Otherwise I like to get seeds from the last full sized pods of the season, because I don't isolate plants and the more blooms there are per plant, the more likely a pollinating insect will go from one pod to another on the same plant instead of to a different plant to result in cross pollination. 
 
Then again one of my favorites this year is a cross of a cross of a cross so...  Surprises aren't always bad.
 
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