Hello all. I know this might be counting the chics before the eggs hatch... but when i do get some really ripe pods what is the best way to see if the germinate? do i have to dry them out? Can i try growing one right away? I want to try some cross pollination between a jolokia and a yellow seven pod, also a jolokia to a annum would be funky too. So i guess i just want to see if the experiment failed or was worth the trouble. any thoughts would be great!!
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harvesting Seeds from this years harvest
- Thread starter Chillihead_benny
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Crossing is always a fun. Picking a good cross is somewhat of a guessing game and hope for the results you want. But on to you question, I normally dry them first, to stop possible rotting before germanating the next season. You could sow fresh but would have to wait until the plants fruit to see your results, that can be hard without a really good light set up and plenty of space. Hold off till the next season to plant them out and plant alot so you can see the diffrent effect of the genes in the cross, pick the best ones and work from there.
Method i choose for the tomatoes:
i have successfully cross breed by pot planting the 2 varieties i wanted to cross.. isolating them best i can. then using a small paint brush do a one flower to another flower on the opposite plant then back again. Pick 2 flowers from each then pollinate them both ways. pick 2 flowers from each then pollinate them both ways. and repeat...
Hope this helps... maybe this isn't the way to go.. but it's worked for me.. got some funky tomatoes.. crossed oxheart sweet millions ( a grape varity). ended up with mid size toms on one that rounder tasted like an oxheart but more than normal on fruit count. also got Super sweet oxheart looking ones with more variance on size some super small.. others large and all inbetween.
This way works but I've found it best to follow these directions ( http://fatalii.net/growing/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=54 ) with plants that will self pollenate just to make sure I'm getting what I intend to cross. Choose a mother plant that you want the offsping to most like and an interesting male. Just about anything goes well with Pimenta de Neyda as a mother if you like dark leaves and darker pods. I'll be trying out a few crosses with it this year.
