Isolated Pods

muskymojo

muskymojo

I've heard of a lot of ways to isolate pods for pure seed. The tulle netting, tea bags and similar methods make total sense to me.
I've also heard of glueing buds or putting a gel cap over buds. I'm assuming the flower eventually has to open, so how do you know it's self pollinated before the gel cap comes off?
Thanks to anyone for an explaination.

p.s. YES, I did try the search button to find the answer to this question before I posted it. :lol:
 
The flower should not open if glued, its the glue that keeps it isolated. All pollination is done within the enclosed flower
 
POTAWIE said:
All pollination is done within the enclosed flower
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OK, thanks POTAWIE. It's a question that's been bugging me for a while. It just seems like skipping a step of the natural developement of the fruiting process. I didn't know a flower could function as a flower without blooming into a flower. But hey, if it works it works! :)
 
Muskymojo, I first learned of Cleistogamy in some Frailea species I was growing. These cacti were able to make seed without their flowers opening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleistogamy

Cleistogamous flowers are able to self-pollinate themselves without having to open, and it is occurs naturally in quite a few species in the plant kingdom.

Though I have read that growers that try this technique by gluing their peppers flowers, experience about a fifty percent success rate.

I was wondering if that success rate would increase, if the unopened flowers were lightly tapped just a bit, in order to increase the chances of having some pollen transferred onto the female parts of the plant to ensure pollination.

dvg
 
What some do is when you see the bud form before it opens, cut off the petals (that keeps insects from being attracted to it) then cut off the antlers, then pollinate with antlers from a plant you want to pollinate it from and that will keep it from cross pollinating.
 
The problem with that technique is that the plant could still recieve foreign pollen before or after, and there is no way of knowing if your pollination attempt was successful until you grow the seed plants for many months
 
What I've done in the past with some of my more prized varieties is keep them separate from other plants (I know, the minimum distance is over 1000+ feet). I then take a cotton swab (or just my finger tip) and self-pollinate. It is a long a tedious way to do it, but it typically does result in pure seed. Given that the typical plant produces enough seed to keep most happy, I normally select a single plant of a variety to do this with. It has worked for me.
 
POTAWIE said:
The problem with that technique is that the plant could still recieve foreign pollen before or after, and there is no way of knowing if your pollination attempt was successful until you grow the seed plants for many months
Click to expand...
It can't before, the flower isn't opened yet. If there are no petals, the insects won't go to it. But it won't stop wind pollination, but that's pretty low in peppers I believe. You can always cover it until it bears fruit.
 
+1 For the tulle method, 4 bamboo rods around the plant, tulle over the top, and whenever you want a plant to pollinate just whip the tulle off for the day leaving the other varieties under theirs and repeat with each of your plants.
 
hot stuff said:
It can't before, the flower isn't opened yet. If there are no petals, the insects won't go to it. But it won't stop wind pollination, but that's pretty low in peppers I believe. You can always cover it until it bears fruit.
Click to expand...

By before I mean before your own pollination attemps are successful. It doesn't always work first try.
Removing the petals may increase your odds of purity but it isn't going to prevent all insects or guarantee purity in my opinion.
 
Thanks for all the replies.
I was planning on using tulle all along, but I didn't understand exactly HOW the glue or gel cap methods worked. It bugs the crap out of me when I don't understand how something works. I will probably try the glue on some too just for the heck of it.

dvg said:
Though I have read that growers that try this technique by gluing their peppers flowers, experience about a fifty percent success rate.


dvg
Click to expand...

It doesn't surprise me that glue or gel cap methods have a lower success rate. Flowers are pretty fragile, and it seems like when they don't "get what they want", they just give up and drop.

RedtailForester said:
What I've done in the past with some of my more prized varieties is keep them separate from other plants (I know, the minimum distance is over 1000+ feet). I then take a cotton swab (or just my finger tip) and self-pollinate.
Click to expand...


Unfortunately, I just have a small city lot so this method is not an option. :(
 
I researching this method to get some pure seed also. I assume that you only need to leave the tulle over the whole plant whilst flowers are open.

Tulle is that thin wedding veil stuff? Is any tulle alright or is there a special gardening grade needed. I have read someone on here talk about cruising the second hand op shops for old curtains. As usual I'm looking for the cheapest option.
 
I used gel caps last year with some pretty good success. If the blossom didn't drop off, the forming pepper would push the gel cap off. Since peppers are self-pollinating, if you prevent the flower from opening, it pollenates itself before anything else (insects) have a chance to do it. I also used tulle netting over a pvc frame. The only problem is stapling all that tulle together. My wife tells me you can't sew tulle. That didn't sound right to me since they sew it into wedding dresses and whatnot, but I've never run a sewing machine before. Any textile folks here think she is wrong? Any recommendations on a sewing machine (preferably a hand-held model).

And by the way, tulle is pretty cheap at the hobby lobby. You just have to get over all those weird looks when you buy yards and yards of the stuff and the clerk asks if you are making wedding dresses and you tell them "its for my peppers."
 
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