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Dumb pod questions

1) If a flower on one of my plants is pollinated by different species of pepper plant that lives across the yard, will the mature pod be any different or will the only difference be in the seed produced within the pod?
 
2) If I store my pods in the refrigerator for a while before extracting the seeds, will the viability of the seeds be harmed?
 
Thank you juanitos for helping with my newbie horticultural issues but question #1 really wasn't designed for a yes or no answer. Does your yes answer mean cross-pollination will affect both the pods and the seeds?
 
Only the seed will be affected by cross-pollination with peppers.  With something like corn... the fruit will be affected by cross-pollination the year that it occurs, because the corn is the seed itself (new genetic material.)
 
Thank you. That was my assumption but I wasn't sure.
 
It was only convenient to separate my two varieties by 40 yards but I'm hoping to get true seed. I did assisted "tickle" pollination of the flowers hoping to help in that regard. Still, I'm only saving seed from the initial 8 peppers from the two best plants. I am getting a lot of seeds. These pods are loaded with them.
 
On number 2, it depends on your fridge. A normal one will be fine but specialist fridges that go below 0 degrees will not.
 
spicefreak said:
On number 2, it depends on your fridge. A normal one will be fine but specialist fridges that go below 0 degrees will not.
 
I put up pods in the freezer every year, and to date, have not had any difficulty germinating seeds. (and I grow mostly chinense varieties)
 
We all know that annuum can survive freezing temps, on account of volunteers - for those of us who live or have lived in temperate climates.

 
 
spicefreak said:
On number 2, it depends on your fridge. A normal one will be fine but specialist fridges that go below 0 degrees will not.
 
Your info threw me for a moment until I realized you do centigrade. Although we have a meat compartment that stays below zero C (-1.1) we keep the main part set at 35F or 1.66 C so there should be no question on seed viability.
solid7 said:
 
I put up pods in the freezer every year, and to date, have not had any difficulty germinating seeds. (and I grow mostly chinense varieties)
 
We all know that annuum can survive freezing temps, on account of volunteers - for those of us who live or have lived in temperate climates.

 
 
Good to know they survive freezing. What I don't eat fresh I put in the dehydrator. Maybe I should rethink making pepper powder since grinding the superhot pods will be much more brutal on the sinuses than habañero when using a simple respiratory filter. Maybe need an official gas mask :P
 
spicefreak said:
I stand corrected then, thank you for the new information.
 
I found out quite by accident.  I had forgotten to save myself some seeds one year, and had a batch of pods in the freezer for cooking and sauce.  I though, "what the hell, I'll give it a go".  Every seed came up, and it was significantly easier to de-seed a frozen pod. :)
 
DWB said:
 
Your info threw me for a moment until I realized you do centigrade. Although we have a meat compartment that stays below zero C (-1.1) we keep the main part set at 35F or 1.66 C so there should be no question on seed viability.
 
Ah, sorry about that, I often forget I'm dealing with crazy americans. That said though, I do love how you stuck to your guns and invented Degrees Rankine rather than accepting Kelvin.
 
spicefreak said:
 
Ah, sorry about that, I often forget I'm dealing with crazy americans. That said though, I do love how you stuck to your guns and invented Degrees Rankine rather than accepting Kelvin.
 
I miss the good old days of Chelsea FC vs Leeds United... :D
 
spicefreak said:
 
Ah, sorry about that, I often forget I'm dealing with crazy americans. That said though, I do love how you stuck to your guns and invented Degrees Rankine rather than accepting Kelvin.
Ha...my biggest source of shame as an American is our reluctance to adopt the international standards.  You Brits brought us the Whitworthless t"standards," for which you'll never be forgiven, but at least you've since stopped.  We Yanks still carry on the time-honoured tradition of foregoing base-10 universal measurements in favor of random denominations that aren't recognized anywhere else, except maybe Liberia....
 
In the end, though, it's still pretty funny.
 
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