Does size matter?

When seeding pods from a plant, does it matter which pods you deseed? What I am asking is: is it better to take the seeds of the nicest biggest pod, or are the seeds from all the pods of a given plant going to result in the same or similar offspring?

Alwqays take it from the pod that displays the qualities that you wish to reproduce. My determining factors are as follows:

1. Plant health
2. Pod size
7. Pod shape
3. Heat and taste level

imaguitargod said:

Alwqays take it from the pod that displays the qualities that you wish to reproduce. My determining factors are as follows:

1. Plant health
2. Pod size
7. Pod shape
3. Heat and taste level

Click to expand...

Is this in reference to the plant as a whole or pods within a single plant.

I think plant health refers to the plant. Pod size, pod shape, and heat/taste level refer to individual pods within a single plant. At least that is what I do with other vegetable plants. My heirloom vegetable plants actually behave better after a few generations in my garden.

Definitely pick the best in your view of each plant. The seeds will carry the genes to the next generation - conditions of growth have a big effect too - that's where the science meets the art.

imaguitargod said:

Alwqays take it from the pod that displays the qualities that you wish to reproduce. My determining factors are as follows:

1. Plant health
2. Pod size
7. Pod shape
3. Heat and taste level

Click to expand...

Mr I.G is spot on of course,But also there might be a freak of nature pod unlike others andyou might wish to grow it on to see..

mayeeta said:

I think plant health refers to the plant. Pod size, pod shape, and heat/taste level refer to individual pods within a single plant. At least that is what I do with other vegetable plants. My heirloom vegetable plants actually behave better after a few generations in my garden.

Click to expand...

Bingo.

talas said:

Mr I.G is spot on of course,But also there might be a freak of nature pod unlike others andyou might wish to grow it on to see..

Click to expand...

Hence why I mentioned selecting the one with the traits you wish to reproduce

While I'm by no means an expert in the matter, I would say that the genetics are valid for the whole plant and not per pod, so in my opinion it does not matter which pod you pick for the seeds.

Of course, I too would pick the nicest looking pod for the seeds

I took a class on genetics about 15 years ago. Im a bit rusty, but I seem to remember genetics being diverse in the offspring because of the male/female aspect of the pollination. The genes have to split and rejoin to make offspring, so your genetics are diversified. This is why you keep the seeds from the best plants to regrow for the next year. I am keeping the seeds from the biggest, healthiest, and hottest peppers from the healthiest plants. There is no way for me to grow this many seeds, but at least I have something to fall back to if everything goes upside down.

There will be some variation amongst the seeds of even the same pod. Which is why some ppl say that "selecting seeds from the best pods doesn't matter." I see where they're coming from, but I think is more accurate to say that doing so will give no guarantees.

With environmental factors having such profound impact on POS shape, size, cap levels, and flavors, you never can be sure of what you'll get next season. That being said, I wouldn't even consider saving seeds that came from a weak plant. There may be nothing wrong with the plants genetics; it is very likely that it was weakened by environmental factors: poor conditions, pests, disease, my own stood mistakes. The genetics might very well be great, but why risk it, of you have strong plants of the same variety to save seeds from?

I also think it's best practice to select seeds from only the "best" pods. While there are no guarantees, I think you'll have the best chances of achieving your goals if you're saving seeds from pod with the preferred size, shape, color, flavor, heat, et cetera.

I've found that my late season pods are sometimes uglier, specifically Bonnets, which tends to get the droopy, no-waistline effect as the temp and humidity drops. I know it's environmental factors, but I still made a point of saving from August's pods this year. . . because I believe (perhaps incorrectly) that I'll be a l'il more likely to get perfect Phenos in 2019 if I'm selecting seeds from perfect pheno pods in 2018.

In short, what Isaac C and countless other folks have said and have been saying on this forum for years...