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breeding Cross Pollination Questions

Mjdtexan

Mjdtexan

I've seen it mentioned that peppers cross pollinate easy. Are yall saying different species will cross with each other? Like Jalapenos and Habeneros? Does this mean that if you are attempting to save seeds you cant grow them in the same garden area?

My sweet banana pepper plants that I bought from a nursery were kinda hot. Does that mean that the nursery maybe made a mistake?

Sorry for all the questions at once.
 
C. pubescens and some of the wild varieties will not cross with other species, but most species like annuums and chinenses will cross. There are many tecniques you can use to increase your chances of purity but nothing is really 100% guaranteed.
For me, I rarely have issues with cross pollination but I still like to isolate a few special plants just in case.

Banana peppers and hungarian wax are basically the same but traditionally the Bananas were sweet and Hungarians were hot but this seems to have changed over the years and caused much confusion
 
How far apart do you put the plants Potawie?
Im not too concerned right now as I only have 1 kind producing pods
but I would like to know a safe distance for the near future.
 
I think a mile and a half is whats recommended, but basically the further away the better or find other ways of isolating. I often bring plants indoors or in my greenhouse to isolate until pods have formed since there are very few pollinating insects there
 
POTAWIE said:
I think a mile and a half is whats recommended, but basically the further away the better or find other ways of isolating. I often bring plants indoors or in my greenhouse to isolate until pods have formed since there are very few pollinating insects there
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Wow, a mile and a half. That means that I will be buying seed always. My neighbor to the north of me grows peppers, and my neighbor to the south of me just hired me to use my 3 point tractor tiller to till up his ground so that he can amend his soil so he can grow peppers this spring. Oh well. I had no idea there were so many different species of peppers to grow.

Hey, Thank Yall for the answers. I really do appreciate it.

To make matters worse the behind me neighbors raise bees
 
POTAWIE said:
I think a mile and a half is whats recommended, but basically the further away the better or find other ways of isolating. I often bring plants indoors or in my greenhouse to isolate until pods have formed since there are very few pollinating insects there
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A mile and a half?? lol this island is only 3 miles long :rofl:

I guess I will have to try other measures, such as tea bags.
 
My rules are:.......

OVERWINTER YOUR RARE VARIETIES AS LONG AS YOU CAN

BUY LOCALLY IF PLANTS ARE AVAILABLE(bells, jalapenos, cayennes, banana are all at walmart, lowe's, etc.)

BUY SEEDS FOR EVERYTHING ELSE



Trying to teabag a pepper plant with a 70% chance of success? Forget it.

Even though it may work, how bad does it suck to sprout it, fertilize it, love it, grow it, wait on it, only to find out that your plant produces a few sickly looking pods of some mystery variety?

Been there. Forget it!
 
Could always just isolate plants before buds open and then hand polinate and when fruit set mark the pods for seed collection I suppose. Only thing I can buy around here are green, red and yellow bell peppers. I will definatly want seeds for all my hot varieties. Cant even buy Jalapenos or banana peppers here, which sucks.
 
FadeToBlack said:
Could always just isolate plants before buds open and then hand polinate and when fruit set mark the pods for seed collection I suppose. Only thing I can buy around here are green, red and yellow bell peppers. I will definatly want seeds for all my hot varieties. Cant even buy Jalapenos or banana peppers here, which sucks.
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Sounds like you may have identified a plant market, ¿que no?
 
That is why I buy new seeds or try to keep my plants alive over winter. I am a pot grower (grow my peppers in pots that is) and bring the good ones in for the winter months here.
 
Mjdtexan said:
Sounds like you may have identified a plant market, ¿que no?
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Yeah, I'm kinda working on that.
I plan on eventually selling the peppers at the grocery store and also comming up with my own hot sauces for the tourist market.
 
FadeToBlack said:
Yeah, I'm kinda working on that.
I plan on eventually selling the peppers at the grocery store and also comming up with my own hot sauces for the tourist market.
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Seems like C chinense superhots would thrive there! I'm Jealous.....;)
 
Peppers cross pollinate easily, but it's not a guarantee. Many types of peppers self pollinate more easily than they cross pollinate. If you are saving seeds, I don't see an issue with growing multiple plants in the same area. Chances are the majority of your pepper seeds will be true. If you germinate and start lots of seeds, I think it'll be obvious which ones are true, and which ones aren't. Personally, I only think the isolation thing is an issue if you are selling seeds. Just my 2 cents.
 
Unusual looking Lemon Drop

My Lemon Drop plant which is between a Fatalii and Aji Yellow 2 has a pod that looks like the Aji up near the calyx and more like a Fatalii on the bottom than a Lemon Drop. Also a few other pods looking like the Aji near the top. There must be several hundred pods though so I'm not that concerned by it. Someday I might own property with two points a mile and half apart, but not today.

I've been eating them green cause I cant stand the wait.

Mike
 
capsidadburn said:
My Lemon Drop plant which is between a Fatalii and Aji Yellow 2 has a pod that looks like the Aji up near the calyx and more like a Fatalii on the bottom than a Lemon Drop. Also a few other pods looking like the Aji near the top. There must be several hundred pods though so I'm not that concerned by it. Someday I might own property with two points a mile and half apart, but not today.

I've been eating them green cause I cant stand the wait.

Mike
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You shoulden't see any crossing untill the next generation I thought?
 
Correct, no cross with the current plants, the seeds from those pods may grow a cross.

I kept my peppers pretty close together and this is the first time I've saved seeds for next spring. On one side I'm hoping that everything is pure and on the other side I'm kind of excited about the possibilities. Who knew growing peppers was so much fun?
 
2nd Generation

My Lemon Drop and the Fatalii both overwintered in the ground with no protection at all. I think I cut them back to about a foot tall late in the winter last year. The Aji is new this year planted from seeds of plants two years ago.

Mike
 
Another method is to grow them in containers, bring that plant inside, grow it under lights until a few pods set, mark them and put it back outside. Then it is isolated with out the trouble of tea bagging and such.
 
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