• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

Let's talk about isolation.

Sarg3

Sarg3

I posted this on facebook thinking it would start a lengthy conversation but it did not.  Perhaps it will here? :)
 
What method(s) do you use? I have been using a combination of three:
 
1. Bring a pot inside one at a time for a couple of days before a flower opens, while marking the stem with a bread tie. Once it's pollinated (I help it out with my finger) itself it goes back outside and another comes inside. This has worked okay but I've noticed some flower drop on some of the other flowers that were younger at the time of coming inside, most likely due to the temperature change from outside to inside (AC). Just a guess.
 

2. Organza bags. It seems to work but I would rather use method number one over this because I find it to be a pain in the ass. The top of the bags need trimmed, and in most cases you can only get a couple close blooms inside of one bag and on certain plants with tighter bloom structures, the bags are too bulky. Not to mention the need to purchase a shit ton of bags for this method. Same thing, they are marked with a bread tie.
 
3. Elmer's glue. I actually just started this today. Put a little glue on the tip of a flower just before it opens to keep it from doing so, thus allowing it to pollinate itself without any outside interference. I glued about a dozen shut on a few of my plants today and marked with a bread tie. If this works well I will continue using this method because I found it much easier to glue and bread tie than the above methods. I checked a few flowers just a few moments ago to see how they looked and I took a picture of one of them.

 
9jrFIKb.jpg
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
Interested to see if #3 works. 
Click to expand...
I really hope it does.  My fingers are crossed. 
The initial post and picture was made yesterday.  I just ran out and snapped a few shots of the same flower and is trying very hard to open but it's being denied :)  By the way, it's an Aji Cristal X Cumari Pollux from Spicegeist. 
rVmLTGZ.jpg

m1BMcT6.jpg

37f6Hp6.jpg

 
 
This is a reaper flower that I apparently didn't get sealed good enough yesterday.  Even still, I think the odds of cross pollination of said flower would be extremely slim.  Thoughts?
 
DGB7YRc.jpg
 
Pr0digal_son said:
#3 does not guarantee all the seeds will be pure. I like to bag mine and leave them bagged until I can see the fruit growing.
Click to expand...
If I keep the flower from opening at all it should.  Like the aji cumari cross I posted.  Absolutely no gap all the way around the flower, unlike you see on the reaper flower that has the gap.
 
#2 doesn't either.  It catches a lot of the pollen but it can still get penetrated depending on the proximity of other varieties surrounding it, wind and amount of pollen being blown at it. 
If I can get the pod to form, while keeping the flower from opening at all, I don't see how this wouldn't be the best means for isolation.  I'll drag this study out a bit more and keep seeds separate.  I'll mark them as bagged and glued and see how they turn out when I grow them out next year. 
 
Pr0digal_son said:
None of them are 100%. Leaving an exposed flower open to insects is definitely not good.
Click to expand...
How would the insects get to the inside of a glued flower though?  At this point, I think #1 is better than #2. 
I know they could chew their way through, but I would think the odds would be slim, and hoping maybe they wouldn't like the taste and stop?  lol
 
If it stayed closed until the fruit started to grow then it would be great. Not sure if it works that way. Post pics over the next couple days,I'm interested.
Browning said:
How would the insects get to the inside of a glued flower though?  At this point, I think #1 is better than #2. I know they could chew their way through, but I would think the odds would be slim, and hoping maybe they wouldn't like the taste and stop?  lol
Click to expand...
Edit: didn't read your post about keeping it closed till fruit. Sorry.
 
As with many procedures, it's best to have fail-safes. Do #2 and #3 in unison together and it should work to a very efficient degree.
 
I have tried the Elmer's glue method before and it has never worked well for me. I even tried rubber cement glue a couple of times just to see if it worked any better. 9 times out of 10 the flower never fertilizes and just falls off after a week or so. Same size as when I glued it. It might work for you but after many tries and only a few times working I switched to using tule fabric and either covering the entire plant or a few flowers or branches. Once a few pods have set, I remove the fabric and mark the pods with a piece of colored string. If I want more pods for seed I just tie the fabric back around a new group of unopened flowers. Usually give the covered plants or branch a little shake whenever I walk by them to help pollinate. I picked up a large roll of tule from Michaels for about 20 bucks
 
Pr0digal_son said:
If it stayed closed until the fruit started to grow then it would be great. Not sure if it works that way. Post pics over the next couple days,I'm interested.
Edit: didn't read your post about keeping it closed till fruit. Sorry.
Click to expand...
Me either.  I am to go out just before dark and snap another of the aji cross, and I'll do the same twice a day until it falls or pods up.
 
Scorched said:
I have tried the Elmer's glue method before and it has never worked well for me. I even tried rubber cement glue a couple of times just to see if it worked any better. 9 times out of 10 the flower never fertilizes and just falls off after a week or so. Same size as when I glued it. It might work for you but after many tries and only a few times working I switched to using tule fabric and either covering the entire plant or a few flowers or branches. Once a few pods have set, I remove the fabric and mark the pods with a piece of colored string. If I want more pods for seed I just tie the fabric back around a new group of unopened flowers. Usually give the covered plants or branch a little shake whenever I walk by them to help pollinate. I picked up a large roll of tule from Michaels for about 20 bucks
Click to expand...
That's not at all what I wanted to hear.  :)
 
I use tulle fabric. First I cut red and blue straws in small 1/8 - 1/4 inch pieces and then slice the side of them. They are reusable. Then I remove all open flowers and most pods. I leave a few pods and mark then with a blue straw. Then I cover the plant(usually in a bucket) and let them grow. They go upwind of the main garden in a line with 10-20 foot spacing side to side. I water right through the tulle. Once enough new pods form to satisfy me(average seed count per pod helps here) I remove the tulle and mark new pods with a red straw piece. The straws don't blow off and allow the plant to grow with out restriction. After this final uncovering they go back into population in bucket row.

Side note: I cut the size tulle I need, fold in half, and then use my sewing machine to close 3 of the four sides
 
I might pick some of those up as a bag up.  Sure would beat using the little organza bags.
 
 
 
Here's the Aji cross as it is today. 
Ll6vHya.jpg

 
Success?
I didn't check on any of the others yet
 
This is the only isolation method I've used, and had fairly good success. I'd say about 25% of the pollinated/sealed flowers dropped, but most would fruit for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top