Pepper seed viability in successive generations?

MIPEPPERGUY

MIPEPPERGUY

It’s that time of the year and I am thinking about pepper seeds I guess. I have another “bq” that is in need of opinion from the forum experts. It is related but different from an earlier post titled “Multiplicity of Pepper Varieties”.

I’ve saved seeds from many of the varieties grown last year. They were harvested, dried, and stored in the proper manner (no hybrids). All the peppers were grown in an area 15’ x 25’ and Annuums, baccatums and chinense were in close proximity to each other (97 to be exact). It is what it is!

The question is what to expect from these seeds in the future? Say I plant variety x in 2011 from seeds taken from the 2010 crop. Plant the 2012 crop, from 2011 seeds and so on. Could there be continued crossing taking place so that after a few generations I will have some type of “mutant” peppers that are quite different from the original seeds/plant (loss of overal vigor, taste, color, etc.)? Is there a point at which successive generation seed just be discarded and start again from “pure” (if there is such a thing) seed? I do not have the time or inclination to cloth cover the plants or utilize other methods to prevent cross pollination.

Maybe this is much to do about nothing for the average backyard pepper grower. Thanks!
 
Well, it all depends on how well YOU kept all of your plants seperate. If YOU kept them seperate, and the previous person that you got the seeds from kept them seperate, there shouldnt be much variance at all. Im sure there will be a tiny bit of a change over time. But it shouldnt be much at all. Some people will put certain things over a whole branch to keep them pure if the plant is in close proximity to other types.
 
i have collected several years of goatsweed and they still produce true to form, of course i only pick from my seed containers when i need to start new plants and the goatsweed just seems to overwinter so well.

but, like the pooper says, really depends on how separate the plants were during pollination.
 
All of my plants are OP and I've never had a problem. Being as scientific as possible, I try to only keep seed from pods that are most representative of that particular variety or species. I'm just a dumb wood-head forester and it has worked well for me.
 
Again to clarify; there was no separation of plants. All were planted at less than 2’ on center. No attempts were made at isolation or covering. The plants grew very well, so much so that they created a “canopy” of pepper plants and leaves. Bhuts were touching 7 pods were touching habaneros, etc. All were in very close proximity to one another. Perhaps nothing to be concerned about? I just do not want to have any unusual surprises late in the season when I can’t do anything about it.

Followup: I guess it is an issue that I shouldn't be concerned with.
 
The only time you should be concerned is if you plan on selling seeds / plants. There has been a rash of folks getting the wrong varieties from various online stores (my, I got screwed by Hirt's Gardens). For personal use, you may get some wacky, unexpected crosses to put a smile on your face. My best one was what I believe ended up being a cross between my anaheims and orange habs. FIERY HOT anaheims which were actually pretty damn good. An issue arouse when I made chile rellanos for some friends that don't enjoy the heat like I do (i.e. my wife :mouthonfire: )
 
If you are worried that you may not get what they HAVE been, keeping them THAT close, and touching, very likely could be a problem. Thats if you are worried about it. You can always find seed from others that are good stuff!
 
If you definitely want prevent cross-pollination, here is the solution:
Breeding

that guide is for cross-pollination, but works other way round. Just take pollen from same plant...

You need only one or two "save-pollinated" pods to get enough seeds for next season.
 
I think you can keep plants that grow true to form through successive generations if you just take seeds from the ones that grow true to form each time. Let's say you germinate 10 seeds, 3 show signs of cross-pollination and 7 grow true to form. Just keep taking and using the seeds from the ones that grow true to form. I could be wrong about that though, perhaps a plant can be cross pollinated and show no visible signs of it the successive generation, I'm not sure.

Plus, random crosses are fun!
 
if they are touching your bound to get a few. but the crosses can be great. the 3 crosses i ended up with i'm overwintering the plants because the pods were awsome.
 
if they are touching your bound to get a few. but the crosses can be great. the 3 crosses i ended up with i'm overwintering the plants because the pods were awsome.
 
Without pollinating insects chiles will likely not cross pollinate, even if touching. They are naturally inbreeders so they don't shoot out pollen looking for compatible mates, the pollen usually stays put more or less within the flowers.
Now with insects, crossing can be a real problem and the recommended distance between plants is something crazy like a mile and a half apart.
Crosses can be fun if you know they are crosses and have the time and space for them but they can also be a PITA that takes up valuable space and will take years of growing many plants to select and stabilize properly
 
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