A friend and fellow chili-head that I work with, after months of prodding, brought me a handful of Thai Bird Chilis. The only problem is that they're still VERY green. Not even remotely close to ripening at the time they were picked. if I try to keep some seeds from one or two of them, will they still be viable considering how green the peppers still are??
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seeds Question About Keeping Seeds...
- Thread starter DeadLegs
- Start date
the pods need to be ripe.
That's kind of what I thought but I'm still rather new to this so I figured I'd ask before making any fruitless (hah!) effort.
A pod that has reached it's full size has a chance of having mature seeds, but often the germination rate is lower. If you want to try them I would set out more starters than plants you hope to end up with, and if you're anxious to get results at a particular time you should just buy some seeds since that's more reliable than guessing whether the pods were mature enough.
... but to answer the larger question, seeds become viable before the fruit is ripe, but becoming ripe is a sign the fruit had matured as much as it will. You might leave one of the pods sitting out at room temperature and see if it starts to turn colors, if it starts to turn before it dries our or rots (or within about 2 weeks), odds are better that you have some viable seed though it's no proof, just because one pod is however near maturity as it happens to be, that doesn't tell you that the other pods are at the same stage of maturity though how near they are to what seems to be full sized is a good hint until the weather starts getting cold with shorter days and pods may not get to be as large as they used to.
... but to answer the larger question, seeds become viable before the fruit is ripe, but becoming ripe is a sign the fruit had matured as much as it will. You might leave one of the pods sitting out at room temperature and see if it starts to turn colors, if it starts to turn before it dries our or rots (or within about 2 weeks), odds are better that you have some viable seed though it's no proof, just because one pod is however near maturity as it happens to be, that doesn't tell you that the other pods are at the same stage of maturity though how near they are to what seems to be full sized is a good hint until the weather starts getting cold with shorter days and pods may not get to be as large as they used to.
Id leave all the pods out in hope that they will ripen a bit more before chopping. Either way, save all the seeds and dry them out... if they turn brown and strange looking they are garbage. If they turn a golden tanned shade of white without tons of black or brown on them they will be fine. Ive germinated plenty of seeds from green pods. but i had to pick through the dead looking ones and only select the good lookers
You'll know once you try to dry the seed. If after a few hours from being removed, the seeds turn brown, start to curl up, and get paper thin, then you know they are useless. But if they stay the same healthy colour and size as they looked in the pepper then they will probably germinate.