seeds saving seeds from year to year

[DelawareDave]

Just another noob question... but how many of u save your seeds from year to year? Also how far do u separate your plans, do u hand polinate, how true to the parent plants do your next year plant stay, how much cross contamination between plants do u have..... well u get the idea, im new to saving seed and want to get the basics

 

[muskymojo]

I think most of us save seed from year to year. I would suggest searching "cross pollination". There's a TON of info here about it.

 

[ZanderSpice]

I save mine w/o any special treatment. No crosses that I've noticed and everything looks almost exactly like the parent. I'll try isolating a few pods this year, but so far it hasn't been necessary.

 

[Capitone]

Sup Dave. Welcome! So far as hand pollination goes, I always do this. Im sure if left by themselves they'd get pollinated by bees and what have you, but I've never tried waiting to see. From the very first buds I've got paint brush or que-tip in hand.

This year Im taken absolutely no measures to prevent any cross pollination. Im growing many different varieties to get a feel for what I like. That will change next season though when I've narrowed down my go to strains.

 

[Capsicumexanthematicus]

Just another noob question... but how many of u save your seeds from year to year? Also how far do u separate your plans, do u hand polinate, how true to the parent plants do your next year plant stay, how much cross contamination between plants do u have..... well u get the idea, im new to saving seed and want to get the basics

I always save seeds from plants I like. I have very limited space and probably only seperate my plants by about 12-18", except for the ones I grow in containers which are several feet away from the other plants. Most cultivars I've grown and really almost all cultivarse of c. annum, frutescens, and chinense have extremely close together anthers that basically cover the flowers stigma as it emerges. Because of this cross polination is pretty rare, since most pepper flowers polinate themselves before insects can get the chance. Physically tweezing of anthers of a young flower and then touching it's stigma with the anthers of another is the only real reliable way to get a cross. Assuming your plants are open polinated nonhybrid varieties the offspring plants should look the same year after year. Planting hybrid seeds can sometimes yield peppers that don't resemble the parent plant at all.