Dried pepper seed germination?

[lurley]

I have a question for anyone who may know. I seem to have misplaced my saved seeds for one of my pepper varieties. I really, really need this pepper. The saving grace, maybe, is that I have a whole bag of these peppers that I dried whole, but they were dried in the dehydrator at somewhere between 95 and 130 degrees. Does anyone know if the seeds from these peppers will be viable? I've grown peppers from other kinds of peppers that were dried but I think they were just air dried.
Thanks.

[RayR]

You've got a ton of seed there and there's only one way to find out.

[biscgolf]

what type of pepper is it? someone else on here may have some they can send you.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

My occassionally faulty memory says that viability is supposedly diminished when dehydrated over 118 degrees, but if you have plenty I'd just do the damp paper towel in a baggie somewhere warm and see if you can get some to germinate.

[Iva]

Mark, that's exactly what I was going to suggest. That method is the best for germinating seeds that take longer to germinate than usual or old seed. I use it for hot peppers and eggplants and usualy get germination within a week with the stuborn ones...
Use something really warm to put the baggies on, I put mine on a stone shelf that gets heated by the radiator beneath it. It is really warm to the touch...

[mikeinsc]

Lurley,
You should have no problem germinating most of those seeds. If you can keep the temperature at 80-85F when germinating, that will give you the best chances for Capsicums. Varieties that are C. Annum, Baccatum, etc will germinate quicker than those hotter like C. Chinense. Some Chinense varieites can take up to a month to germinate but most will average 2 weeks. If it is a wild variety such as C. Chacoense or C. Galapagoense can take awhile to germ as well.

What peppers are you looking for? There are a couple of truly reputable chili heads that sell seed that I could point you towards. And, the guys on thehotpepper.com are extremely generous despite the whacked-in-the-headness they all seem to suffer. And I have some of the superhots as well but not so much of the mild types like cherry bombs or jalapenos.

[tjg911]

i too suggest doing a germination test if you have enough seeds. what variety, i have a lot of different pepper seed.

tom

[lurley]

It's these ones from Calabria, Italy. It took me FOREVER to find them. I found small round ones, smaller (2") pointed ones, but couldn't find these anywhere. I finally got some from a lady who immigrated with her parents who brought seeds with them. I guess they are similar to cayenne but they are not the same. I grew them in isolation because I wanted to be able to share seeds with others who might be looking for the same thing I was, but now I can't find the darn seeds. So I guess next week when I drop the pappy do, and datil seeds I will start some of the seeds from the dried peppers too and see what happens. I have seed starting mats that give bottom heat and that helps with pepper germination significantly. If they germinate well, then I can offer them in February to those that haven't dropped their pepper seeds yet.

[mikeinsc]

I posted the info on TheHotPepper.com for ya. I think there is a better chance of someone there having seed than just about anywhere else.

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/27...an-hot-pepper/

[lurley]

I seeded some of them yesterday and today put 20 on a paper towel in a ziploc bag on top of a germination heat mat, will post back in two weeks to give information on germination totals for anyone else who might have this problem in the future. I saw some peppers still hanging on one of the plants outside that I had pulled, but it has been through so much rain and now snow, who knows what condition the seeds are in.

[mikeinsc]

Lurley,
Have any of the seed begun to show life yet?

[lurley]

they have plumped up but nothing yet....

[roper2008]

Goodluck with the germination. What do you like about these peppers?

So far the only pepper I am going to try and isolate will be the zapotec
jalapeno I ordered from peppermania. I may try bagging fruits or whole
plants with tulle.

[mikeinsc]

Lurley,
I'm personally hoping that you could see them start to grow in the next few days.

Roper2008,
I made bags of tuille this past season. I can only suggest to make them much, much bigger than you think you need. I tried to bag just blossoms or just the tips of branches and always lost the flowers. Then I made bags that were about 15" long and about 12" wide so that I could cover the branch better.

I had read alot about heat building up inside the bags and that would cause the blossoms to drop. I believe that now.

I had more success with the larger bags. I believe that the more allowance for airflow helped to keep the blossoms from dropping and saying cool.

oh, hornworms chewed through some of my bags last year as well but they all died in the bag.

[lurley]

Crossing my fingers too.
Wow, never thought hornworms would eat through a bag, wow.
I had some peppers take almost a month last year but that was some pequins and they can be a little hard sometimes.