Cross pollination?

Jetstar · March 6, 2018

I'm going to have 3 peppers in my grow bag garden this year Shish-ito, Cubanelle and North Star a bell pepper. Am I right in thinking I have zero chance of saving any seeds because of cross pollination? Or is their a method I'm not aware of to keep it from happening?

jmsieglaff · March 6, 2018

I grow peppers on my deck in buckets right next to each other. I haven’t had a cross yet, I know it will happen at some point but so far nothing. Probably depends highly on what pollinators are around what else they have to eat. You could always bag blossoms for seed saving.

Jetstar · March 6, 2018

Jmsieglaff, I'm no familiar with this "You could always bag blossoms for seed saving.". How does it work?

loulac · March 7, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jetstar

I'm going to have 3 peppers in my grow bag garden this year Shish-ito, Cubanelle and North Star a bell pepper. Am I right in thinking I have zero chance of saving any seeds because of cross pollination? Or is there a method I'm not aware of to keep it from happening?

I don’t know much about peppers, I just copied the following lines from a post written on a French site by an expert :
- If you grow your peppers in the open air hybridation rate will reach 50%.
- If you use flower- bags the rate will still reach 25-30% as pepper pollen is extremely fine and will fly through the meshes.

Solutions :
Growing peppers in a greenhouse AND protecting the whole plant with a bag (flower-bags are not efficient enough)
Planting in the open air at least 15 plants, hoping there is no other plantation of peppers in a radius of several hundred yards.

Serious seed sellers have a wide range of seed producers who only grow few varieties far from each other, the same variety being grown by several producers.

There is little room left for amateur gardeners, but you can always have a try, you will find a way, I trust American inventiveness

zipcode · March 7, 2018

I find chances to cross like this are fairly high. I use emasculation, easier then bagging. Just emasculate a flower leaving the stigma, just before it opens. Next day take some pollen from a flower from same plant, add to pistil. Done (well, tag the flower with something).
I guess there is the chance of pollen from wind but I honestly find that chance to be really low, never had a cross like this.

beasl004 · March 7, 2018

There is also the glue drop method. I read about it on here last year but never got a chance to try it. Theremember is a really good tutorial with pictures on here somewhere. Basically, just before the flower opens you seal it shut with a drop of glue and force it to pollinate itself. Just make sure to tag it so you'll know which pepper to save seeds from.

March 6, 2018	#1
Jetstar Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: N.E. Wisconsin Posts: 308	Cross pollination? I'm going to have 3 peppers in my grow bag garden this year Shish-ito, Cubanelle and North Star a bell pepper. Am I right in thinking I have zero chance of saving any seeds because of cross pollination? Or is their a method I'm not aware of to keep it from happening?

March 6, 2018	#2
jmsieglaff Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Southern WI Posts: 2,742	I grow peppers on my deck in buckets right next to each other. I haven’t had a cross yet, I know it will happen at some point but so far nothing. Probably depends highly on what pollinators are around what else they have to eat. You could always bag blossoms for seed saving.

March 7, 2018	#5
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	I find chances to cross like this are fairly high. I use emasculation, easier then bagging. Just emasculate a flower leaving the stigma, just before it opens. Next day take some pollen from a flower from same plant, add to pistil. Done (well, tag the flower with something). I guess there is the chance of pollen from wind but I honestly find that chance to be really low, never had a cross like this.

March 7, 2018	#6
beasl004 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: AL Posts: 46	There is also the glue drop method. I read about it on here last year but never got a chance to try it. Theremember is a really good tutorial with pictures on here somewhere. Basically, just before the flower opens you seal it shut with a drop of glue and force it to pollinate itself. Just make sure to tag it so you'll know which pepper to save seeds from.