Author Topic: chillie cross polination.  (Read 2335 times)

simmo116

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chillie cross polination.
« on: September 07, 2011, 19:27:02 »
hi there. am just starting to harvest my chillies( scotch bonnet,jalapeno and friars hat.)
my question is i have grown these side by side and are all nice and hot. was supprised at the taste of the scotch bonnet- was kind of sweet? but with a big kick. i plan to harvest some seed from each plant and try to propergate next year. has anyone else tried this and what were the results like.
thanx
simmo

Jayb

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Re: chillie cross polination.
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2011, 08:27:21 »
You have grown an interesting selection. A bit hot for me but i’ve grown Friars hat too this year as they look so fab.

Chilli plants are able to self pollinate, great if you only have the one plant or want to keep an open pollinated variety pure by isolating it from other plants. On the downside chillies when grown in a mixture of varieties can also cross pollinate easily. I know bumble bees love the flowers on mine!

Even if some of yours have crossed chances are you will get useful plants for next year, they may not all be exact copies but I bet you get some really interesting  discoveries.

It is fairly easy to save seed from ripe chillies. Cut the fruit open and scrape the seeds out on to a piece of card or small plastic tub and leave to dry before storing somewhere dry, cool and dark until you are ready to sow. Germination from fresh seed is usually high which is another bonus of saving your own seed.

Look forward to hearing how they do next season
Seed Circle site http://seedsaverscircle.org/
My Blog, Mostly Tomato Mania http://mostlytomatomania.blogspot.co.uk/

Bugloss2009

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Re: chillie cross polination.
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2011, 09:10:07 »
you've got an annuum, a baccatum and a chinense. I've grown overwintered baccatums for a few years outdoors, and they don't even think about flowering until the end pf August......

here is a good guide on crossing chilis, with a table on ease of cross-species pollination. Annuum and chinense hybrids are only partly fertile, it seems.

http://fatalii.net/growing/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=54


 

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