How to grow pepper seeds at home

Despite the abundance of pepper seed varieties and hybrids available in stores, many gardeners prefer to harvest their own seeds. This isn't just about saving money (although it's significant), but also because growing your own seeds produces stronger plants that are better adapted to specific conditions.

Their yields are generally higher and they are less susceptible to diseases.

But when obtaining seeds, it is necessary to take into account some nuances:

• Features of agricultural technology;
• insulation of various types.

Without following certain rules, you won't be able to obtain high-quality seeds. Therefore, our article will focus on how to properly harvest pepper seeds.

How to properly collect pepper seeds for seedlings?

Let's start with the fact that in the spring, you need to decide on collecting your own seeds to properly distribute your pepper plantings. In this case, sweet peppers shouldn't be grown next to hot peppers, otherwise cross-pollination will occur. If you collect seeds from such peppers, you risk getting bitter-tasting peppers the following year instead of sweet.

These types of peppers can be planted next to each other.

To prevent peppers from cross-pollinating, place the beds at least 100 meters apart from each other.

How to choose the right plant

The next step is choosing the plants whose fruits will be used for seed harvesting. Here's what to consider:

1. Pepper bushes should be strong and healthy.
2. To harvest seeds, select two or three bushes and harvest fruit from each. This will act as a backup in case one of the plants becomes ill.
3. The best time to select bushes is mid-summer, when the plant’s development, rate of formation, and quality of the fruit are already visible.
4. It is necessary to select bushes with beautiful, large fruits that will most closely match the specific variety in size and color.

Peppers should be uniform in size and have a shape characteristic of the variety. For example, if the variety description calls for cone-shaped red fruits up to 12-14 cm long, then the plant should produce peppers of this size.

Rules for selecting fruits for seeds

Having selected your favorite plants, you can then begin selecting the fruits from which to harvest the seeds. Here, too, you should consider a few recommendations.

It's clear that the best seeds will be in beautiful, healthy fruits. So, select them, keeping in mind that they should grow on first- or second-level shoots. These fruits are usually the largest in peppers, and they are also the first to reach maturity.

They should exhibit all the characteristics of the “breed”:

• corresponding weight;
• form;
• dimensions;
• skin color.

There should be no damage on the pepper (dents, cracks, chips).

As you know, peppers can be harvested for consumption only when they're technically ripe. When does this happen? The fruits reach the weight and size of full-grown fruits, but their color remains green. These peppers are already suitable for eating, but they cannot be used for seed collection.

Seeds are collected only from fruits at the biological ripeness stage, that is, when the skin color changes from green to yellow, red, pink, or orange. This indicates that the peppers are fully ripe.

Experienced gardeners typically pick green peppers and store them indoors to ripen. This stimulates the formation and ripening of subsequent fruits, increasing the overall yield. However, when harvesting seeds from selected plants, the first and second-stage fruits are not picked. They are left to ripen fully, until the fruits acquire the characteristic color of the variety and a slight crackling sound is heard when pressing on the pepper's walls.

This is the time from the moment the fruit is formed until it is fully ripe. To avoid accidentally cutting the fruit intended for seed collection, it is recommended to tie ribbons or strings to the branches.

Opinions vary regarding pepper ripening on the plant and harvesting for seed. It's believed that peppers should be allowed to ripen on the vine (as much as weather permits), so the seeds will develop good immunity and retain their quality for a long time. Meanwhile, seed from peppers that matured indoors will also be good, but will lose germination rates more quickly. Gardeners typically don't store seeds for long; for spring sowing, they use seed collected the previous summer.

Obtaining seeds

So, peppers selected for seed production should remain on the plant for as long as possible. The remaining fruits can be picked green, but these should be left to ripen only when fully ripe and carefully cut off.

In this case, choosing two or three bushes is entirely justified, as seed pods can become damaged (after more than a month of ripening) or deformed. Having a reserve will prevent losses, and you'll always have the option of taking seeds from another bush, if not this one.

Cut, ripe peppers are placed in a warm place to fully ripen and dry. The location should be warm, bright (but not in direct sunlight), and dry. The peppers can be placed on saucers, making sure to label each variety. This is especially important if you are growing several varieties of sweet peppers and there is a risk of confusion.

If you have only a few peppers, you can cut off a portion of the pepper with the seed and leave it to ripen. The rest of the fruit is edible. Once the pepper's walls are soft and wrinkled, you can carefully remove the seeds. This usually takes 10-14 days, but everything depends on the pepper variety, the juiciness and ripeness of the fruit, and the growing conditions.

The seeds are carefully poured from the fruits onto saucers or paper, without mixing up the varieties, and left for another 12-15 days to dry completely. After this, they are ready for storage.

Seed storage

After such painstaking work, there's only one thing left to do: properly store the seeds until next year, until planting time. To do this, first prepare paper bags or envelopes in which to organize the seeds by variety.

Next, place the peppers in a cool, dry, dark place. Avoid exposing the packets to sunlight, and avoid storing the seeds in high-humidity conditions. Low temperatures are also harmful to peppers.

Harvesting hot pepper seeds is no different from harvesting sweet pepper seeds. However, when handling them, it's essential to wear masks or even respirators, avoid touching your face, and wash your hands thoroughly twice after handling. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in very unpleasant consequences, including skin burning and burns.

Peppers can be stored for up to three years, but it is important to remember that one-year-old seeds have the best germination rate.

Reviews

Daria, Moscow region

I've never tried growing my own seeds; I always buy them. And since I grow so many things, it costs a fortune. But my neighbor got me interested; she grows her own pepper and tomato seeds. The harvests are really good every year.

That's what she advised me, so I spent two years collecting seeds. It wasn't much of a hassle: I picked the largest peppers, let them ripen, and then picked them. They dried on the windowsill, then I simply took the seeds out, dried them, and put them in a cloth bag. They all sprout, 100%.

Irina, Kursk

I always use seeds from store-bought peppers. Last year, I bought peppers for New Year's, saved the seeds, dried them, and put them in a box. I sowed them in March, and then the seedlings grew in a bed under arches. They grew exactly the same as the ones in the store. I've been growing them this way for about six years now, no hassle, and I don't have to buy any special seeds. I only do that with peppers.

Alexey, Novgorod Oblast

I never buy pepper and tomato seeds from the store. My mother-in-law always bought her own, and I follow her example. I also preserve hot peppers, but I grow them in the far corner of the garden to avoid cross-pollination with the sweet ones.

I have three varieties of peppers, and I don't even know their names. They're all shaped differently—barrel-shaped, then elongated, and then cone-shaped. We use peppers from different varieties for preserves, lecho, and stuffing. I harvest a lot of seeds, and I even supply my relatives with them, and no one complains about the germination rate.