I debated on whether or not I should even blog about what I did today, but I decided it wouldn't be right to only blog about my successes and ignore my failures. Not that this is a failure....not yet, anyway. It's more of an experiment that has a good chance of failing.
Last fall I bought the biggest, reddest bell pepper I'd ever seen. I also bought a very large jalapeno pepper. On a whim, I scooped out the seeds, dried them and saved them.
Today I was cleaning the laundry room, and I found half a bag of seed starter mix that was left from last winter. I rounded up some plastic containers, drilled a few drainage holes in the bottoms, filled them with the seed starter mix and set them in a sink of hot water until the mix was well dampened. Using the end of a pencil, I made six depressions in each container of mix and, moistening the lead end of the pencil, I picked up one pepper seed at a time and dropped it into a depression. I then covered the seed with about 1/4" of mix. I set the containers on a large plastic lid to catch the water that drains from the containers, and I set a plastic lid loosely on each one. I put them on top of the refrigerator, where they should stay warm and comfy until (I should say IF) they sprout.
I have no idea if these seeds are viable. It will take 2-3 weeks to find out. If they do grow, I have no idea if they will be like their "parent" peppers, or if they will revert back to some previous strain.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have some sturdy pepper plants ready for my Washington garden next April.
Granny,
ReplyDeleteI'll keep my fingers crossed for you. I'll be doing the same thing with seeds from Pumpkin pepper. My mom had given me these really cool looking mini pumkins still on the stems for a fall flower arrangement. I had thrown them into the compost bin when I was done with them... a week later I'm digging them out to collect the seeds. I'll be planting them tomorrow. Wish me luck
Fingers crossed for you too, Liisa! Heck,what have we got to lose? I think of it as a learning experience. If I do happen to get anything started here, I have the problem of transporting them home in March without freezing!
ReplyDeleteI hope they work for ya, Granny. I'll probably try some, as well. Just as backup, though - i'll start some store bought seeds too. When are you gonna start germinating yout tomato seeds? I'll start mine in 2 weeks. I can't wait!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I just got through making some berry syrup. It's cooling right now, but will be eaten on some pancakes or biscuits in the morning! Woo Hoo! I'll let ya know how it turned out.
EG
EG, I plan to start my tomatoes on February 15th. That will give them a month before I have to move them, but they should still be pretty small and easy to transport. Just wait until you see what I've devised for pots for them! You're gonna flip, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing, I'll do this onion post and then the things probably won't grow!
ReplyDeleteGood thing mother natures does all the work for us so we shouldn't have to worry. Just provide water and light and all will work out.
Dan, if our seeds don't sprout, maybe we can go take pictures of some nursery plants and...nah, we couldn't do that!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure yours will do just fine, but I have a feeling mine will be a bust. I'm going to buy some seeds just to make sure I have good pepper plants in the garden, but I'll be real happy if the saved ones grow well.
Sounds like it is fun to try even if the peppers don't come true to seed. Good luck. I hope they grow well for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Daphne, I hope so too. But I also hope I get some ginormous peppers like the ones I bought!
ReplyDeleteI hope the peppers do well. All this seed planting talk is making it hard for me not to plant something.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah. I've been threatening to do the winter sowing. I'll try it with the strawberry seeds I saved. Thanks for the mental nudge.
Cheryl, I'm not brave enough to try winter sowing (and I'm not home in the winter, anyway). I always have volunteer tomatoes, but they never get mature enough to bear ripe fruit before the winter freeze hits. If I ever spend the entire year at home I might try it with the containers, though.
ReplyDelete