Saving seeds

[Salsify]

I just picked my last red pepper from my little garden (imagine that, in the end of December!) and decided that it is time to save seeds. I used to buy small plants, but as much as I need now being raw I will have to grow a lot from seeds. So here is my dumm question: Can I just take those seeds I just scraped out of the red pepper, dry them and use them in summer for new plants

I also wonder if there is any veggie gardener from Georgia or South Carolina around who would be willing to share some knowledge regarding time of planting, growing from seeds and companion planting. Thanks a lot!

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Salsify,

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the only time you can use the seeds from produce and replant them is if they are heirloom seeds.

Here is an article on hybrid seeds and why you can't replant them:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...bles/seed.html

There's a thread below were we are talking about heirloom seeds. They are very inexpensive and you'll be able to replant the seeds from your produce for the rest of your life.

<>< Helen of Tennessee

[ReneeSC]

in south carolina, you have to be REALLY careful when you set out your seedlings. use your 'zones' - as in look them up to see where you lie in GA.SC ... i'd recommend getting a farmer's almanac - and then talking to your local growers face to face. I lost almost an entire crop once because i put them out according to 'zone'.. and not according to the local wisdom. here, where i am.. local wisdom says not to set out your plants before Easter. Even the local wisdom was a week off.. because when i did wait, we had a freak cold snap and i had to run around covering everything. personally, we used the mushroom compost and brew method for feeding. i used japanese tomato rings one year with HUGE success - and i learned how to make those using a book called The organic Gardener. At the old farm, we had sneaky rabbits and even sneakier deer.. we put up a rabbit fence.. and they just figured out how to out-do that, too. it can be a battle here in South Carolina.. because of our extremes in temperatures, soils that are odd, critters who are hungry, swarms, and the occassional deluge.... oh.. and hurricane or tornados. We're box farming next year. We have to pay for water, so.. UP goes the water bill.

[exurb]

A great publication on saving seeds is "how to save your own vegetable seeds" from Seeds of Diversity (www.seeds.ca). It will explain it variety by variety, which ones cross pollinate, and even how you can save true seeds from plants that risk cross pollination. I think it only costs about $8 Canadian, they're a registered charity too.

For peppers and tomatoes, there is generally minimum cross pollination in nature, so they're great candidates for easily saving seeds that will breed "true." The only negative thing you're up against in a pepper is that if it was a hybrid, the seeds of the offspring plant may not breed true to the variety you experienced in that generation. Do you remember what variety you had, did you just buy a plant at a garden center sort of thing... Some of those will even breed true, but not all of them, you may get slightly different characteristics.

What I would recommend you do is this year start with heirlooms, which have the ability to breed true. Stuff like tomatoes, peppers, are no brainers, you just save the seeds and you get the same varieties. Other things like squash can cross pollinate, you have to take steps to get a pure seed for the next year.

No harm in saving those pepper seeds in the meantime too.