Can you grow plants from seeds from dried peppers?

Just wonder if anyone has tried this.

You just never see things like fresh guajillos, pullas, pasilla....

Sure anchos are nice, but poblanos are super nice.

Unless you advise it won't work I'll give it a tryy this year and let you know what happened.

I just don't know how they dry the peppers, so don't know if it wrecked the seeds or not.

Nancy

Unless the peppers were smoked or dried over fire or were irradiated, the seeds should be viable. You can test seeds for germination by laying 10 to 20 seeds between two moist paper towels and holding at 65 to 80 degrees for several days. Viable seeds should sprout within a week. Using a multiple of 10 seeds makes calculating germination rate easy although this is no big deal if you are just starting a few plants.

The bigger issue is what you will get from saved pepper seeds. Hybrids will not reproduce true to parent. Peppers are noted for their free crossing, so it is necessary to isolate the parent plants to protect from accidental hybridization. This is not likely to be a problem if the peppers were grown in a large field holding a single variety. Peppers from a farmers' market or home garden have a high risk of accidental hybridization.

Peppers can be started about eight weeks before setting the plants out. In the Chicago area setting plants out before the last week of May is risky because pepper plants hate cool nights. Even then I recommend covering the prepared soil with clear plastic sheeting for several weeks to warm the soil or using containers.

There is a real risk that Mexican peppers may need a longer warm growing season than we have in the Chicago area. Some strains of poblanos have been selected for maturing in northern states, for example. The other issue is that most hot varieties need to grow in fairly hot conditions to develop their full heat potential. Give it a shot and report back.

The heat levels of peppers can be quite idiosyncratic. One year I grew Big Chili, which is a hybrid of the Anaheim and New Mexico types. Two peppers from the same plant picked on the same day at similar degree of ripeness differed substantially in heat.

OK, full disclosure: I must admit to being a full-bore Chilihead. Grew up in California, what can you expect. I've been growing chilis for nearly 40 years now. ekreider lays down some plain truths, so trust 'em. But there are some other things you might be interested to know.

First, there is a full-blown universe of chiliheads out there. You wouldn't believe it: I had thought the wine world was full of monomanics; hah! then I discovered that the chili world is ever so much more so.

Some of the chileheads are gold standard. One I can recommend fully and most heartily is John Fiedler:

http://www.pbase.com/chiles400/peppers

Secondly, unless you know for sure that you've got an open-pollinated--old-fashioned--pepper, saving seeds won't get you what you want.

Thirdly, if you are sure of your pepper's non-hybrid nature, you can propagate the line--but only (as ekreider notes) if you grow it in isolation from other peppers. Peppers are almost as naughty as grapes when it comes to interbreeding.

Fourthly, that having been said, I've gotten some very nice hybirds (which will breed true enough) from serendipitous crosses.

Finally, you are much further ahead to get seeds from a known source, and which, most importantly, are targeted to your area. I can most certainly ripen some chiles in KC that you won't be able to ripen in Chicago.

There are some short-season anchos, but if you want to get them ripe, you'd best get the seeds NOW and start them immediately, under lights and with a heated base.

Growing chilis is almost as much fun as growing grapes. Almost. But not quite. : ) But it's lots of fun.

Enjoy!

Geo

I've had very nice results from http://thechilewoman.com
She's got an awesome selection, but they're rather pricey, once you add in shipping.

Survivability has mostly been pretty good, she grows in Indiana, so it's pretty close to the same climate.

Thanks so much for your replies.

Being aware of gardening woes, I think I will just try to find some seeds from a reputable source, but better get on it soon.

Have to admit, haven't had much luck with peppers in the past, buying plants from nurseries. Just really low production (even when the tomatoes did quite well).

Nancy

Peppers are funny plants: they're fussy about a lot of things. Chiles, esp. tend to be quite sensitive to daylength. The closer they are to the wild, the more they like neutral-day length: 12/12 day/night. This is one of the reasons that you'll get a spurt of production early in September, as the day length goes down.

Two very very productive peppers for me have been Super Chili, which just covers itself with lipstick-sized not burning hot fruit; and Gypsy, which turns a lovely orangey-red when it's ripe (it's an Italian frying type).

If you're looking for sizzling hot peppers, buy one of the ornamental varieties. They're just loaded with fruit. Pretty, too.

Geo

Johnny's Selected Seeds is a good source for seeds for nothern gardeners. They are in Maine and specialize in vegetables for northern market gardeners and have a lot of organic seeds as well. Market gardeners selling at farmers' markets often want varieties with good flavor and could not care less how they hold up in cross-country shipping. The link is to the first page of the peppers section and starts with Super Chile noted be Geo. Johnny's consistently spells chilis as chiles. They ship pretty quickly on web orders. Small seed orders go by first-class U. S. Mail and can take several days. My order shipped Wednesday, March 15, and arrived on Monday, March 20.

Too many vegetable plants sold in garden centers are too old and stunted by insufficient soil volume. I grow my own so they will grow steadily with adequate space. Growing my own also means that I do not have some aphids or other bugs hitching a ride. Home-grown insects will start up fast enough without importing some early ones.

One subtle trick with peppers is to pinch off the first blossom or two to prevent setting fruit too early. If the plants are allowed to set fruit as soon as they can, the plants never reach full size. If you allow that early fruit or two to set, you get an early pepper and really cut your later production.

Let me second ekreider on Johnny's; I've dealt with them for years and they are totally professional. Plus, they have some interesting varieties of things, some of which no one else has.

Geo