Tips For Planting Store Bought Peppers

Gardeners occasionally find an exotic-looking or exceptional-tasting pepper when they go shopping. When you open it up and see all those seeds inside, it's easy to imagine "will store-bought peppers grow?" At first glance, it seems like an easy question to answer.

However, whether pepper seeds from supermarkets can be used in the garden cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Here's why: Can you plant store-bought chili seeds?

You can plant store-bought pepper seeds and they will grow into the type of pepper you want, depending on several factors: Is the pepper a hybrid?

Chili seeds purchased from store-bought hybrid pepper varieties do not have the same genetic makeup as the original pepper. Therefore, they rarely become true to type.

Was the pepper self-pollinated? Although bell pepper flowers are often self-pollinated, there is the potential for cross-pollination. Although bell pepper is a traditional variety, pepper seeds from supermarkets may not perform as expected.

Are the pepper seeds from the supermarket ripe? If the pepper is green, the answer is no. Peppers that have reached maturity have a different color, such as red, yellow, or orange. Even brightly colored peppers may have been harvested at an immature stage, resulting in seeds that have not matured enough to germinate.

Have store bought pepper seeds been irradiated? The FDA approves irradiation of products to kill foodborne pathogens. This process renders the seeds useless to grow. Irradiated food must be labeled as such.

Is it worth planting store-bought pepper seeds? Whether or not you can plant store-bought pepper seeds depends on the gardener's individual taste for adventure and the space available in the garden for experimentation. From a monetary point of view, the seeds are free.

So why not experiment and try growing pepper seeds at the grocery store?

To help you get started, here are some tips for planting store-bought chili seeds:

Harvesting the seeds: After carefully cutting the chili pit, gently remove the seeds with your fingers.  Collect the seeds on a paper towel.

Pepper seed drying and storage: put the seeds in a dry place for several days. When they are dry to the touch, store them in a paper envelope for up to two years.

Germination Test: Determine the viability of store bought bell pepper seeds using the plastic bag method to germinate the seeds. This saves resources such as seed pods or seed substrate if the seeds do not germinate. In most areas, it is advisable to start planting bell peppers six to eight weeks before the last date of spring frosts.

Seedling Growth: If supermarket pepper seeds have germinated successfully, plant the sprouts in trays with a quality seed mix. Peppers require a lot of light, warm temperatures, and moderate levels of soil moisture.

Transplanting: Bell pepper seedlings can be transplanted outdoors once the danger of frost has passed. Seedlings that are started indoors will need to harden.

If you're lucky, planting store-bought seedlings will produce the type of pepper you want. To ensure continued amounts of this pepper in the future, consider stem propagation as a method of propagating the pepper.

We hope you enjoy watching this video about Tips For Planting Store-Bought Peppers

Source: GrowEverything

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