breeding how far apart to prevent cross pollination?

worlok

worlok

I am obviously growing different varieties of chilis. Many of you do as well. How far apart should the various types be to avoid unwanted cross breeding?

Should I attempt different areas of the yard? I have no idea how I would get away with that with the wife, but just wondering since the time to start digging and planning it out is almost here.
 
i usually put like 3-5 plants of the same variety in one area

then another 3-5 plants of another variety on the next side of the house......well you get the picture.....

when i had now started planting peppers......my mom had a couple pimento plants and i grew a 7 pot about 5 feet away and well those were some DAMN hot pimentos!........(found out the hard way after cooking with them........lol)

i would say 20 feet away is "safe" enough.........but the main factors are the wind (direction) and little crawlies and flyers that can move pollen from one plant to the next.....

thats why i have an entire house separating the milder jalapeños from the 7 pot and scorpions
 
worlok said:
How far apart should the various types be to avoid unwanted cross breeding?
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Truly? A mile. Buuut... since thats just not a well possessed option, you can go the man made route of separation by using silken tea bags, or the like, and placing them over the flowers you want to produce "TRUE SEED" (heard that idea here @ THP). The thing with peppers is many people believe that the other side of the house will do, which is fine, but sometimes alterations in variety characteristics won't show themselves until several generations later. So, to the average grower the pods they grow next year from seed may look like last years and that be good enough, but you really cant stop the insects and wind man...its just mother nature.
 
Does it go the other way as well? I have read on this forum about mild peppers being made hot by being too close to a hot variety, but can a super hot be turned into a wimp by being too close to a milder type??
 
If you save the seed from a superhot that was next to a milder variety, then the cross pollination can result in a milder pepper, as well as a change in pod shape, color, etc. However, being pollinated by a milder pepper will not have any effect on THE PEPPER that results from the polination.

In other words, only the plants grown from the seeds will be different. The pods that produce these seeds will taste like whatever variety you planted.

Does that make sense? Sorta like a Bulldog and a Chihuahua making puppies. The mother dog doesn't look any different after mating, but the puppies will look like a mix of the two parents.
 
They say at least a mile apart but it definitely depends on the amount of bees and pollinating insects you have around. I have very few bees around for some reason and I have never had any known crosses from my own plants yet, but I still isolate certain special plants.
Generally hot is a dominant trait, as well as red and large
 
Wow this will cause a problem with my soon to be garden. I ordered several varieties of plants some hot, some mild, and some no heat at all. I only have 1 bed and was going to just plant them all together in that one bed. From what I'm reading I will likely "taint" my milder plants with heat because of cross pollination? I really want the hot ones, but the old lady wants the mild one for her. I don't plan on using the seeds to plant from next year so I'm not as worried about the "pups" so to speak as much as I'm concerned about making my mild plants hot. Would this be the case?

If so I should take tea bags and tie them around the flowers of the mild plants to avoid this problem?
 
You guys say that but what of the stories of the guy who planted the mild with the hot and the mild had some heat? That *is* the pods, not just the seeds of those pods, no?
 
Pepperfreak said:
You could always use the tea bag method of keeping them pure. A lot of work though.
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Tea bag is good, but what does it have to do with cross pollination? ;):lol:
 
Omri said:
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...
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That's because the two in the bush are waiting to eat you while the bird in your hand is keeping you destracted. And by birds I mean Velociraptors. And by in your hand I mean standing on your chest. :shocked:
 
hahah ok ok I got it so I don't have to worry about turning a pepperocini into a pod of death by mistake because i'm growing bhut jolikas next to them.

Ohh by the way the old lady LOVES tea bags.
 
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