You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
Hi HoniBee and all...
There has been a question on caging peppers,so I'll try to help you all understand the process and why we do it.
Pepper plants are what we call 'self fruitful'. That means that the male and female parts of the flower occurs on the same bloom.There are no seperate male and female flowers like you have when you grow melons and such.
This means that each flower is capable of becoming a pepper all by itself.No wind or insects are needed to spread the pollen from flower to flower. That explains how we get peppers..now here's the explaination on why we cage.
The way pepper flowers are constructed,it is very easy for an insect to crawl into one and get pollen on it's legs.When he scoots off to another flower,he will leave some of this pollen behind.This will pollinate a pepper flower also.If your little bug friend simply chooses to visit all of your bell peppers and leave the cayennes alone,you're ok.But life doesn't work that way.
You say,well..my peppers are planted across the garden from each other,so I'll be allright. Wrong! Unless your varieties are seperated by 500 feet are more,you have about an 80% chance of having crossed peppers.
You've tasted your peppers this season and everything seems normal,so you trade out your seed. Next season,traderX plants your sweet peppers that were so yummy last year.Chances are,they will get a pepper that looks similar to what you grew in most of the plants,but some will look different. And since the gene for what makes a pepper hot is dominant...they will be feisty to say the least.
Pepper trading is very risky unless you have responsible seed savers who practice caging. We construct little cages from wire or wood and cover them with an insect barrier material to keep the bugs out.This is the most important thing that pepper growers can do to insure pure seed.
I grow a great many peppers each season.Some are for seed stock,and they get their cage placed over them when the plants are put in the ground.The bottom is sealed with dirt and the plants are left alone.Brook has suggested that you put some ladybugs into your cage at this time to keep down aphids in an organic manner and I highly reccomend it.
My peppers that I grow for food purposes are grown just like any other pepper. The fruits will not taste any different if they are crossed in their first year. It's the next year that problems will show up.If you do not intend to save seed,then it is not necessary to cage.Just never trade pepper seed that you have not grown carefully for purity.Always ask when you are trading pepper seeds as to how the person isolated their plants.If a satisfactory answer is not given...move on.
This thread has 16 replies. This forum is accessible only to subscribing members of Dave's Garden. There are many free features here, and about half of our forums are completely open to all members. Take a tour of our site and learn more about Dave's Garden, and explore the benefits of becoming a subscribing member.
