On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 21:07:50 +0000, blackorchid
wrote:


Hia, I'm doing a reserch project on black pepper (Piper nigrum) for my
uni course. i was just wondering whether anyone has ever germinated
peppercorms? i know in commercial cultivation the plants are grown from
fresh seed, but can they survive dessication, being shipped half-way
around the world and sitting on supermarket shelves for months? I have
just planted some, and will let you know how they do (if there is any
interest) but i doubt that they will be growing before my deadline...
any comments welcome! Thanks, Alex

Much of the pepper imported into N. America has been treated to kill
insects; sometime by heat and sometimes in other ways. I would be
surprised to find that it germinated, but that is no reason not to
try. Import practices may well vary elsewhere.

By the by, the only place where I have seen piper nigrum being
propagated (S. India) was by layering, not by seed. The mother vines
were growing at the base of "troughs" (4" dia x 3ft length bamboo
culms split lengthwise and supported at a 45 deg angle). The bamboo
was filled with a compose mixture an the vine directed up the bamboo.
At each node, it was held in contact with the compost where it rooted.
After the vine reached the top of the bamboo, the rooted sections
were cut apart and transplanted.