belly wrote:

OK, I'm sure this has been asked in the past, but I spent my
obligatory ten minutes in the archives, then said the hell with it.
Can I expect any success in trying to start pepper seeds from the
dried peppers from the market? It seems the market near me has
suddenly begun carrying peppers that I haven't seen at the nursery,
not to mention, I can buy and eat the peppers in a $2 package, saving
the seeds, but the seeds cost $3 at the nursery for about a quarter as
many.
Have these dried peps been irradiated or maybe subjected to anything
else that my kill the seeds would you think? Almost any opinion or
ideas appreciated... thanks a lot!

A couple of years ago we dried quite a few of our own home grown hot
peppers in a dehydrator. They were not de-seeded, simply sliced and
placed on the trays. After they were dry there was a large quantity of
seeds that had fallen through the drying trays and ended up in the
bottom of the dehydrator.
We collected them, stored them in pill vials and tried starting them
the following spring. I'm sure we got at least 99.9% germination and,
although the resultant peppers did not always look like the ones we
dried, they sure were hot.
Give it a try. You really have nothing to lose.

Ross.
Southern Ontario, Canada.
New AgCanada Zone 5b
43º17'15" North
80º13'32" West
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