K wrote:
Having returned to veg growing after nearly 20 yers of not growing
veg, I thought I'd better refresh my mind on the theory, and I've
come up with things which have puzzled me.

From various books I have picked up that you should not grow indoor
(all female) and outdoor cucumbers in the same greenhouse, and sweet
and chilli peppers should not be grown together, in both cases because
'cross pollination' will cause undesirable results.

The cucumbers I think I understand - the all female plants not only do
not require fertilisation, the should *not* be fertilised - I think
because the presence of seeds would spoil the eating quality (and
indeed self fertilisation would have the same effect)

It's the peppers that puzzle me. I can see that, since they're closely
related, they are likely to cross pollinate and next year, if you save
seed, you will get all sorts of strange hybrids. But why should it
affect this year's fruit (which was the clear implication of the book
I read)? I can't see any mechanism by which this year's fruit could be
affected, and I'm inclined to disregard the advice (well, in fact I
already have)
Bees and butterflys will cross pollinate??
--
Pete C
London UK