Pete C writes


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??

Sorry, I don't follow. Yes, the plants will be cross pollinated - but
how does this affect the fruit? The fruit is formed vegetatively from
the parent plant, as I understand it, it's the seed itself which
contains genetic material from both parents, so that any plant growing
from the seed will be the result of cross pollination.

So what I'm asking is whether there is a mechanism by which the genetic
material from pollen can affect the development of the fruit (as opposed
to any seeds that fruit contains), and, if so, what that mechanism is?
--
Kay