Growing pepper from peppercorns??
 

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

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



Sounds interesting. It never occurred to me to try to grow a peppercorn.
I have no idea how they are prepared. I suppose they are just dried and
not heated or anything. I think they are actually a dried fruit with
seeds inside. Now I wish I had some in the house so I could crack one
open and see what's inside.

Steve

Yeah, they are the dried whole fruit, each peppercorn has a single seed inside. i have just read something which indicated that the fruit is also fermented before drying so i guess the seeds are not viable, however i still have a pot full of pepercorns on my windowsil, in hope of seenig a seedling soon...

blackorchid wrote:
Yeah, they are the dried whole fruit, each peppercorn has a single seed
inside. i have just read something which indicated that the fruit is
also fermented before drying so i guess the seeds are not viable,
however i still have a pot full of pepercorns on my windowsil, in hope
of seenig a seedling soon...


I would remain hopeful too. Fermenting may not kill the seed if that's
all they do to it. Let us know what happens.

Steve

Steve wrote:
blackorchid wrote:

Yeah, they are the dried whole fruit, each peppercorn has a single seed
inside. i have just read something which indicated that the fruit is
also fermented before drying so i guess the seeds are not viable,
however i still have a pot full of pepercorns on my windowsil, in hope
of seenig a seedling soon...



I would remain hopeful too. Fermenting may not kill the seed if that's
all they do to it. Let us know what happens.

Steve

Very interesting question. Yes, please let us know!

--
Steve

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.
Autograph your work with excellence.

Black peppercorn (Piper nigrum) are made from unripe berries. Some
are processed by drying in the sun others may be kiln dried. I
suppose the sun dried ones may be germinable. You might also want to
give white peppercorns a try, the seeds have ripened a little more.

http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publicati...ns/52/ch42.htm
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2175/index.html
http://www.holistic-online.com/Herba...Herbs/h115.htm
http://www.harvestfields.netfirms.co...ack_pepper.htm
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/pepper_pictures.htm

Pink peppercorn comes from Schinus molle.

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.