A Seed Saver's Garden

[Zeedman]

This is the first year I've ever grown exclusively bell peppers. For years I grew a lot of hot pepper varieties, partly because they are so generous with their seeds compared to bells. I also like hot peppers as ornamental patio plants. But after the burning hands for nights on end, and the occasional accidental burnt eyeball, I decided last year that I would like a break from them.

Rubbed your eyes, didn't you? Ask me how I know... Yes, hospital procedure gloves (or cheap dollar store gloves) are too thin, capsaicin penetrates right through. I have better luck with heavy-duty 5 mil industrial nitrile gloves, from a hardware store; they are chemical resistant... and tear resistant as well, so I can wash & re-use. Haven't had "radioactive fingers" since.

Oh, and if you ever think to rinse hot peppers seeds in the sink to clean them - don't, unless you have a good exhaust fan. The fresh seeds give off intense airborne vapors upon contact with water, strong enough to drive you out of the room coughing if there are large numbers.

I like moderately hot peppers, but wouldn't think of trying to clean seeds from super-hots, even if I were to grow them. I grew Fatali once; very hot, but almost tame compared to some of the super-hots. Big vigorous bushes with a heavy yield; but the peppers were too hot for me. At the end of the season, I generally mow everything in the garden as part of the cleanup. When I mowed over the Fatali bushes, within seconds I was coughing & could hardly see. Had to jump off the mower, it was like being pepper sprayed. Growing hot peppers has a tendency to give you (painful) learning experiences.

 

[digitS']

HeirloomGal,

My saving of tomato seeds really amounts to something. I slice a tomato on the cutting board. Move the slices off onto a plate. Usually, there are seeds left on the board and they can be pushed together with the knife.

The variety name and date are written on a piece of paper towel. The seeds are "blotted" off the board onto another part of the towel.

The towel is placed outdoors on the railing of the deck and bricks hold down the edges. The railing is almost entirely in the shade and under a roof. If there is rain, I may bring the paper towels into the utility room but keep in mind that 1/4" of summer rain is considered "substantial" here.

Often, there is no rain or nothing more than a sprinkle for the entire 3 weeks that the seeds are left on the deck railing. That's the amount of time that I intend for the towels to stay out there before they are folded and put in sandwich bags where they will stay for up to 5 years.

That's it. Down and Dirty. The humidity dropping below 20% every afternoon is probably the reason for my success with this.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you have some special tips for not getting hot pepper burns, I'd be happy to hear.

All I can add to any of this is to do everything outside in a very well ventilated outbuilding or just outside. The hottest I've grown was habaneros. I wanted a powder so I dehydrated them in a dry outbuilding with ventilation. I set the blender on a table outside and carefully stayed upwind when I ground them. When pouring the powder into a jar, stay upwind.

I'll tell this story. The reason I wanted the Habanero powder was for a deer repellent. I put some powder in water and let it stand a while, then poured that over tulips which the deer love. My dog immediately went over and flattened the tulips by rolling in them. That was like catnip to a cat, she couldn't resist. I never got a chance to find out if it worked on deer, my dog didn't let them have a chance. I liked that dog. Nothing pretentious or fancy, just 100% dog.

My saving of tomato seeds really amounts to something. I slice a tomato on the cutting board. Move the slices off onto a plate. Usually, there are seeds left on the board and they can be pushed together with the knife.

The variety name and date are written on a piece of paper towel. The seeds are "blotted" off the board onto another part of the towel.

The towel is placed outdoors on the railing of the deck and bricks hold down the edges. The railing is almost entirely in the shade and under a roof. If there is rain, I may bring the paper towels into the utility room but keep in mind that 1/4" of summer rain is considered "substantial" here.

My tomato and pepper seed saving isn't that far off. I split the tomato or pepper and remove the seeds. I put them on a paper towel or newspaper and let them dry until I think they are really dry, usually a couple of weeks at least. Then I scrape them off the newspaper or paper towel and store them, usually in a small glass jar with a tight lid. I'm OK with bits of paper or dried pulp stuck to them. It doesn't hurt germination or growth. I never ferment them. Peppers are pretty dry so they don't stick as readily as tomatoes.

The way I read it @heirloomgal is after a large volume and wants clean seeds to sell or share. Bits of paper or dried pulp stuck to them would not be acceptable. And these pepper seeds are dangerously hot. I've never saved any seeds with those goals so no experience.

 

[ducks4you]

I love this thread!! I KNOW that old tomato seeds will sprout. IF I had babysat them, I could have had my GF's 35yo tomato plants in my garden. Instead, I discovered them dried out bc I thought the seeds were dead.
My friend saved seeds from one of my bell peppers last year and has them growing in her garden THIS year.
I REALLY want to get good at this.
I hope NOT, but I think we may need to be supplementing our food in the near future, and we have Seen how seed companies have sold out in the last 2 years.
Btw,@Ridgerunner , have you tried growing garlic next the plants that the deer like? You plant grocery store garlic. It WILL sprout. I have been playing around with grocery store garlic for 2 years now. It sprouts well, but demands some attention, but only if you start it INSIDE. This year I bought Italian garlic from a seed company. I already had about a pound of grocery store (read that CHINESE) garlic in my pantry, so I planted the Chinese garlic on the north side flower bed (E facing, front of house), and planted the Italian garlic on the south side, just for comparison.
Anyway, I really want to try the methods on this thread. I have PLENTY of storage space in my basement, where somebody put the old kitchen counter and sink, sometime in the last 100 years!

 

[Ridgerunner]

have you tried growing garlic next the plants that the deer like?

I've never done that but I tried a few different things that are supposed to repel deer. Irish Spring soap, a hot pepper spray, coyote urine, dog hair. They may appear to work for a while until they don't. I think deer, raccoons, groundhogs, and such are really adaptable, they quickly figure out if there is a real threat or not.

I understand others have found that some things work for them, but the only thing I've found that consistently works for me is a good fence. A trap or gun may temporarily solve a problem but not for long. Lots of new critters are born every year, it's not like they are going extinct.

 

[ducks4you]

Good fences make good neighbors AND good wild animal relationships.
God SAVED us from 2 accidents on Sunday afternoon.
Perfect weather, dry and sunny and cool, dry road.
2nd was somebody who passed us So close that I thought we were going to be in a 3 car accident. Just came out of NOWHERE.
1st was the deer.
She came out of a field, no trees, shallow ditch.
I SWEAR this deer did the thing that cats do before they are going to pounce, kinda like race car drivers will do with their tires spinning, foot on the brake.
Then, the deer leisurely trotted across the road.
This is a busy main drag, north to south, often heavy traffic, so I think this doe is toast later on in the season.
I said to DH, "Watch the deer, Watch the deer, Watch the deer, Watch the deer, WATCH THE DEER!!!"
He slowed way down.
It wasn't 3 minutes later that the rotten driver tried to kill us all.
Not a deer fan.

 

[Zeedman]

I've never done that but I tried a few different things that are supposed to repel deer. Irish Spring soap, a hot pepper spray, coyote urine, dog hair. They may appear to work for a while until they don't. I think deer, raccoons, groundhogs, and such are really adaptable, they quickly figure out if there is a real threat or not.

I understand others have found that some things work for them, but the only thing I've found that consistently works for me is a good fence. A trap or gun may temporarily solve a problem but not for long. Lots of new critters are born every year, it's not like they are going extinct.

I agree on the fencing, I couldn't garden successfully on a large scale without it. That is especially true when growing large numbers of soybeans; they are like candy to deer & rabbits. Unprotected, soybeans will likely be eaten to the ground.

Wild animals learn, and remember; so once they've had a taste of something they like, deterrents & repellents are unlikely to stop them from coming back. The best hope is to prevent them from getting the first taste - hence the fence. If their first taste is an electric shock, so much the better. For many years, I've successfully used their ability to remember to repel deer; after leaving the electric fencing on for a month or two, I can leave it mostly turned off for the rest of the season. Aluminum wire not only shocks better, it is highly visible - and the deer have learned not to touch it.

Unfortunately, when I reduced the size of the rural garden last year & moved the fence line, I failed to re-install the fence wire. That probably resulted in the deer incursion this year, the first time in about 10 years they've gotten into the garden.

 

[heirloomgal]

Rubbed your eyes, didn't you? Ask me how I know... Yes, hospital procedure gloves (or cheap dollar store gloves) are too thin, capsaicin penetrates right through. I have better luck with heavy-duty 5 mil industrial nitrile gloves, from a hardware store; they are chemical resistant... and tear resistant as well, so I can wash & re-use. Haven't had "radioactive fingers" since.

Oh, and if you ever think to rinse hot peppers seeds in the sink to clean them - don't, unless you have a good exhaust fan. The fresh seeds give off intense airborne vapors upon contact with water, strong enough to drive you out of the room coughing if there are large numbers.

I like moderately hot peppers, but wouldn't think of trying to clean seeds from super-hots, even if I were to grow them. I grew Fatali once; very hot, but almost tame compared to some of the super-hots. Big vigorous bushes with a heavy yield; but the peppers were too hot for me. At the end of the season, I generally mow everything in the garden as part of the cleanup. When I mowed over the Fatali bushes, within seconds I was coughing & could hardly see. Had to jump off the mower, it was like being pepper sprayed. Growing hot peppers has a tendency to give you (painful) learning experiences.

Oh my goodness @Zeedman! That's so crazy! Were there peppers still on the bushes when you mowed them? I'm SO GLAD I brought this up because I always wondered about the wearing gloves and still getting burned issue. Everyone thought I was crazy when I mentioned that the pepper juice burned right through my gloves - some of my family (my sister) had even got gloves for me thinking 'this should do it'. It seemed impossible to everyone that I could still get burned while wearing gloves. Even I questioned what on earth I might be doing wrong to still get burned. And these were bad 3 day burns too, because I always do seed saving at night when the house is quiet, so two or more hours an evening for a few weeks, (at least a couple nights a week). My nose always runs; and some peppers are REALLY liquidy like Tabasco and Aji Cristal. I found that at a certain point, after so many hours of any kind of hot pepper, you get a slick of capsicum oil on you and you only feel BURN!

You may have changed my hot pepper future recommending these gloves, as without a better form of capsicum burn protection, I may have more permanently moved away from growing them. Thank you!

 

[heirloomgal]

HeirloomGal,

My saving of tomato seeds really amounts to something. I slice a tomato on the cutting board. Move the slices off onto a plate. Usually, there are seeds left on the board and they can be pushed together with the knife.

The variety name and date are written on a piece of paper towel. The seeds are "blotted" off the board onto another part of the towel.

The towel is placed outdoors on the railing of the deck and bricks hold down the edges. The railing is almost entirely in the shade and under a roof. If there is rain, I may bring the paper towels into the utility room but keep in mind that 1/4" of summer rain is considered "substantial" here.

Often, there is no rain or nothing more than a sprinkle for the entire 3 weeks that the seeds are left on the deck railing. That's the amount of time that I intend for the towels to stay out there before they are folded and put in sandwich bags where they will stay for up to 5 years.

That's it. Down and Dirty. The humidity dropping below 20% every afternoon is probably the reason for my success with this.

Steve

Sounds like a good formula @digitS', people have been doin' it that way since forever. I have to ferment given the volumes I do, and to be able to separate the seeds out. I sell a little bit too, to pay for my yearly garden expenses, and in that format presentation is nearly everything

 

[heirloomgal]

All I can add to any of this is to do everything outside in a very well ventilated outbuilding or just outside. The hottest I've grown was habaneros. I wanted a powder so I dehydrated them in a dry outbuilding with ventilation. I set the blender on a table outside and carefully stayed upwind when I ground them. When pouring the powder into a jar, stay upwind.

I'll tell this story. The reason I wanted the Habanero powder was for a deer repellent. I put some powder in water and let it stand a while, then poured that over tulips which the deer love. My dog immediately went over and flattened the tulips by rolling in them. That was like catnip to a cat, she couldn't resist. I never got a chance to find out if it worked on deer, my dog didn't let them have a chance. I liked that dog. Nothing pretentious or fancy, just 100% dog.


My tomato and pepper seed saving isn't that far off. I split the tomato or pepper and remove the seeds. I put them on a paper towel or newspaper and let them dry until I think they are really dry, usually a couple of weeks at least. Then I scrape them off the newspaper or paper towel and store them, usually in a small glass jar with a tight lid. I'm OK with bits of paper or dried pulp stuck to them. It doesn't hurt germination or growth. I never ferment them. Peppers are pretty dry so they don't stick as readily as tomatoes.

The way I read it @heirloomgal is after a large volume and wants clean seeds to sell or share. Bits of paper or dried pulp stuck to them would not be acceptable. And these pepper seeds are dangerously hot. I've never saved any seeds with those goals so no experience.

I'm surprised your dog didn't despise the pepper powder? I would have thought it would keep him away from the tulips too.