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I was wondering if it is possible to grow bell pepper plants from the store brought bell peppers. Of course, I googled it it says that we have to dry the seeds first and then plant them in potting mix/ use paper towels, but my first attempt of the green bell peppers did not work. I am planning on trying with the red and yellow ones, which are ripe. Please give me some advice on ensuring better germination rate. Average temperature here is 26°C. Also, is it really necessary to dry them if we are planting them right away?

Here was my previous question on my first attempt, which was a failure. Are my Bell Pepper seeds showing signs of germination?

Jeff
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  • UPDATE-Dried the seeds, hurried the seeds and waited, I could see seedlings in 7-8 days. Thank you guys for the support. – Jeff Mar 15 '18 at 13:44

2 Answers2

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You can't use green peppers for seeds, because those are not ripe yet. So take seeds from red or yellow ones. Dry the seeds for a few days on a paper towel, before planting them in soil. Important is that you'll need a temperature of 22-25 C for germination, so 26 C sounds okay. It should take about 3 weeks for the seeds to germinate.

benn
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  • Why is drying necessary? I put some in paper towels and just put some to dry out.... so the undried ones wont germinate? – Jeff Feb 15 '18 at 13:03
  • 3 weeks? seriously? – Jeff Feb 15 '18 at 13:04
  • @Jeff: seed and forget. Some vegetables take even longer. – Giacomo Catenazzi Feb 15 '18 at 13:05
  • @Jeff, I guess you can try to not dry the seeds first, I have never actually tried this. I rather buy (dried) seeds of vegetables. About the 3 weeks, yes I am serious, why? Is that too long or too short in your opinion? – benn Feb 15 '18 at 14:43
  • 2-3 weeks with bought seeds would fit my experience. It varies according to cultivar. I planted some a few weeks back and I started seeing seedlings at 2 weeks, but even a week later, I would be disappointed if this is all I get (one cultivar so far only has one seedling!) – winwaed Feb 15 '18 at 14:50
  • @b.nota When it's more than a week, I loose hope, but if I use paper towel method won't it germinate faster? The store bought seeds have germinated(12 days time) but the ones I took from bell peppers have not shown signs in 6 days. Ok, I'll wait for three weeks and update. Thanks guys :) – Jeff Feb 20 '18 at 12:35
  • @Jeff, patience young Skywalker... It is possible that the ones you bought germinate faster than fresh ones. This might be caused by the protective layer fresh seeds might have (drying them first might help). I don't think paper towels will accelerate the process. But 3 weeks is not that long, for palm seeds you can wait months! – benn Feb 20 '18 at 13:18
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It should be possible. With vegetables on market, often it is difficult because fruits are taken from plant, when they were not yet ripe. The outside will ripe (sometime with methyl ester, as in the "hay" method), but not the seeds. So I recommend you to use good ripen green pepper or better red peppers.

Putting in refrigerator for a week could also help (in a cold plastic bag, so that they remain dry).

Personally, I doesn't dry them (but if fruit is rotten), but I doesn't water them either. Just on dirt, and nature will make some seedlings.

Giacomo Catenazzi
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  • Have you experienced a good germination rate without drying the seeds? What temperature do you germinate it in? – Jeff Feb 15 '18 at 13:06
  • @Jeff: I doesn't know.I cannot make good bell peppers (too much variation of humidity), so I doesn't care much about the condition. Just outside, in a empty space on garden. Chili peppers (same species) seem less picky (on germinating and on growing well). I confirm that they are slow germinating, but they germinate inside (so around 20C) and outside variable temperature (average below 26, but max for sure much more than 20) – Giacomo Catenazzi Feb 15 '18 at 13:12