PEPPERGEEK

CROSSING PEPPERS
Mother Father
Smooth
Yellow
x Wrinkled
Red
Spicy
Mild Parental Plants

PARENTS CROSS POLLINATION

Choose two plants (ideally within the same Choose an unopened flower on the mother
species) with desirable characteristics that P1 plant. Carefully cut off all petals and stamen,
POLLINATES
you'd like to combine. The pollen donor is P2'S FLOWER leaving just the pistil to be pollinated
considered the 'father' while the recipient is (emasculation). Transfer pollen from the
the 'mother.' Ideally, you should cross both Pollen Unopened Flower father plant to the emasculated flower.
ways to ensure a successful fertilization, Open Flower Closed Flower
and always pollinate several flowers. BECOMES
PEPPER

F1 SEEDS
*The pollinated flower's pepper will
F1 seeds will contain 50% of the genetics appear normal, showing no difference
from the 2 original parent plants. Resulting SAVE
SEEDS from the mother's original characteristics.
plants will usually show some traits from However, the seeds now carry 50% of the
each of the plants, and will be very genetics from the father plant. These are
consistent characteristically. called F1 hybrid seeds.
PLANT
F1 SEEDS

F2 SEEDS
F1, or 1st filial
generation plants PLANT
MANY
will show a F2 SEEDS
combination of
parental traits.
Choose healthy,
ripe pods and save
Yellow
the seeds for Spicy F2 plants will show the most variations. Keep PLANT
planting the 2nd SEEDS
Wrinkled plants isolated to avoid cross pollination. Select
generation (F2). peppers that display the desired traits, in this
case, yellow, spicy and wrinkled. Plant those
seeds to carry on to generation 3 (F3 seeds).

F3
STABILIZATION
Consecutive generations will show Properties:
more and more consistent traits. At Wrinkled
Yellow
F8, the likelihood of as-expected Spicy
plants is close to 100%. Through
CONSISTENCY IMPROVES...
selective seed saving and self- ...
pollination, your new pepper variety
F6 F5 F4
will be stabilized and consistent!