cross polination ?

[daffydill]

can anyone please tell me if tomatoes will cross polinate if grown in the same area ( about 20 ft apart ) also if i grow sweet and chilly peppers in the same area will they cross. Im wanting to save seed but not sure if its a viable idea if they will cross, any advice greatfully recieved

[Nicos]

Tomatoes certainly cross pollinate as do chillies and peppers- but I don't know if the last two cross pollinate between each other.

[Jeanied]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that sweet pepper does cross with chilli pepper.

[Flummery]

Peppers cross like the blazes. Tomatoes can but modern varieties usually don't because the stigma is enclosed in a cone of anthers so only its own pollen reaches it. Some of the beefsteak types have the stigma sticking out of the cone so if you have 2 beefsteaks of different types they could cross through insect activity. Rare though. I only grow one chilli type so I can save seeds.

[Alison]

As Flum says, tomatoes aren't too bad for it and I've quite happily saved true seed from plants quite close together. Chillies and peppers are all the same family so you'll either have to only grow one variety of isolate (which is a pain). I tend to grow whichever variety I want to save in the greenhouse at home on it's own and the other varieties down the plot in the polytunnel as they're just for eating. Luckily pepper seeds keep for years so it's not too much of a restriction.

[Aberdeenplotter]

can anyone please tell me if tomatoes will cross polinate if grown in the same area ( about 20 ft apart ) also if i grow sweet and chilly peppers in the same area will they cross. Im wanting to save seed but not sure if its a viable idea if they will cross, any advice greatfully recieved

Anything grown within flying distance of the insects which do the pollinating is liable to be cross pollinated. Propogating in this manner can be very exciting as one never knows just what monster has been bred.

Last year, I set out to try to breed a cross between two different onions. Ailsae which is large, well shaped and firm and the Sifford onion(world record strain) which is very large not so well shaped and quite soft and is susceptible to fungal attack. My objective was to grow a bigger onion than the ailsae which wouldn't be so susceptibe to fungal damage and also be better shaped than the sifford onion. I'll let you know in August how I did because the seed is only recently germinated.

[Alison]

Anything grown within flying distance of the insects which do the pollinating is liable to be cross pollinated. Propogating in this manner can be very exciting as one never knows just what monster has been bred.

Not necessarily as not all things are insect pollinated, peas for example self pollinate before the flower even opens (usually) which can make it very difficult to get a cross. There's some really good info about seed saving available for free on the Real Seeds site.

[Mell]

Was it on this forum that somebody mentioned dipping flowers in PVA glue to stop the danger of cross pollination ?

Yes here you go http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ies_53842.html

[daffydill]

thanks for all the replies, I think i know which way to go now