Will chillies out of freezer germinate

[Jimmy]

I gave a friend some Dorset Naga chillies last year, the little orange hot as hell devils.
He put them in his freezer.
Would the seeds germinate if thawed out slowly.

Jimmy

[darcyvuqua]

Im not sure I can only assume the chilli seeds would assume that while in the freezer it was winter then as thawed it would then assume spring has come and slowly do its thing I could be way off but worth a shot

[The Large One]

try them, no loss
the theory though is that freezing expands the mositure inside the seed thus damaging it
try the damp tissue paper in a sealed takeaway box in a warm position to see if the seed is still viable

[Aberdeenplotter]

Will a Frozen Seed Germinate? | eHow.com

[Nicos]

Nice link AP

I seem to recall this question being asked a long while ago and the general feeling was that they wouldn't. So I never tried it.
The idea of slow thawing is interesting- so I may well try this as I have a couple of chillies in the freezer I wouldn't mind trying to germinate.

In nature some seeds germinate after a cold- possibly frosty winter- so I would go for it Jimmy and let us know how you get on!

[zazen999]

Even if they do, the plant that germinates might well not be the same as the baby as they cross pollinate like crazy - unless it was isolated or grown just amongst other DNs - they could end up completely different to the chilli they came out of.

[Zenithtb]

Don't know how useful this advice is. I suppose it depends on how cold the freezer is, however we have chillies in our raised bed. As I only grow them 'cos they look pretty we don't eat them. Any not 'harvested' by a friend just get left on the plant.

Our winter last year was sub-zero, but come spring we had millions of little chilli plants (so many we had to compost 90% of them) as the chillies had gotten blown off the plants and seeds went everywhere.

So the seeds can certainly survive a sub-zero winter. A sub-zero freezer I do not know...