Harvesting Chilli Seeds
I’m not sure if this is something that needs to be explained and I’m sure everyone has got their own way of harvesting chilli seeds. Anyway this is how I do it and I seem to have a very good strike rate at harvesting good quality chilli seeds.
First you need to make sure that when you pick your chilli pod from you plant that it is slightly over ripe. Look at the stem where the chilli is attached to your plant. Once you see that the stem is starting to change colour it means that your chilli plant has finished supplying nutrients to that pod. However you can wait a bit longer if you wish but you then run the risk of pests attacking your pod.
Ok so once you have picked the chilli you wish to harvest the seeds from, you need to sit your chilli seeds in a warm dry spot. I usually sit and wait for about a week before I cut them open. You will know your chilli is ready to cut open when the pod stats to go a bit soft. This is a natural process in nature – a pod would fall from its host plant, sit on the ground and slowly break down and release the seeds back into the ground to sprout.
When your chilli is ready to cut open make sure you have a sharp clean knife and a tray to spread your chilli seed on to dry out. I normally leave my seed on a tray on top of the fridge for 2 – 3 weeks before I store them away ready to plant. Oh and if you don’t like the skin burn make sure you use gloves when extracting your chilli seeds.
With the flesh from the chilli I normally place it on a tray out in the sun to let them dry out.
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