Save the seeds to plant?

[infomama]

Forgive me if this is a stupid question but for those who garden...does anyone save the seeds from their store bought peppers (or other seed bearing veggies) to plant in their gardens?
I bought a few delicious organic red peppers the other day and I got to thinking I should just save the seeds and plant them in our garden vs buying a packet of organic seeds

[BayGirl2]

We do this with potatoes and some other things. Works fine as long as you have a good growing environment.

[daisymommy]

This will only work if you buy organic plants/seeds. Anything else is GMO and has a "terminator gene" in it that will not allow the seeds to reproduce.
But if they're organic, then yes, you can do that. I would look in a book or online about what you need to do to save them, because certain things have to be prepped a certain way.


Sent from my iPad

[MommyAllison]

I haven't, but have considered it with garlic and potatoes. With things like tomatoes and peppers, you need to save seed from non-hybrids (hybrids can be organic), as a hybrid seed will not "come true" when planted. If it's an open-pollinated tomato like Brandywine, you can totally save & plant the seed.

If you don't know the variety, you can still plant and see what happens. A pepper plant will grow, it just might not be quite the same. :)

[longtallsally05]

My FIL does this for tomatoes every year with great results. Not sure when he purchased the original tomatoes, but I have a hard time believing that he bought organic anything, as he's WAY too cheap to pass up a bargain at the produce outlet.

[ahisma]

It depends on the plant. Some plants won't be the true varietal when you save the seeds, particularly if you have different types of the same crop in your garden - like tomatoes. Some are always okay, like beans.

I don't recall the specifics for peppers.