Sweet Peppers - Strange

[Westi]

As I have already boasted I got a lot of my peppers to redden
outdoors but quite curiously they all have no seeds as such.
There is a tiny little amount of miniscule brown dots under the
stem end but the rest of the fruit is empty and devoid of any
of the typical white seeds.

These are ones I collected seed from supermarket bought ones
as I liked them (long & pointy & sweet). Does anyone know what
might have caused this? Not complaining as easy preparing but
won't be doing any seed saving.

Westi

[Elaine]

Hi Westi. I grow these" bulls horn "sweet peppers and none of them have many seeds. I grew Marconi Rosso and Corno di Torro; each variety has only a few single seeds the length of the fruit, unlike the thick cluster you find in the bell peppers.

It might be something to do with them being saved seed from a shop bought pepper, as the growers usually use F1 varieties, to ensure uniform ripening. I think!

I'm sure our very knowledgeable friends on here will be able to give a much better explanation than mine.....come in Johnboy!

[Primrose]

I think some varieties of peppers simply produce less seed than others. For the past couple of years I've grown the Italian "long pointed ones" and mine have had very few seeds (whether grown from a seed packet or from saved seeds) whereas the bell shaped ones have more seeds than you know what to do with. The bell shaped peppers also seem to have much thicker flesh although I don't know whether this has any connection to how much seed they produce. Mine are always outdoors in a sunny sheltered position. Whether they would have produced more seed if greenhouse grown I don't know.

[Elaine]

Hi Primrose. My Italian type peppers have always been from bought seed and grown in the greenhouse, never outside.

I agree that they have much thinner skin and flesh than bell peppers, which is one of the reasons I prefer them...and they are so sweet! This years lot produced red, yellow and orange fruits once ripened, though the green ones taste good too. I never liked raw pepper on pizza, or in salads etc, but I really like these Italian types. They are so expensive in the shops too.
Cheers.

[Primrose]

Elaine - could you tell me which variety of long thin-skinned pointed peppers you are growing which produce red, yellow and orange fruit. I'd love to try them. I've only grown the red (when ripe) variety and would like to try growing some other coloured thin skinned peppers next year.

[Johnboy]

Hi Elaine,
I do not think that there is anything wrong with your Peppers. Certainly some varieties form clusters up the stalk end and others over the length of the fruit, some masses and others very few seeds.
With Westi's peppers I suspect it is a climatic conditions that have caused the dead seeds. From the point of pollination the seeds are conditioned into the programme and I think that exposing the plants to temperatures below those that the plant comfortably exists changes the metabolism of the plant and something suffers. A few years back I had some Californian Wonders that suffered from the cold and they actually grew a pepper within the existing pepper. The second inner ones had seeds but those from the original were dead like brown bits of dirt just like Westi's.
JB.

[Elaine]

Hi Primrose. The red, yellow and orange peppers are from Johnsons "Cooks Garden" range and are (sweet) Corno di torro mixed. They were £1.86 for 50 seeds and they are as good this year, as last year when I bought the seeds.
Cheers.

[Primrose]

Thanks Elaine. I imagine growing them is an interesting exercise as you never know until they are ripe what colour they are going to turn out to be (or do the different colours come separately packed?).
As a matter of interest, can you detect any difference in flavour between the different colours when ripe, or are they exactly the same?

[Elaine]

Hi Primrose. No, the seeds are mixed together, so it is pot luck which colour you sow, which I find extremely interesting...........like buying a "Lucky Bag" as a child! I wait with eager anticipation for the first streaks of colour to appear on the green peppers! The red ones get a very dark streak before turning red, the yellow and orange ones develop a streak of the ripened colour.

I haven't noticed any difference in the taste at all, they are just delicious!

I sowed and grew on six plants, three were red, two were orange and one yellow.
Cheers.