Germination Problems

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Dave-Quick question: Been trying to start some seeds, specifically, all but the chitelpin and jolokia seeds have germinated. I use one of those small Jiffy brand seed starters with the expandable peat pellets–worked great for all my other tomato and chile seeds, but not these two. Seeds are fresh. Thought about using a heat pad? Any suggestions?? Thanks!Rick Hello Rick:Chiltepin …

Pruning for Over-Wintering?

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Hi Dave,The last crop of peppers from my Habaneros are coming in, and since we’re approaching winter I wanted ask if I should cut back the foliage on my plants at all. I live about 3 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, so frost is quite a rarity around here. Unless we get an unusual cold snap, the plants should …

Seeds from Immature Pods

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Hello Dave,I have a C. annuum (Pimento de Padron) plant and have protected it from insects using row cloth. The problem is that I started this a bit late in the season and not sure the designated, marked pods are going to mature to red. If worse comes to worse, will seeds from large green pods be viable next year? …

Techniques for Freezing Peppers

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Hi Dave,I have seen a lot of things on the internet about freezing peppers. Most say to chop up, place on a cookie sheet, freeze, then place in a zip lock bag. Is there anything wrong with simply picking peppers off of the plant, placing in a zip lock bag and going directly into the freezer? The peppers I am …

Vine Peppers?

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Dear Dave:A friend of mine just brought me a very small pepper (about 1 cm) very pungent, red when ripe and when I dissected it only found 4 seeds, almost no vein. The smell is very strong like a Bird pepper (Tabasco). Now this is the odd thing: She says it grows on a vine, I have never heard of …