How to Breed and Hand Pollinate Peppers
- 1). Cut the pepper's anthers from the receptor flower as soon as it opens, before the pollen is mature if possible. Use a magnifying glass if necessary to locate the anthers in the center of the flower surrounding the pistil. Removing the anthers creates a female flower that cannot self-pollinate. Mark the flower as female with a label sticker as you remove the anthers.
- 2). Cut the pistil from the donor pepper flower immediately after the flower opens. Removing the pistil creates a male flower that cannot self-pollinate. Label the flower as male after removing the pistil.
- 3). Continue removing organs and marking blooms until all the flowers are designated as male or female.
- 4). Collect pollen with a small, soft paintbrush from the anthers on the male pepper flower blooms when the pollen is mature. Mature pollen is dusty and easily falls from the anthers.
- 5). Brush the paintbrush against the pistils of the female pepper flowers until the ends of the pistils dry.
- 6). Harvest the seeds from the pepper's fruit, rinse them and allow them to dry. Place the seeds in a glass jar in the refrigerator until late winter when you can plant the seeds indoors.
- 7). Transfer the seedling plants outdoors when the temperature is consistently above 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 8). Select the best individuals as the seed plants mature to continue the process into the next generation.