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Hi Dave,
Love your site. I’ve recently started planting chiles, about a hundred odd varieties in a greenhouse as I live in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and we get a lot of wind. I would like to keep the seed pure. How do I go about it? I’ve been told about cheesecloth tenting, how do you do that? I also read your article about Nando’s, can you tell me were about those chili farms (Birds eye) in the photos are? Hope you can help me. Kind regards,
Carel
Hello Carel:
There are several ways to isolate for pure seed. Don’t worry about wind pollination–that rarely happens. Most cross-pollination occurs by insects. You can put cheesecloth or other netting over the ends of the branches when flowers just start to form. This is the easiest way and the pods will have pure seed through self-pollination. The other way is to build a frame capable of holding 3 or 4 plants, using metal or wood. Then put netting over it, but cheesecloth is not strong enough. Go to a fabric store and buy netting used to back draperies. Use a staple gun to affix it if the frame is made of wood. Those peri-peri plots are near Stellenbosch, just outside of Cape Town.
Dave
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