>>>It's true that most peppers will cross-pollinate, but you'll not
experience any "hotness" in your mild peppers until the 2nd generation of
plants grown from saved seed.<<<
This is not true. You will get hotness in the first generation. The
hotness probably originates from the seed, which technically is the second
generation, but it migrates into the tissue surrounding the seed and,
depending I'd guess on initial intensity, to other parts of the pepper.
Note that if you keep very hot harvested peppers with sweet peppers, in
the same basket, that in a week or so you will have all hot peppers.
If you want to save sweet peppers for seed, and you are concerned about
contamination from hot peppers, simply taste the white tissue near the
seed withthe tip of your tongue. When you run into a hot one, you may
need to stop for a while or have someone else take over.
For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design
Courses, consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now
correspondence permaculture training by email. Copyright, 1996, Dan &
Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 2052, Ocala FL 34478 USA YankeePerm at aol.com
We don't have time to rush.
