I've heard and read that Hybrids are a good source for saving seeds because the next generation may not be true to the parent plant.

Correction: I've heard and read that Hybrids are not a good source for saving seeds.

peppermike, I believe you are correct on all accounts.

Hybrids are not a good source of seed and Hybrids are created by controlled cross pollination.

My opinion is that dehybridization is not worth the time and energy. Hybrids are created because they have specific characteristics that are desirable. If you go backwards, the worst case would result in plants that do not grow well, they may have undesirable peppers, etc. The best case would result in a common pepper variety that you could have just grown in the first place and saved yourself a lot of time.

BUT hybridization is very exciting (at least to me). Think about the possibilities of developing an anaheim type pepper with the heat of a habanero or turning a slow producing variety into a prolific one.

I'm not real scientific about it but I do encourage cross pollination and I try to save a little seed from each plant every year. Maybe one day I will grow out a pepper that really amazes me. If I do come up with something unusual and desirable, I will make endless clones to keep that particular hybrid going.

Generally speaking, what jdog006 wrote applies to F1 hybrids. Some hybrids can stabilize and grow out true to type over time. An example of this would be the Rutgers tomato. I would have to research to find examples of hybrid peppers that have stabilized. It is advantageous for seed producers to work with stabilized hybrid lines, as F1 hybrids can be labor intensive to maintain.

The word hybrid means half of one thing and the other half something else.Lots of hybrids (tomatoes & peppers) may not even be hybids.Seed companys sometime call pepper hybrid so other people wont save seeds and depend on them.Take Big Bertha hybrid and Great Stuff hybrid they are the same pepper but they been named different by two seed companys. Hybrids are sometimes F2 second genration which also not a true hybrid.Inbreeders such as tomatoe and pepper show less hybrid vigor than out breeders ;such as, cabbage.Pepper hybrids sell for 4.95-6.99 a packet.where as OP peppers can sell under a dollar.If you dsave seeds and see very little differences in the offspring its' not a hybrid to began with.

I have 72 hybrids, or potential hybrids, planted right now.... none have germinated yet.....

I have Tabascos that should have bred with Habaneros, Jalapenoes with Habs, Cayannes with Habs and Habs with Jalapenos....

Some folks here in Maine dehybridized Super Chile and call it Match Box. There are other examples. I suspect the process might involve repeated selections over several seasons until you get a stable variety.

johnF

web-of-hair,

"I have Tabascos that should have bred with Habaneros, Jalapenoes with Habs, Cayannes with Habs and Habs with Jalapenos...."

You have cross-pollinated frutescens/chinense, annuum/chinense and chinense/annuum. The results will be sporadic. For prolific results you should cross pollinate within the same classification (generally speaking).

You may come up with something exciting and unique. If you do, let us know.