lots of people use the tulle and that should work with smaller plants. Have you seen the glue method? Before the flower opens you paint it with elmers glue and as the pepper developes it pushes off the cap.

That glue idea is great. I wish I knew about it earlier in the summer. My peppers are all developing and I haven't seen a blossom in a couple weeks.

I guess just doing this with a couple flowers would do. Maybe a piece of ribbon or yarn tied above the bloom to keep track of which are true.

you can use different color yarn and tie different knots.

more blossoms might come as it cools down but you might not have enough time outdoors to get them good and red ripe. but experiment anyway and if the pepper is well developed save the seeds anyway. then try in the spring. seeds will germinate from green peppers. but they may not store so long. you can leave the pepper on the counter top to keep the seeds developing. every little bit helps.

Has anyone covered a whole pepper plant as I suggested above?

I want to grow 9 different types of paprika peppers and would like to save their seeds, this is why I am looking to see if this works.

thanks,
Dean

Just white paper glue to glue the blossoms? How will the pepper form if the flower is never pollinated?

They are all self pollinating.

Dale

A piece of cheesecloth around a flower bud before it opens tied off (not tightly) with string/garbage-tie/etc. works pretty good, too. It's not pretty, but you generally won't have it on there more than a week anyway.

Generally, you only need to save seed from a few peppers unless you need a huge amount of seed...so it's not like you're going to have to do 10-20 of them or something.

That said...a lot of people don't even bother segregating their peppers because the chance of cross pollination is low even though it's possible.

I always assumed that self-pollinating meant that it (plant/tree) was still getting pollinated, just by it's own flowers. And that no fruit would form if no pollen was exchanged. Is this an anomaly with peppers, or does the same hold true with any self-pollinator?

why would one not want to cross pepper its so fun and youl never knoww what you will get

The flowers are both male and female at the same time.