Isolate the plant(s) with some sort of netting or cover an unopened flower with a small baggie and use the pod that grows from it for seeds.

Thanks Brennan. So I could just cover a couple of flowers or just a whole plant. So are peppers mostly self pollinating then? I notice most pepper lovers (including myself ) Have several varieties and I love trying new ones, and every few years (2/3) I'll buy new seeds. This year though I really wanted to save a particular variety....hence the question.

Yes peppers are self pollinating plants. I have been serving seed from non isolated plants for years and never had a cross, it certainly can happen though.

Thanks Brennan. I'll trust your years of experience and if I don't have to do anything I won't.

Those tulle bags used for wedding favors are excellent for isolating flowers you want to keep bees away from.

You may think peppers are self-pollinating, but the farms around here that produce seed for commercial varieties have a mile or so between fields to prevent cooss-pollination.

You can buy tule fabric from walmart in the craft section for a dollar a yard. You can make several tule bags of any size you like out of that. I have done it before and it works very well. You can buy enough to cover an entire plant or just a branch. The key is that you must leave "A LOT" of extra room to account for growth while the fabric is on the plant. Once enough peppers have formed inside the bag, you can remove it and mark those pods so that once they ripen, you can harvest them specifically for seed.

Thanks guys. I'll bag some of the flowers, that way I get to safeguard some of the seeds for the following years. :).

Here is a video from one of my yearly pepper blogs. Near the beginning, it shows a plant that I had bagged.

Thanks esox07. Great video. How did the blue mysteries turn out? The poblano was fantastic. They are all super healthy plants sturdy and bush like. Some of mine get a bit leggy.

You bag off a whole limb thats a great idea.

P.s. Your dog looks like a lovely fellow too.

Blue Mysteries came out great. I wanted some pure seed because it is a fairly rare seed. Yes, it is much easier to just bag a branch rather than the whole plant. There is less chance of contamination that way. Just a few pods will give you plenty of seed for personal use. Again, just make sure to make them big enough to allow for growth. If you think you made it big enough, make it bigger still. You can see I allowed for quite a bit of growth in my bag on the Blue Mystery and it used it all...and then some. But also note that you only need the pods to set before taking off the bag. You don't have to leave it on until it ripens as some people assume. Just make sure you mark the pods that set while it was bagged so you know which are pure. I just tie a small string around the stem.

Thanks esox07 and you all for taking the time. Those are some great tips.