Germinating Chiltepin seeds

I've noticed that when chiltepins start popping up in the yard here (they're native)--it's generally during a warm spell after it's been really cold, so I decided to try cold-cycling them.

I put some seeds in a custard cup, covered with 1/2 inch or so of water, and soaked them for 24-48 hours. Then I planted them in a small flat and set it on a heat mat (which got pretty danged hot at a couple points, over 100° F, for parts of 2 days before I got a clue--I then kept them at about 90-95° F).

Every night for several nights, I took the chiltepins off the heat mat, let cool to room temp, then stuck them in the fridge (36-40° F). Take the flat out in the morning, let it warm back up to room temp, back on the heating mat for the day.

I had about 25% germination in 7-10 days. By potting-up time (around 14 days out), it was about 40%. More continued to germinate after I had transplanted the earliest ones out, so that eventually I had 43 out of 50 seeds germinate. If you take into account the fact that I decapitated a couple of emerging seedlings by trying to help them out of their stuck seed caps, the germination rate ended up greater than 90% over the course of about four weeks.

Seedling care

It has been my experience that chiltepin seedlings do not do well under the regimen of pampering that we normally give our seedlings. Light table lights are too intense, and cause them to curl up their leaves. They do not want to be fed. They will do fine in a south-facing window, or outside if the temperatures are above 45° F and protected from harsh sun. They just want to be left alone for a few weeks to build up their root system before they put much energy into top growth. So give them a 4 inch pot and 8 weeks or so before transplanting to their final destination.

Removing seeds from the pod

We allow the pods to dry (naturally (no heat) indoors, single layer) before removing seeds. The most wrinkled pods seem to yield the best seeds. Good seeds will be crisp and a nice bright color and the pod will only be red inside. A bad pod will have visible gray veins and ugly seeds.

The easiest (least painful) way I've discovered to seed the peppers is

1. put single pod in small custard cup (like a Pyrex® one)
2. take two toothpicks, jab one in the pepper someplace and pin it down in the bowl
3. poke the other toothpick in near the first and pull the pod apart, scattering seeds in the bowl. repeat til the seeds are all free, generally keeping pick #1 in place, though sometimes you'll have to move it to get at some high up seeds.
4. remove the pod pieces (with picks still) to someplace else. Don't discard as they really are quite tasty.

Hope that makes sense!

I've gotten pretty good at it, maybe 6-10 quick pries and I've got the seeds separated from the pod. I can do about 4 pods in the cup, removing the pods, before I have too many seeds and need to dump them out to keep on going. This keeps me from having to actually touch the broken pods or seeds and thus there's no finger burn!