How long before I can plant the pepper seeds? I dried them out and.....?

Question

I took the seeds out of some fresh Jalapeno peppers I purchased at the local farmers market here in town. I brown-bagged the seeds and dried them out for the last 24 hours... How long before I can plant them? And, do I even have to dry them out, and what is the purpose of drying them out? Thankyou.

I'm here in the way south of the USA

Answer 1

Generally, you dry seeds out for storage. For example, here where I am with cold winters, if I had some fresh vegetable seeds I would need to dry them in order to keep them over the winter and plant them in the spring.

I don't know where you are. If your climate is such that you can plant right now, you don't need to dry the seeds. Plant them. If you need to wait to Spring to plant, then make sure they are good and dried and store them until then. They should be fine either way.

Answer 2

you need to let them dry completely as this helps to kill any disease organisms they might be harboring, and also aids in germination. a week or two will be fine. for some of the seeds, they will germinate right away, others (even from the same pod) can take up to 6 weeks. probably the most important factor is the ripeness of the chili pod. riper is better. good luck.

Answer 3

I would freeze them overnight to mimic the natural conditions of laying outside over winter. Then plant them. They would probably grow just fine without the freezing, but that is just a thing I do to seeds.

Answer 4

pepper seeds can be stored in a cool/dry place until spring when u can sow them. i usually just let the peppers fall to the ground. come spring, i have tons sprouting. however, more importantly, were the peppers u bought ripe? if they weren't ripe, ur seeds will probably be immature and not sprout.

Answer 5

You dry them so they store better. Plant them anytime, peppers do well as house plants.