Chili Seeds

There are over 3000 types of chili worldwide and this number is increasing continuously thanks to how well the chili species responds to cross-breeding and hybridisation. With this huge number of chili varieties, you would like to think that it would always be easy to find a wide range of chili seeds available. However, in reality, only very few types of chili are used in agriculture such as jalapeños, cayenne peppers, peperoncini, tabasco chillies and habaneros. Usually, the chili farmer will either produce their own seeds or they will buy hybrid seeds from wholesale seed companies. The seeds for these hybrid chillies are not germinable, but the chili plants are usually of a considerable size and very productive. However, these high performance plants create a lack of diversity on the market. As seed merchants, we have very little opportunity to offer a large selection of chili seeds, as the seed producers do not have any interest in stocking such a wide range of varieties. This is why Chili Food has contracted farmers to grow all manner of chili seeds so that we can obtain the chili seeds we want. Every year, we only produce the amount needed for our shop so that the chili seeds do not need to be stored for an unnecessarily long time.

How are chili seeds propagated?

As chili plants like to inter-breed, the first step is to use homogeneous seeds. The plants are usually cultivated in greenhouses and separated from other chili plants by thin nets when they start to blossom. Insects must not be able to pollinate other chillies. But how can the individual plants be pollinated homogeneously if they are cut off from the outside world? It certainly make sense to manually pollinate plants with a brush, if it is only a matter of a few plants. However, when it comes to several hundred chili plants and countless different varieties, this method becomes no longer economical. This is where the Bombus terrestris bumblebee comes in, this is a species which has been specially bred for greenhouse pollination. Bumblebees are very efficient and quick pollinators, significantly better than honey bees.

Extracting the chili seeds

Only completely matured peppers from large, healthy plants are used to produce chili seeds. This helps produce chili seeds with the best possible genetic properties. The seeds are removed from the peppers by hand and dried. After drying, the rest of the placenta is removed and bad seeds are sorted out. Poor quality seeds can be recognised by differences in colour, holes, smaller than average size and the lack of a germ bud. The chili seeds are stored in a dry, dark place, which is as cool as possible.

Important information: Our seeds are only available for hobby gardeners to grow their own decorative plants. All details given in the product description is only extra information provided especially for amateur gardeners. It is necessary to state this due to the legal situation governing seeds in Europe. Please also see our terms and conditions for comparison.