Where can I get chili seeds

Where can I get my chili seeds?

High-quality seeds are important for a successful cultivation and a bountiful harvest. Worldwide there are more than 3,000 chili varieties, and this number is increasing, as chillies cross-breed easily. When purchasing seeds for your own use you will have to choose between hybrid seeds from large companies (which cannot be reproduced after the first harvest) and seeds capable of reproduction.

You have many possibilities for purchasing your chili seeds:

• Specialist seed dealers: There are numerous dealers which specialise in the distribution of seeds, and have diverse pepper and chili varieties in their ranges. These can then be ordered via a catalogue or online. The largest selections can be found in shops which specialise in chillies / peppers.*

• Garden Centres and Plant Markets: Here you will find common varieties from commercial wholesale suppliers, most of which are also hybrid seeds. Often in gardener circles the term “pepper” is used to label all varieties of Capsicum, so this includes the spicy chillies. Don’t let this confuse you, just look at the exact variety denomination (Peperoni, Cayenne, Habanero).
• Holiday Souvenirs: If you travel to foreign countries in which chillies belong to everyday cuisine, take a look in garden centres for bags of seeds or in markets for fresh chillies whose seeds you can extract and dry. There you may find fascinating treasures which are rare in this country. But always observe the current import and export conditions, as certain special varieties are subject to plant variety protection regulations.
• Swapping groups on the Internet: In internet forums there are many chili enthusiasts who are willing to exchange seeds. However, hobby gardeners do not usually take care to ensure that their different varieties are not mutually pollinating each other, therefore there are rarely pure varieties on offer. Those who do not shy away from an element of surprise can make a good find here. Here you must also comply with the plant variety protection and import regulations if exchanging seeds from abroad.
• Use your own: You can use your own chili harvest from the previous year (providing that you did not use any hybrid seeds) and dry your own home-grown seeds. Just remove the seeds from your fully ripened chillies and dry them on paper (avoid blazing sunlight if possible). You can also leave the seeds to dry in the paper, as this removes any excess moisture from any seeds which have not completely dried.

*By the way: We at Chili Food have our seeds grown by selected farmers so that we can offer many different varieties of chillies (also traditional varieties) independent of large corporations. Additionally, we only have the required amount for our store produced, so that the chili seeds are not stored for an unnecessarily long amount of time. The seeds are extracted from the chillies of the best plants by hand.