My green bell pepper got knocked off the plant and wasn't done growing, it didn't get its mature color yet. If I keep it by a windowsill will the seeds still develop inside or is all hope lost?

I think you'd be further ahead to wait for another pepper that ripens on the plant. The green one is probably more likely to turn to mush than ripen on the windowsill, in my opinion.

I am wondering the same thing about green tomatoes which got knocked down by the hail a few weeks ago.

If you save wimpy seeds you'll get wimpy plants. Only save seeds from fruit and veggies that have ripened on the plant. Anything else and you'll be disappointed the next year. Anyone interested in seed saving should read "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth. It's well worth the money you'l pay for it.

ediblelandscapingsc said:If you save wimpy seeds you'll get wimpy plants. Only save seeds from fruit and veggies that have ripened on the plant. Anything else and you'll be disappointed the next year. Anyone interested in seed saving should read "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth. It's well worth the money you'l pay for it.

I never grew bell pepper before so I didn't know if they would be viable at all. However the seed are hybrid and very valuable to me so I don't want to loose my work even if they are wimpy.

I have the Ashworth book.
The green tomato is the only one from that plant because of hail damage.
I was growing the plants to see if the original grocery store one was a hybrid or not.

Good luck I hope they work for you both, if you got the room and time it won't hurt anything to try.

Keith, are you saying there are no other peppers on your plant?

Weedwhacker said:Keith, are you saying there are no other peppers on your plant?

Only one other, but being an animal knocked this off by accident I'm nervous all my work will be lost.

Okay, I think I see what you mean, then... I would give it a shot with the one that fell off, because if you don't try to let it ripen it definitely won't, and I would also put a wire cage of some sort around the plant so nothing can get close to it (like hardware cloth, or garden fencing). Good luck!

Weedwhacker said:Okay, I think I see what you mean, then... I would give it a shot with the one that fell off, because if you don't try to let it ripen it definitely won't, and I would also put a wire cage of some sort around the plant so nothing can get close to it (like hardware cloth, or garden fencing). Good luck!

I do have a wire cage around, didn't help much. Fingers crossed the other will mature.

Sorry about your hybridizing-experiment pepper getting knocked off. It's always the special things that get ruined it seems.

If the seeds were special to me, I might try making a fresh cut on the stem (leaving as much good stem as possible) and then turn the pepper over and place the end of the stem in a mug with water (being careful to keep the pepper fruit itself out of the water.) Basically, treat it like a cut flower. I'd then place it where it could get some sun, keep a close eye on the water level and hope that the chlorophyll in the fruit would keep photosynthesizing and ripen the seeds. The plant's ultimate goal is to reproduce so I think it might work. However, I've not tried this before so I can't guarantee that it will work. It's just what I'd do in your situation (for all that's worth. )

The pepper has actually started to get orange in some parts, so apparently it's mature size but not fully ripe, mabye the seeds might viable!

I just read to keep a banana or Apple near the peppers, the gas emissions trigger faster ripening. Fingers crossed it works and the seed inside is viable!

keithp2012 said:I just read to keep a banana or Apple near the peppers, the gas emissions trigger faster ripening. Fingers crossed it works and the seed inside is viable!

I've read that about the ethelyne gas emissions from bananas, too. I wonder if it hastens ripening of the seeds in addition to the fruit, though. I never thought about that.

DogsNDaylilies said:

I've read that about the ethelyne gas emissions from bananas, too. I wonder if it hastens ripening of the seeds in addition to the fruit, though. I never thought about that.

I would think no matter how the pepper ripens it will still trigger maturity for the seeds.