Growing peppers from dehydrated cayenne seasoning

Hello!

Last year I dehydrated and mortar/pestled my cayenne peppers to be used as a seasoning. I realized going through my seeds this year that I only have Hungarian wax peppers ad ran out of cayenne seeds. Has anyone ever had success growing peppers this way? I am trying to see if they germinate regardless and figured you guys would probably enjoy my little experiment, Thanks!

I have very high germination rates from seeds that were dried at 105F (the lowest my dehydrator goes) but when I've tried planting seeds from commercial 'pepper flakes' I've had very nearly zero germination and when I dehydrated my own at more like 130F, too. So it depends on how hot your dehydration process is. Also probably depends how rough you were during the 'grind' process.

You could throw a bunch onto a wet paper-towel in a plastic bag, and keep it warm for a couple weeks to test your germination.

I second doing a germination test. Lowest effort for the most information.  I'm curious what the results are.

I put the in wet paper towel yesterday, I don't recall what heat setting I used though. I will keep you updated!

I would love to see your experiment.

I have absolutely grown peppers from fresh produce after allowing the seeds to air dry. If you dehydrated your cayenne, do you have any idea how hot the temperature reached? There's a good chance that anything over 120F will have damaged the genes, but you have nothing to loose by trying.

I would also assume that you can see pepper seeds that look to be in good shape and not cracked or damaged? Those are definitely the ones I'd pull out and try, as it is the job of the seed cover to protect the important bits inside.

From my experience, peppers need warm soil to germinate in, so I'd also look up a bit about parameters and give them the best chance you can.

Funny related story: I start my seeds in homemade paper pots ( https://permies.com/t/225570/paper-pots ). For warm-loving plants, I have a dog heat mat that I can set trays on. In February, I tried to start 8 sweet peppers, but only 4 germinated. I put the unsuccessful pots aside to dry out, and later when I wanted to start tomatoes, I put a bit of fresh soil on the top, and added tomato seeds to those unsuccessful pots. Surprise! I now have a pot with both a baby pepper plant *and* a baby tomato plant.  The seedlings are an inch apart, so I'm thinking that if I choose the right spot to plant them in, I might just be able to let both live. I know the experts would tell me to cut one off at the roots, but I'm a bit of a sucker when it comes to babies...

Welcome to permies, Frank! Check my signature for info about how we work, and how to post pictures, as we *really* like pictures of experiments!