Sorry for double-posting, but is there also a tutorial for crossbreeding carrots with herbs? Or herbs with herbs? Oh, and in relation to my previous post, I meant peppers, not peeppers.

Here are some books I would recommend:
By Carol Deppe
Either
"Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: Popbeans, Purple Peas, and Other Innovations from the Backyard Garden"
OR
"Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's & Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding & Seed Saving"

The 2nd listing is a sort of 2nd addition. Its more commercially oriented. It contains the first book as a first section.

Another book I found quite good (finding it may be tricky) is:
"Create New Flowers and Plants - Indoors and Out" by John James (it was printed in 1964, so find either used or through your library system).

I know nothing about breeding herbs. If you want to breed carrots w/ herbs that is hybridizing outside the genus and is extremely difficult if not impossible through normal hybridizing (from what I know - others may have different opinions).

Good Luck!!!

I would suggest using dioecious plants such as Hollies (Ilex). They have seperate male and female plants. Corn has both sexes in different flowers, the tassel is the male and the ear is the female. Also large flowered plants as they are easier to work with. Double flowered plants the stames look like petals and they produce no pollen. For example the new "seedless" cucumber, it will only produce seeds it a relative is nearby. Most seedless plants are triploids having chromosomes in sets of three and do not produce seed.
The pollen will usually form a tube long enough to fertilize a flower with a pistil of the same size or shorter. Many crosses work one way only.

can someone tell me how without the book

To be flippant, get some pollen and apply it to the stigma. But seriously, the answer to this question depends on the nature of the plant/plants you want to cross including not least the specific anatomy of the flower in question. If you have a specific species in mind try a Google search like "hybridizing peppers" or "crossing petunias" and see what you come up with.

Cam & Ericmonkey,

go to the hosta library:
http://www.hostalibrary.org/

the click on Hybridizing in the lower right hand corner. It explains everything, and what works for hostas my work for many other plants.