Take them out of the ziplock and put them on a some paper towels or a torn/flat piece of paper bag (exposed and not enclosed, but not in direct sunlight) in a low-humidity place inside the house somewhere.

Let them dry fully over a few days then bag them.

What nc-crn said. Definitely put them in an area with air flow. Not where the paper towel will blow over and not in an enclosed space like a closed cupboard or closet. Air flow = good when drying quickly.

This post was edited by ottawapepper on Sun, Oct 13, 13 at 18:50

Oh yeah, and lay them flat...single layer...not a pile.

I place on a paper towel or on a plate and air dry on the kitchen cabinet or on a shelf in the dining room. Any air dry method above works also.

Mark

Thank you so much all, gona do it and I got some video to share soon when I took them out tonight.

Your all the Best!

- Mr Beno

You got the advice, Mr. Beno. I do the same way : SPREAD ON PAPER TOWEL,...
Another method: Spread on paper towel, roll it, put is a paper bag, put in the refrigerator. Refrigerator air is very dry and I can even dry bay limes in there. That is good in the summer when normal air is too humid(unless it is air conditioned) but right now home air is pretty dry.

One addition to the above info: if you want 'clean' seeds roll them up non overlapping and roll them up in some paper towels. Then rub them back and forth... This scrapes off the pepper membrane which sticks to the paper towel, then shake the seeds off onto a clean paper towel for drying as the above posts mentioned. My seeds have never been harmed by sunlight filtered through the kitchen window, and that makes drying pretty quick.

Not entirely desirable, but mold usually doesn't hurt the seed unless it has a considerable time to work. What's molding initially is not the seed but the tissues around the seed - the seed itself is tough and the mold takes a while to get into it.

On the other end, I've tried to start some seeds that immediately molded - undoubtedly left over from before they were dehydrated - but then germinated and grew perfectly well.

As for drying, I use a little plate for each type set atop the corresponding labeled gathering bag (to keep track of what's on the plate) and just spread the seeds out on the plate and leave in the kitchen for a day or so. At this time of year the windows are open so there's plenty of air movement and humidity is a function of the current whim of nature. But no mold.

Dennis

I've been putting mine on a paper towel, putting another paper towel on top of it, and put it on top of the fridge. so far, no mold.

Great thread...

Will removing seeds from a dehydrated pepper give you good seeds for next season? I usually cut a slit in the peppers to help in the drying process as well.

This post was edited by kclost on Tue, Oct 15, 13 at 10:26

kclost,

It depends. Do you have temperature control on your dehydrator and if so, what temp did you set it at? If you do and dried in the 95 - 100F range you should have some viable seed.

If you don't have temp control, odds are that your seeds are baked. Manufacturers of "basic" home dehydrators without temp control have to assume that you'll be doing meat jerky. As such, the machines should be designed to be able to maintain safe food temps... 140+ F. You can still try germinating them but the odds are against you.

FWIW,

Bill

Thanks again all,

Here is a photo of the seeds so far. I put them on a paper plate and covered it with a paper towel and left them in my basement out of light since this past Sunday (3 days aprox).

When Should I ziplock them?

Many Thanks,
- Mr Beno

Mr Beno,

How damp is your basement? You should have them in a lower humidity location.

3 (approx) days seems a bit quick to me. If you're not in a hurry and don't need the room, I usually leave mine to dry for 7 - 14 days..Best to make sure they are dry for storage.

OK. Now that we are talking about pepper seeds drying, I have a question.
We know that not all seeds are matured and thus viable.
HOW can you separate the good pepper seeds from the worthless ?
I know how to do it with tomato seed. After fermenting , I pour it into a tall glass, stir it. Good seed settle down an bad ones float. I pour those out... keep doing it until I have a bunch of good ones at the bottom of glass. An I dry and save those. This way, I will have a better germination rate.

Ottawapepper, I have a non temp controlled dehydrator. So I'm probably out of luck..

Best way to select viable seeds is to select ripe, healthy peppers to take them from. On the other end, assume that the germination rate won't be 100%.

Dennis

My basement is not really damp (at least I think) but the humidity upstairs could be worse in the Philly area. That is why I thought it could be best to store them here to dry. I am probably wrong and that is why I love every ones advice here. I will let them dry another 7-10 days or so then package them up. I was gona save the other seeds from other peppers but I am unsure if they were hybrids but the package for the Beavedam said heirloom so I felt confident that they will be original. Plus I didn't want to mix them after cutting.

Thanks again all

- Mr Beno

Mr Beno,

Good plan to let them go longer. Why would you have mixed seed... paper towel is cheap ;-) I seed mine in batches by variety and put the seeds on paper towel pieces to dry. I make sure my cutting area and knife are clear of seed after each variety.

kclost,

You have the seed already. For personal use (not trading) it won't cost anything to toss them in a starter mix to see if any germinate.

Damp paper towel in a warm spot is a better test bed than starter mix. You can see the little tail as soon as it emerges whereas dirt is opaque last I checked.

But the point is well taken. Don't just toss your seeds, check them out.

Dennis

Mr. Beno ... when it gets cold(I would think it is in PA right now) and your furnace is running ... the RH in the house drop quite a bit. Actually it would be on the dry side. So drying seed in the house is not a problem. Eventually, seeds will have some moisture too and they are not supposed to have zero moisture content.

Thanks again all,

There is a slight possibility some maybe hungarian hotwax, but I don't think the probility is that high. This is because I thought they looked similar but the HHW is shorter. I guess either way I could just label it Hungarian Hot Pepper. But like I said I am pretty sure they are all Beaver Dams.

That is a very good idea after they dry and stuff to test them, Also it is starting to get cold soon in Philly other then today and tomorrow, it hit 75F But this time next week, it is suposed to be in the 50s and drop to around 32-35F for a few nights as TWC states..

The seeds in the picture all look similar

You can cut another Hungarian and another Beaver dam and compare them. They might look different is color and size.