I was down at the Native Seeds Search Store in Tucson.
www.nativeseeds.org and I discovered the secret to growing your own Tepin!
Since the plants were originally brought up from birds from south
America it makes sense to pass these little guys through a bird first.
They say that the seeds must be passed through a bird or soaked for
sometime before the seed will germinate. Some kind of protective coating
on them.
I started feeding whole tepin peppers to my girlfriend's parrot and the
bird loves them! I will soon be knee deep in parrot poop! I do not have
any tepin peppers to work with from my own plant for a few more weeks
but we have been feeding it the peppers from the Sierra Madres species
and so far so good. We plan to plant those at her place so not to cross
polinate with my AZ variety.

I will keep you posted on when I can feed her bird some of my new crop.
I wonder what I can get for parrot poop on ebay?

B

Sonoran Dude wrote:

> They say that the seeds must be passed through a bird or soaked for
> sometime before the seed will germinate. Some kind of protective coating
> on them.

How about germinating your seeds by spreading them on a porous paper
towel on a plate, covering with a second paper towel and keeping the
paper wet? Then just plant the bottom towel with all the sprouts...

kriyamanna wrote:
> Sonoran Dude wrote:
>
>
>>They say that the seeds must be passed through a bird or soaked for
>>sometime before the seed will germinate. Some kind of protective coating
>>on them.
>
>
> How about germinating your seeds by spreading them on a porous paper
> towel on a plate, covering with a second paper towel and keeping the
> paper wet? Then just plant the bottom towel with all the sprouts...
>
The seeds from this chili will not germinate as well as passed through
the digestive system of a bird... I like the parrot doing all the
work... I all I need to do is cover his poop in some fertile soil.

We are good to go. I'll keep everyone posted. If you have not discovered
the wonderful heat and flavor of these chilies give them a try. The Seed
Coop I mentioned can ship you a small bag.

Even though dried tepin are the bomb when it comes to chili flavor! (Use
as a table condiment crushed on every day foods including ice cream) the
Fresh tepin is out of this world! no other sweetness and heat combined
on earth.

If you love chili you must try tepin. pequin are ok but not even close
to the original cousin of the chilitepin.

Sonoran Dude wrote:

> The seeds from this chili will not germinate as well as passed through
> the digestive system of a bird... I like the parrot doing all the
> work... I all I need to do is cover his poop in some fertile soil.
>
> We are good to go. I'll keep everyone posted. If you have not discovered
> the wonderful heat and flavor of these chilies give them a try. The Seed
> Coop I mentioned can ship you a small bag.

Around 14 years ago, I had a Tepin bush growing in a large planter from
a packet of seeds I bought at the super market. It seems to me that it
took about two or three years before the seeds got around to
germinating. When the bush came up, I had forgotten about planting the
seeds. The peppers were about 1/2 an inch long and orange colored and
were very hot.

kriyamanna wrote:
> Sonoran Dude wrote:
>
>
>>The seeds from this chili will not germinate as well as passed through
>>the digestive system of a bird... I like the parrot doing all the
>>work... I all I need to do is cover his poop in some fertile soil.
>>
>>We are good to go. I'll keep everyone posted. If you have not discovered
>>the wonderful heat and flavor of these chilies give them a try. The Seed
>>Coop I mentioned can ship you a small bag.
>
>
> Around 14 years ago, I had a Tepin bush growing in a large planter from
> a packet of seeds I bought at the super market. It seems to me that it
> took about two or three years before the seeds got around to
> germinating. When the bush came up, I had forgotten about planting the
> seeds. The peppers were about 1/2 an inch long and orange colored and
> were very hot.
>
Sorry dude but what you describe is not a Tepin...You may be thinking
habenero. The tepin is a small red berry. The tepin is a round red chili
pod about the size of a whole black peppercorn but a true fruit and
hollow when dried. The skin is green and turns red as it ripens. The red
berry is delicious fresh and will explode with intense heat and flavor
when eaten on pizza or in a salad.
Dried the small red balls contain about 6 or 8 yellow seeds. This red
ball is nothing more than a shell with the fire inside. The parrot will
crack the outer red chili skin to eat the precious yellow seeds inside.

This is a plant that uses nature to propagate. You can not buy seeds for
this plant. They are useless, they are not easily cultivated. It's all
about the preparation for the seeds. I am letting nature do it's work
with the parrot.

John, in a separate reply, mentions the cousin of the tepin the pequin.
That is also a good chili for crushing on pizza, making salsas, etc but
I don't believe it can hold a candle to the flavor of the tepin. The
heat of a pequin (pear shaped) is much milder than the tepin. The tepin
is not for the mild chili lovers. One small tepin can make 4 people
sweat in a small portion of food. I on the other hand have developed
great tollerance to the searing heat inflicted by these little jewels
and can eat up to a dozen or more per serving.

If you have never had a small red round berry called the tepin I
encourage you to get some and try it for yourself. Pequin are also good
if you can't find the tepin but they are about half the heat.

I have a small vile full of round berries on my table all the time. I
take a few out to crush over just about anything. Try it over vanilla
ice cream sometime! It is unbelivable!