Hi, I tried planting a pepper seed I got from a pepper at the store..it sprouted, but it doesn't look anything like any pepper plant I've seen. Odd leaves, kind of has 3 fingers on them instead of the traditional pepper leaf. Can this be a weed of some sort? It came from a yellow banana pepper, but images I see on google, I cant find whatever it is that grew out. Its about 3 inches tall now, sprouted maybe 2-3 weeks ago.

Can you post a photo?

DaisyI said:Can you post a photo?

I don't have a camera. Im likely throwing it away as it keeps growing, but this isn't a pepper plant. No matter what search I entered in google, nothing shows me a plant that looks like this..seems all pepper plants look the same for the first few weeks..this one has different leaves altogether. I just wasn't sure if because I used a store bought pepper for the seeds, can it be that those are mutated or harmed because of chemicals or something and this is what came out?

I think it's much more likely that there was a stray seed in whatever planting medium you used.

agreed, stray weed. The mutation scenario is impossible.

Weedwhacker said:I think it's much more likely that there was a stray seed in whatever planting medium you used.

Maybe..not sure how that could have happened..been using the same soil to grow indoors for a year and a half, no odd sprout has ever come out. I put one pepper seed right in the middle of the small pot and that's exactly where this sprout came from.

Without a photo all we can do is guess.

Another possibility would be that there was a non-pepper seed in with your pepper seeds.

Weedwhacker said:Another possibility would be that there was a non-pepper seed in with your pepper seeds.

That's what I wasn't sure of. I guess the pepper I took the seed from had something else in it and that's what grew out. I was told not to do seeds straight from a vegetable like that as this can happen..i guess now I know:) only store bought seeds from now.

Occasionally peppers will have a tricotyledons rather than the normal dicotyledons (seed leaves.)
Is that what you are seeing, perhaps?

blitz35 said: That's what I wasn't sure of. I guess the pepper I took the seed from had something else in it and that's what grew out. I was told not to do seeds straight from a vegetable like that as this can happen..i guess now I know:) only store bought seeds from now.

Sorry, I forgot you had used seeds from a store-bought pepper. Although it would be likely that the pepper was a hybrid and the seeds wouldn't produce peppers exactly like what you bought, or may have crossed with some other variety of pepper, they wouldn't produce a plant from some other species entirely.

Danita said:Occasionally peppers will have a tricotyledons rather than the normal dicotyledons (seed leaves.)
Is that what you are seeing, perhaps?

I just looked through google images agin for about 20 minutes..of all the images ive seen for cotyledons, none are what mine is like..so in the end, I was thinking the same, that it comes from a cross-pollinated pepper and the seed isn't viable, so this is what grew out. Im getting rid of it and the soil to be safe. No idea where this odd thing came from lol, but google can't find any images resembling it..but they're not cotyledons, so must have been something that got blown in and found its way down the stairs to my basement and hopped in the container lol. Im gonna stick with proper seeds from now.

blitz35 said:
I just looked through google images agin for about 20 minutes..of all the images ive seen for cotyledons, none are what mine is like..so in the end, I was thinking the same, that it comes from a cross-pollinated pepper and the seed isn't viable, so this is what grew out.

Im getting rid of it and the soil to be safe. No idea where this odd thing came from lol, but google can't find any images resembling it..but they're not cotyledons, so must have been something that got blown in and found its way down the stairs to my basement and hopped in the container lol. Im gonna stick with proper seeds from now.

Where's your curiosity?

If I had an unusual plant show up from a common fruit or vegetable.... I'd totally grow it out!

I grow lots of seeds out of store bought produce.... And.... I'm not too concerned about stuff crossing at my house...

Joeseph Lofthouse calls it growing landrace crops... Apparently encourages everything to cross and saves the most vigorous...

Sure wish you had posted a picture of the plant.... You've got me curious.

No way to borrow somebody's phone?

You could carry the plant to the local library, or BestBuy (or whatever the equivalent is in Montreal), or to a local university and ask someone to please take a photo and post it for you here. We really would like to see the plant before you destroy it. There are sometimes very happy accidents that grow in a garden. If you have something new and different, people may beat a path to your door to buy seeds from you.

stone said:
Where's your curiosity?

If I had an unusual plant show up from a common fruit or vegetable.... I'd totally grow it out!

I grow lots of seeds out of store bought produce.... And.... I'm not too concerned about stuff crossing at my house...

Joeseph Lofthouse calls it growing landrace crops... Apparently encourages everything to cross and saves the most vigorous...

Sure wish you had posted a picture of the plant.... You've got me curious.

No way to borrow somebody's phone?

Im growing indoors, and it's a small space. I have a pepper i'll be putting in a 4 or 5 gallon soon, a cucumber that's about 3-4 weeks old, tomatoes and parsley. I don't have the place to grow something that may be a weed of some sort. It's still in it's little pot, I have it on the floor by the edge of the light footprint. I have no way to post a pic, I don't keep a cell and I don't know anyone at all! Otherwise I would have given it away lol.

Lift the plant and put it into a pot. If it does turn out to be a weed no problems. If it is a hybrid, Blitz35 pepper seeds may be on our shopping lists!!

Next time you try store bought vegetables, plant at least five-10 seeds. One weed (new purchased potting mix) is very flukey, as you say, but 10 is impossible.

sallyg said:Next time you try store bought vegetables, plant at least five-10 seeds. One weed (new purchased potting mix) is very flukey, as you say, but 10 is impossible.

I put over 12 seeds in the little pot when I planted them..this was the only one to sprout. It's for sure not a pepper, growing too slowly. My pepper seed (from pack) I planted after and is twice as big now. Once I transplant that pepper into a bigger one, I won't have room to really keep the weed that grew out..i have maybe a week left.