Save Yourself From the Next ‘Jalapeño Gate’

Many gardeners across the U.S. have found themselves embroiled in a controversy that’s been dubbed “jalapeño gate” in the press and on social media. Although it’s hard to tell exactly how the mixup occurred, somewhere in the sorting process, pepper seeds were swapped—so if you thought you were growing jalapeños, for instance, you were in fact growing banana peppers, or another variety. Here’s what gardeners should know about the mystery pepper phenomenon and how you can avoid it in the future.

What caused jalapeño gate?

The pepper caper began when a major seed distributor’s semi-automatic sorting equipment dropped the wrong seeds in pepper packets. The result was that several batches of pepper seed packets that were shipped to various places around the US had mislabeled seeds in them. In spite of the “jalapeño gate” label, this problem actually isn’t limited to jalapeño seeds, but has affected many varieties. Although mixups aren’t uncommon with pepper seeds— they’re notoriously difficult to tell apart before they begin to fruit—part of the problem in this case is that there are increasingly fewer and fewer suppliers distributing seeds to everywhere in North America. This can cause issues like the seed mix-up, but can also decrease genetic diversity in the plants that are grown.

Buy your seeds from a local distributor

If you’re not interested in surprise peppers in the future, there are a few things you can do to minimize the likelihood of this happening to you. Buying seeds from a local distributor that produces and distributes seeds themselves can help reduce the chances of getting mislabeled seeds. Since each state is tasked by the FDA with doing their own sampling and testing of seeds that are sold in their jurisdiction, locally grown seeds are more likely to be tested within the jurisdiction that they’re grown in. When testing is done for much larger batches of seed packets, there’s more room for error.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions about your seeds or nursery plants

If you’re not sure where the seeds or nursery plants you’re buying come from, don’t be afraid to ask. You may or may not be able to tell from the label where your seeds have come from or who originally produced them. There are some labeling practices that are designed to give consumers at the grocery store the country of origin of their produce, seed labeling is a little more nebulous. You might have to ask a few questions and dig into a seed supplier’s practices to know for sure where your seeds are coming from, and what your risk of growing a surprise crop really is.

Save seeds to be sure of what you’re growing

Saving your own seeds from plants that you grew yourself will often get you predictable results. Since most peppers self-pollinate, the likelihood of producing an accidental cross-pollinated fruit that will produce a cross-pollinated seed is pretty low. To reduce the chances even further, you can hand pollinate your peppers with pollen from the same variety of pepper. You can use a very small paint brush or a cotton swab to gently dust the inside of each bloom of the plant of the same variety.

Enjoy your mystery peppers

Since you already have the pepper plants, and they’re likely already fruiting if they’re planted, there’s nothing you can do but enjoy your surprise pepper variety. However, to participate in some of the research being done about how this happened and how to minimize the problem in the future, check in with your local university gardening extension to see if they’re tracking it and/or would like samples from your peppers.