Preserving Diversity. Empowering Growers. Building a Shared Future Through Seeds.

1. Why a Seed Library?

The genetic diversity of peppers is as rich as their flavor spectrum—from obscure wild species of the Andes to rare landraces from desert villages. Yet many varieties are being lost each year due to monoculture, climate change, and market-driven breeding. Wikipepper’s Seed Library is a decentralized, open-access initiative to preserve Capsicum diversity, support community growers, and secure rare and irreplaceable varieties for the future.

2. What Is It?

– A non-commercial, community-driven repository of pepper seeds
– A donation-based collection and archive of cultivars, landraces, hybrids, and wild types
– A lending system that encourages distribution, documentation, and return
– A long-term preservation vault for stable storage and viability testing

3. The Core Purposes

– **Preservation:** Prevent the extinction of heirlooms, landraces, and obscure types
– **Access:** Give growers, educators, and experimenters a source of verified, indexed genetic material
– **Documentation:** Capture origin, phenotype, flavor, germination data, and growing notes
– **Regeneration:** Encourage members to grow out and return fresh seed to sustain the library
– **Conservation:** Archive wild types and regionally adapted strains that are disappearing from cultivation

4. Why Donate?

– Your seeds may be the only known source of a lost heirloom.
– Contributing helps decentralize Capsicum preservation beyond corporations or governments.
– You’ll receive recognition in the living index and access to other archived varieties.
– You enable breeding, culinary exploration, and regional adaptation for generations.
– Seeds are cultural memory—help us preserve them.

5. What We Accept

– Clean, mature seeds from:
– Named cultivars (commercial or heirloom)
– Landraces (please include as much provenance info as possible)
– F1/F2 hybrids (must be labeled and described)
– Wild and semi-domesticated Capsicum species
– Seeds should be dried, clearly labeled, and no older than 3 years
– Optional: photographs, growing notes, origin story, culinary profile

6. How to Send Seeds

– Use coin envelopes or small sealed bags
– Label each envelope with: variety, species, year, origin, and donor handle (if desired)
– Include optional notes or links to grow logs
– Ship to the Wikipepper Seed Library address (listed at wikipepper.org/library)
– All seeds submitted become part of the permanent open-access collection unless otherwise agreed

7. Seed Library Lending Rules

– Members may request seeds up to 4 times per year
– You agree to grow them, log observations, and—if successful—return 2x the number of seeds borrowed
– If you cannot grow out the seeds, you must notify the library or return them
– Rare or endangered types may be limited to research growers or selected stewards

8. Public Benefit and Open Sharing

– All seeds and data are open-access—free to save, grow, and re-distribute with attribution
– No IP claims may be made on seed library content
– Wikipepper will never sell or license seeds—this is a commons, not a product line
– We encourage free exchange, but also ask for respect and reciprocity

9. Long-Term Conservation Vault

– Selected rare and wild varieties will be stored in backup long-term storage with humidity control
– Periodic germination tests ensure viability
– Backup vaults are designed to last 15–20+ years with monitoring
– Access may be limited to breeders or seed regenerators with documented grow plans

10. Join the Mission

We grow what we inherit. We save what we love. We pass on what we grow.
The Wikipepper Seed Library is a commitment to all three. Contribute, borrow, and tell the stories of the peppers you preserve.
Because when the last seed catalog removes a variety, we’ll still have it. And so will you.