I did the cross pollination by hand over the winter and saved the seeds that grew from that pepper.
Then I planted the seeds and grew out 8 F1 plants. This is the first one growing pods thanks to a visit from some local deer which set them back.
How far did you go on ensuring you got the cross pollination you wanted? I’m going to try a cross in the fall and am planning on bagging the bud and cutting out the anthers, but that may be overboard.
This is the method I used.
Ive seen other videos like one from smokin Ed who just takes two flowers and rubs them together, but that’s not 100% reliable.
The method above will guarantee cross pollination as long as you get successful pollination. It took me a few tries, but eventually I got one to work.