Editing Caper (section)

==Agriculture==
[[File:Flowering caper plant.jpg|thumb|Flowering caper plant, soon to yield caper berries]]

Capers can be grown easily from fresh seeds gathered from ripe fruit and planted into a well-drained seed-raising mix. Seedlings appear in two to four weeks. Old, stored seeds enter a state of [[dormancy]] and require cold [[Stratification (botany)|stratification]] to germinate. The viable embryos germinate within three to four days after partial removal of the [[lignified]] seed coats.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sozzi|first=G.O.|author2=A. Chiesa|date=1995|title=Improvement of caper (''Capparis spinosa'' L.) seed germination by breaking seed coat-induced dormancy|journal=Scientia Horticulturae|volume=62|issue=4|pages=255–261|doi=10.1016/0304-4238(95)00779-S|bibcode=1995ScHor..62..255S }}<!--|access-date = 2010-08-25--></ref> The seed coats and the mucilage surrounding the seeds may be ecological adaptations to avoid water loss and conserve seed viability during the dry season.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

=== Orchard establishment ===
Mean annual temperatures in areas under cultivation are over {{Convert|14|C|F}}. A rainy spring and a hot, dry summer are considered advantageous.<ref>Barbera, B. (1991). Le câprier (''Capparis'' spp.). EUR 13617, Série Agriculture, Programme de recherche Agrimed. Commission des Communautés européennes, Luxembourg, 63 pp.</ref> This drought-tolerant perennial plant is used for landscaping and reducing erosion along highways, steep rocky slopes, dunes or fragile semiarid ecosystems.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

=== Harvest ===
Caper buds are usually picked in the morning.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Au3RBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA121|title=Top 100 Exotic Food Plants|last=Small|first=Ernest|date=2011-08-23|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1439856888|location=Boca Raton, Florida|pages=121–123|language=en}}</ref> Because the youngest, smallest buds fetch the highest prices, daily picking is typical.<ref name=":0" />

Capers may be harvested from wild plants, in which case it is necessary to know that the plant is not one of the few poisonous ''Capparis'' species that look similar.<ref name=":0" /> The plant normally has curved thorns that may scratch the people who harvest the buds, although a few spineless varieties have been developed.<ref name=":0" />