All,
Greetings. I am new to the boards here and am happy to have found you guys. Here is my question. I have dried out the following peppers and stripped the dried seeds.
Ghost Chile
Scotch Bonnet
Chocolate Habanero
Caribbean Red
I have separated all the seeds and am ready for the next steps, which brings me to the reason for my post...
Here's what I planned on doing, tell me if it will work to get these guys going and possibly to a point where they can be transplanted into the garden for this next season.
I was going to wet a paper towel for each group of seeds and place them in it and put that into an open ziplock baggie on the window sill, checking them every 6 to 7 days for sprouts. Then I would take the sproutlings and put them into a pod tray with good seedling soil setup and keep them in the window sill until the weather gets warmer and I can transplant them.
Am I on the right track? If not, what should I do?
Thank you, in advance, for your advice ~
Peppers don't germinate well in the cold. Are you doing this indoors? Are you using a heat mat?
I can still germinate peppers outside in my zone 12a garden because my night temperatures are still above 65. But since the days are shorter and cooler, the peppers are growing more slowly. Once the night temperatures drop below 65 degrees it will be hard for me to even get the seeds to germinate.
I hope this helps.
P.S. It helps if you put your location and zone information in your profile . Are you planning to grow them indoors until Spring or are you warm enough to grow them outside now?
I can still germinate peppers outside in my zone 12a garden because my night temperatures are still above 65. But since the days are shorter and cooler, the peppers are growing more slowly. Once the night temperatures drop below 65 degrees it will be hard for me to even get the seeds to germinate.
I hope this helps.
P.S. It helps if you put your location and zone information in your profile . Are you planning to grow them indoors until Spring or are you warm enough to grow them outside now?
I know that I've tried the "between the paper towel" method but it didn't really seem necessary so I do almost all of the seed starting in the soil mix rather than moving the sprouts later. I will use a large plastic bag around the container of soil or just use a clear plastic "clam-shell" container for seed starting. When the plants have their 2nd set of leaves, they can be moved to 4-packs or small pots.
The bag in the window sound like it would be at risk of over-heating. My containers sit just in room light and must be moved to sunlight in a window after the sprouts emerge from the soil.
A period of 6 or 7 days doesn't work for my seed-starting because the plants will stretch looking for that sunlight within hours. I have often thought that checking them every 12 hours as I do is sometimes pushing things a bit.
Is there a location in your home with plenty of warmth? I use a high place in the kitchen for starting seed. A thermometer up there (above a refrigerator) shows that it is about 70°f overnight even tho' the house thermostat is set quite a bit lower. As Imafan says, peppers don't start well in cool temperatures. They really like warmth.
Steve
The bag in the window sound like it would be at risk of over-heating. My containers sit just in room light and must be moved to sunlight in a window after the sprouts emerge from the soil.
A period of 6 or 7 days doesn't work for my seed-starting because the plants will stretch looking for that sunlight within hours. I have often thought that checking them every 12 hours as I do is sometimes pushing things a bit.
Is there a location in your home with plenty of warmth? I use a high place in the kitchen for starting seed. A thermometer up there (above a refrigerator) shows that it is about 70°f overnight even tho' the house thermostat is set quite a bit lower. As Imafan says, peppers don't start well in cool temperatures. They really like warmth.
Steve
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rainbowgardener
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The paper towel method will work and some people swear by it, but it does require close monitoring and getting the babies in to soil within hours of when they sprout, so I never saw the point of it. Straight to soil is what I do. You've gotten good advice, that they will need plenty of warmth for germination and once they have leaves they will need plenty of light. If your little seedlings start leaning towards the window, they aren't getting enough light and you might need to put a lamp on them.
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applestar
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You said OPEN ziplock. When you think about it, the paper towel dries out rather quickly when exposed, and as the edges dry, wicks the available moisture away (from th seed and any tender new roots). When paper towel method is used, it's usually in a sealed plastic bag, best opened and checked at least twice a day -- which also allows air exchange.
WINDOWSILL -- even in Texas I imagine it gets colder at night. Unless you have a super tight seal on the windows, it will still get cooler on the windowsill, and cold temp is thermally transferred by the window itself as well. I keep plants that WANT to stay cold and prefers the day/night temp fluctuation during the winter on the windowsill or on a surface immediately below the sill to take advantage of the cold air that flows down from it. -- so, yeah, OPPOSITE of the recommended hot pepper seed starting environment.
Side comment since we're NOT doing this -- Even through the windows, sunlight increases the temp quite a bit. A sealed ziplock could actually get too hot. No way to know for sure unless you put a thermometer or a thermometer probe inside.
I like to monitor the temperature with a thermometer -- either situated permanently or temporarily and moved around to get readings for different areas. There are thermal layers depending on floor level, desk/counter height and near ceiling height in different rooms of the same floor and on different floors of the house.
WINDOWSILL -- even in Texas I imagine it gets colder at night. Unless you have a super tight seal on the windows, it will still get cooler on the windowsill, and cold temp is thermally transferred by the window itself as well. I keep plants that WANT to stay cold and prefers the day/night temp fluctuation during the winter on the windowsill or on a surface immediately below the sill to take advantage of the cold air that flows down from it. -- so, yeah, OPPOSITE of the recommended hot pepper seed starting environment.
Side comment since we're NOT doing this -- Even through the windows, sunlight increases the temp quite a bit. A sealed ziplock could actually get too hot. No way to know for sure unless you put a thermometer or a thermometer probe inside.
I like to monitor the temperature with a thermometer -- either situated permanently or temporarily and moved around to get readings for different areas. There are thermal layers depending on floor level, desk/counter height and near ceiling height in different rooms of the same floor and on different floors of the house.