How long after germination do hot peppers need light

[Newbie1986]

Hi,
I'm new here , and to growing super hot's .I have some carolinia reapers currently germinating. Its been 5 days so far ,and they're just strating to poke out of the soil. Some of them looked like they where struggling to come up tho .. my question is when should I get them under light ? And will they die if i take them out of a make shift green house where it's warm?I most likely am going to use a window for light ,and i don't have a heat mat. Just a box i made to keep them warm .

[imafan26]

they need light ASAP, or the seedlings will be spindly.

[rainbowgardener]

Well, as soon as those leaves come out of the soil. The loop will straighten up and then it will have two seed leaves. The leaves are what collect the light. As soon as it has leaves, it needs light. They aren't struggling, that is their typical growth pattern to push that loop up first and then straighten it out. (If you like technical terms, it is called a hypocotyl loop.)

Unless you have a good south facing window that gets sun all day, putting them by a window isn't likely to be enough light.

"Will they die if they aren't kept warm?" Depends. The heat mat is mostly for germinating the seeds. Now that they are germinated, not being kept extra warm will slow them down, but not kill them. And slow them down is not all bad. You don't want tall, spindly growth. Being kept a bit on the cool side will help them be shorter, stockier and better adapted to real-world temps. But a bit on the cool side does not mean anything below 60 degrees F.

[Newbie1986]

Thanks, rainbow Gardner . So acording to what you see in the pic,these would be ok to place at room temp now, like 70f or so and placed under a fluorescent light?

[applestar]

I put pepper and tomato seedlings under lights as soon as those what I call "knuckles" show up, which I call "sprouting". With peppers and eggplants... sometimes with older tomato seeds, I find it helps to continue to provide a ventilated loose cover until the seedleaves emerge at least 1/2 way from the seed coat. Otherwise, they can suffer from what is sometimes called "helmethead"

I get eggs in clear plastic "cartons" as well as the pressed paper pulp ones (I actually don't like styrofoam) 1/2 of the clear plastic ones would make great domed cover with some holes punched in them. This would also help to keep them a bit warmer. Note that you DON'T want to keep the seedlings covered if you are putting them in direct sun.

[Newbie1986]

Thanks for your reply Apple star. I was kinda being a worry wart I guess, but after my first attempt failed , I want this to be a success...lol
So I guess now it's time to rig a light . Thanks for the replys everyone you have been most helpful . Feel free to add additional info if you think of something .

[Newbie1986]

A light I rigged up for now

[Newbie1986]

Update of the progress

[applestar]

If you can put something overhead covered with aluminum foil or mylar and cover the back wall -- I use inside of chip bags for small areas and emergency blankets, summer windshield covers for larger areas -- that will act as reflectors to bounce the light from the bulb down to the seedlings and maximize the available light.

I also like turning the utility lamp into a double-fixture -- you need a socket extender and a Y adapter. I need to do that with the one on top left (actually have the parts -- I need more bulbs)

...yes, that's a foil lasagna pan...

[Newbie1986]

Nice setup, I'm definitely going to use some foil or something..thanks for the tip. I have a 3 way light fixture ..might rig it up. Hopefully it warms up soon so i can get them ready to move outside .