I am starting 2 x 72 cell trays today with sweet pepper seeds.
The seed starting mix is 99% good quality peat moss with about 1% mealworm frass just harvested from our little meal worm farm/box for our spotted leopard gecko.
I read this stuff for sale and listed in the 2-2-2 or something similar for NPK.
I am planting maybe a dozen varieties in these trays. These are the varieties I bought or received for seed. Since I have small quantities of these kinds, I hope to give them a better chance using these seed trays.
I have thousands of seeds I took from grocery store and U pick farm sweet peppers that I will direct seed later. I donāt know how those bulk seeds will turn out in terms of providing a good tasting pepper, so I am giving those a tougher situation.
I am not using a grow light. I hope these peppers will start sprouting in a couple weeks. I hope by then the day time temperatures will be decent. We will move the trays outside when they have sprouted and move them back inside at night. I hope this back and forth only needs to last a couple weeks longer. Hopefully I will feel confident to transplant these in the garden around mid March. At which time, hopefully these will be a few inches tall and begging for real soil.
Iām starting this project with very minimal experience with peppers and expect to make mistakes. What is cool about this situation is mistakes put pressure on the plants which may kill the weaker ones. So maybe I produce a stronger seed stock now for better long term gains.
Ah Grocery Store, the best source of already paid for seeds. Speaking of sweet bell peppers, you have got to cross it with the Aji amarillo pepper (Even tho itās hot, it taste fruity like Candy). Imagine fruity tasting pepper Candy that also dried like rasins?
I like it, if your plants can handle your mistakes, those are the True Savages of your Garden! I wonder of peppers can grow like a weed? Also are you going to try grafting dying peppers onto the survivors? To encourage closer/near-by pollination? Or better to not let dying pepper genetics into the gene pool?
Which is Easier Rooting or Grafting? Iāve rooted peppers before via water but do they root just fine if stuck in soil and protected against harsh sun?
So far pretty poor germination. We keep them outside at day and inside most nights. I will start spraying fish fertilizer on it when they get some real leaves. I am afraid they will be without nutrition otherwise. They are not growing in real soil yet.
Awesome, I wish you Success! Bro Imagine if a Spicy Pepper somehow got in the mix?
Oh yea BTW, If you want I got some Mirasol (Aji Amarillo) Pepper seeds (C. baccantum), DM so we can trade!
Neither am I, but the Hot Peppers have all the Flavor I like. Iām gonna try to breed the heat out of them (When I get Land). Also BTW the Heat is the Peppers āNeurotoxin/Defenceā, but we humans liked it so much that we increased it. Every plant has a Defense Mechanism of some sort (Often Times itās also what makes our food Nutritious & Healthy, in reasonable dosages of course).
I had a very high failure rate with my peppers in seed trays. I planted 2 sets of 72 cell trays, at least 2 seeds per tray. I got about half of the cells to germinate. Among that half, almost all of them got ate by bugs.
We brought the seed trays inside and night back when the nights were cold. Since we donāt have grow lights, we brought the seed trays outside.
About 300 seeds were planted. About 8 survived. I transplanted them in a garden bed last weekend. Here is what they look like:
Is there any chance germination temperature is an issue? I donāt think you have mentioned what the climate is like in your germination area.
I am trying to start peppers indoors for the first time. I have a very diverse mix next to a water heater in the closet, where the ambient temperature measures 77-79 degrees F, and Iām having slow germination. I see resources online saying my temperature is at the bottom end of the range for pepper germination.
Iām kind of annoyed by having to add more heat but Iām considering it today, and that train of thought reminded me of your thread here.
In the past Iāve used the method of āwinter sowing in plastic containersā and Iāve had great germination rates, but Iām trying to get an earlier start by germinating indoors this year.
Concerning germination temperature: I let my chilis germinate in my living room, which is between 19 and 21Ā°C (68 - 69 Fahrenheit). About 50% of them have germinated now and I sowed them 2 weeks ago, so it may very well be that the low temperatures delay the germination. This doesnāt concern me, since I sowed 4times as much as I need and I think weeding out the ones that need high temperatures to germinate will only be a benefit in the long run.
I strongly believe the temperature is the reason for 50% germination. I think the other important variables like seed quality, water and soil was in the good range.
I am sowing many seeds directly in the garden this week. Hopefully I can find more seeds that succeed.
Most of seeds in the measuring cup came from self harvesting from u pic farm peppers or grocery store peppers. Most of them are sweet bell types, but some are other sweet types. There are some mild peppers or jalapeƱo included, which I might regret later. I like a mild heat.
The only seeds that are bought in the measuring cup are some California wonders, which I managed to buy for $3.10 for 2 oz. Thatās a lot of pepper seeds for the price, probably 200 times what you get if you buy them from a seed display at some random hardware store.
I need a lot of quantity to get results. There are many bad things that will challenge peppers. I hope to win using sheer number strategy. The law of averages I guess. This is a significant quantity, maybe several thousand. I am looking for that one in a thousand with the special ability.
Most of these are getting planted today. 6 months of collecting seeds have accumulated to this moment. I am going all in that another frost isnāt coming. lol, I already regret this.
I will plant those few patchwork pepper seeds in a couple pots so I can baby them. The price I paid for these are astronomical compared to the free commoners in the measuring cup.
March 20th is supposed to get down to 39 degrees F. I am worried about a cold front coming. The last few years, Iāve been tricked by false springs. I am gullible about these things. I mowed my yard today for the second time this year. I am hopeful but not confident.
