Ive grown peppers for years but this year I am having difficultly. I must be doing something stupid.
I start a set of seeds, usually like 6-8 per type of plant between 2 paper towels. I usually start 6 or 8 different types of pepper so there are 6-8 groups of 6-8 seeds. I soak the paper towels with a solution of highly filtered water and a combo of various dilute nutrient things. My process has not changed in years it works great with a nearly 100% rate of seeds germinating. After the little root pops from the seed I transplant into a tiny pot and wait for them to break thru the surface. I drop the germinated seedlings into about a 1/4 deep hole and cover them up. I have a little rig setup that can regualte warmth and humidity. I use digital temp sensing. Once in the soil I let them almost dry out and rewater never leaving them too wet.
This year they all sprouted as usall but I ended up with a near 100% loss of them once transplanted.
I did change soil this year. I decided to use MG Organic Choice. I had read this worked well for starting seedlins. At first I blamed the soil. I restarted more with different soil, MG Orchid Mix. Virtually the same result.
I then started thinking about my conditions like heat and humidity. But these were exactly as I had used before very successfully.
I started thinking maybe I had some fungus at work. I bought brand new tiny pots, carefully sterilized them, the soil and everything that touched them. I used distilled water. AGAIN the same results.
I had dug up what was left of the seedlings and each time i saw the same thing. They start turning brown from the tip of the root and progressed up and killed the whole seedling.
What finally got me was seeing this in the paper towels. A few were exhibiting the same thing even before the soil.
The same thing even tho others right besides them are fine..
Naga seeds - i left these grow longer between the paper towels to see what happened.
I have now changed to MG Seed starting mix and I am VERY aware of all the conditions and I am giving them a cool period at night and a warm period during daylight hours and also sterilizing soil and containers and just being super paranoid. This is resulting in a MUCH higher yield now but I still have some failures.
BUT I am left completely baffled what caused this year to be so horrible. The seeds I used wee from 2 very different sources and were all effected the same.
Anyone have any suggestions on what in the world happened ?
I start a set of seeds, usually like 6-8 per type of plant between 2 paper towels. I usually start 6 or 8 different types of pepper so there are 6-8 groups of 6-8 seeds. I soak the paper towels with a solution of highly filtered water and a combo of various dilute nutrient things. My process has not changed in years it works great with a nearly 100% rate of seeds germinating. After the little root pops from the seed I transplant into a tiny pot and wait for them to break thru the surface. I drop the germinated seedlings into about a 1/4 deep hole and cover them up. I have a little rig setup that can regualte warmth and humidity. I use digital temp sensing. Once in the soil I let them almost dry out and rewater never leaving them too wet.
This year they all sprouted as usall but I ended up with a near 100% loss of them once transplanted.
I did change soil this year. I decided to use MG Organic Choice. I had read this worked well for starting seedlins. At first I blamed the soil. I restarted more with different soil, MG Orchid Mix. Virtually the same result.
I then started thinking about my conditions like heat and humidity. But these were exactly as I had used before very successfully.
I started thinking maybe I had some fungus at work. I bought brand new tiny pots, carefully sterilized them, the soil and everything that touched them. I used distilled water. AGAIN the same results.
I had dug up what was left of the seedlings and each time i saw the same thing. They start turning brown from the tip of the root and progressed up and killed the whole seedling.
What finally got me was seeing this in the paper towels. A few were exhibiting the same thing even before the soil.
The same thing even tho others right besides them are fine..
Naga seeds - i left these grow longer between the paper towels to see what happened.
I have now changed to MG Seed starting mix and I am VERY aware of all the conditions and I am giving them a cool period at night and a warm period during daylight hours and also sterilizing soil and containers and just being super paranoid. This is resulting in a MUCH higher yield now but I still have some failures.
BUT I am left completely baffled what caused this year to be so horrible. The seeds I used wee from 2 very different sources and were all effected the same.
Anyone have any suggestions on what in the world happened ?
