I have never germinated seeds on coffee filters or paper towels what's the best way and when and how do you put them in the dirt
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seeds germinating pepper seeds
- Thread starter wrightdaddy
- Start date
need good humidity and some heat.
i use the ziploc damp scott towel method with very good results on a heat mat
i suggest you a lizard/spider/reptile heat mat to have a good heat souche that wont get too hot.
i use the ziploc damp scott towel method with very good results on a heat mat
i suggest you a lizard/spider/reptile heat mat to have a good heat souche that wont get too hot.
Having some recent success, I can share with you what I did, and have done before.
Take paper towel, fold in half one way, then the other. Stick it in a ziplok baggie, and make sure you'll be able to seal the bag. Trim the PT if needed. Put about a dozen seeds in, spread them out, then get just enough water on the PT to make the entire thing damp...not soaked, and no extra water pooling or dripping. Stop adding water when about half to 2/3 of the PT is wet...the PT will wick the rest of the moisture in, and within a few minutes, the whole thing will be damp. Get most of the air out of the baggie, and seal. Place in a warmer part of the house...through some trial and error, along with help from chile-heads here, I discovered that a few degrees warmer makes a BIG difference. I put mine on a shelf in the laundry room, which has the furnace in it, so it's always in the low 80's in there. Check them regularly...every day or two.
When you start seeing the first root get to about 1cm or 1/2" long on most of them, you can transplant. I separate mine from the PT using plastic, sprung dissection tweezers, and pull the PT away from the seedling...not the seedling away from the PT. The embryonic root will break if you start pulling on the plant. Have a bunch of cups with a starting mix/medium ready, and poke your pinkie an inch or so into the middle of the mix to create a "hole". Remove one seedling at a time (those little roots can dry out fast), place in the cup, and flick a little bit of the starting mix over the seedling. Add a little water at room temp. Do this until you have them all transplanted. For the next few days to a week,leave them in the warmer area...sun doesn't make as much a difference as temperature in this first week or so...and if you think about seeds in nature, they germinate in the absence of light (underground) anyway. Once the first leaves (cotyledons) deploy, move to sunny window sill...but make sure it's a well sealed window and a cold draft isn't coming through.
Let them grow in the cups for a couple of weeks...by now, you should be at about 1 month total from the time you initially wet the PT. Transplant the babies in a larger pot, and pamper them until spring.
Again...I'm no expert...and really still learning this myself, but thought I'd pass on what seems to be working for me.
Good luck!
Take paper towel, fold in half one way, then the other. Stick it in a ziplok baggie, and make sure you'll be able to seal the bag. Trim the PT if needed. Put about a dozen seeds in, spread them out, then get just enough water on the PT to make the entire thing damp...not soaked, and no extra water pooling or dripping. Stop adding water when about half to 2/3 of the PT is wet...the PT will wick the rest of the moisture in, and within a few minutes, the whole thing will be damp. Get most of the air out of the baggie, and seal. Place in a warmer part of the house...through some trial and error, along with help from chile-heads here, I discovered that a few degrees warmer makes a BIG difference. I put mine on a shelf in the laundry room, which has the furnace in it, so it's always in the low 80's in there. Check them regularly...every day or two.
When you start seeing the first root get to about 1cm or 1/2" long on most of them, you can transplant. I separate mine from the PT using plastic, sprung dissection tweezers, and pull the PT away from the seedling...not the seedling away from the PT. The embryonic root will break if you start pulling on the plant. Have a bunch of cups with a starting mix/medium ready, and poke your pinkie an inch or so into the middle of the mix to create a "hole". Remove one seedling at a time (those little roots can dry out fast), place in the cup, and flick a little bit of the starting mix over the seedling. Add a little water at room temp. Do this until you have them all transplanted. For the next few days to a week,leave them in the warmer area...sun doesn't make as much a difference as temperature in this first week or so...and if you think about seeds in nature, they germinate in the absence of light (underground) anyway. Once the first leaves (cotyledons) deploy, move to sunny window sill...but make sure it's a well sealed window and a cold draft isn't coming through.
Let them grow in the cups for a couple of weeks...by now, you should be at about 1 month total from the time you initially wet the PT. Transplant the babies in a larger pot, and pamper them until spring.
Again...I'm no expert...and really still learning this myself, but thought I'd pass on what seems to be working for me.
Good luck!
Another take on it.......
I use an old jiffy tray. I put a thin layer([sup]1[/sup]/[sub]4[/sub] inch) of the starter I am going to use in the bottom. Then I lay out my seeds and cover then with [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]8[/sub] to [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]4[/sub] inch starter mix. Then I put a cover over and set it on my heater which I have through trial and error found where to set it for 80°. Finally when I see sprouts I let them get to around an inch high and transplant to the cells where they will be for the first month or so of their life. This year I will be potting up instead of going right from that first cell to the garden.
Edit for typos as always
Also look through the forum. There are many threads on this subject. Some are quite full of useful knowledge.
I use an old jiffy tray. I put a thin layer([sup]1[/sup]/[sub]4[/sub] inch) of the starter I am going to use in the bottom. Then I lay out my seeds and cover then with [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]8[/sub] to [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]4[/sub] inch starter mix. Then I put a cover over and set it on my heater which I have through trial and error found where to set it for 80°. Finally when I see sprouts I let them get to around an inch high and transplant to the cells where they will be for the first month or so of their life. This year I will be potting up instead of going right from that first cell to the garden.
Edit for typos as always
Also look through the forum. There are many threads on this subject. Some are quite full of useful knowledge.
I'm in the middle of conducting a test right now for germinating in paper towels. What I've found so far is that it is pretty easy to get the seeds to germ. However, mold can be a bit problematic. Using just water and a paper towel in a baggie, my seeds 3/5 seeds germinated within 3 days. But on the fourth day, they all were covered in mold. So I attempted a test with soaking the seeds in a hydrogen peroxide solution (2 teaspoons HP to 1 cup water) for 5 minutes before I placed them in the water soaked paper towel. Again, within 3 days 3/5 seeds germinated and I have still yet to see any mold forming (on day 7 now).
I've also tried a HP solution soaked paper towel. I'm on day 6 of that test and I only have 1/5 seeds germinated. No mold in sight though. Gonna give it a few more days before I determine if I like this method or not.
So far, it seems that pre-soaking the seeds in an HP solution works the best for me.
I've also tried a HP solution soaked paper towel. I'm on day 6 of that test and I only have 1/5 seeds germinated. No mold in sight though. Gonna give it a few more days before I determine if I like this method or not.
So far, it seems that pre-soaking the seeds in an HP solution works the best for me.
I recently did the unbleached coffee filter and plastic baggy. Had about an 90% germination rate. I place it directly on top of my cable modem. Seems the perfect warmish temp, it is consistent in heat level, and is next to me at the computer so easy to track.
Used paper towels last year in the baggy, and the roots stuck to the towel. They do not stick to the coffee filter. Still have some wilds in the same bag that I started on Nov. 9th, and no mold. I like this method, for a small scale production.
I placed them in soda bottle planters after they germinate, and before leaves show. All that I have done this way have broken through the soil and are off to a good start.
Used paper towels last year in the baggy, and the roots stuck to the towel. They do not stick to the coffee filter. Still have some wilds in the same bag that I started on Nov. 9th, and no mold. I like this method, for a small scale production.
I placed them in soda bottle planters after they germinate, and before leaves show. All that I have done this way have broken through the soil and are off to a good start.
Great advice thank you all
A pre-sowing treatment makes things go a lot faster, and often boosts yields. If the seeds have gotten a boost, the little germplasms don't waste so much time and energy trying to get going. With good quality seeds, the easiest way to do it I've found is to first soak them for 24 hours in distilled water. This really does get things going a lot faster, giving you a shorter, more uniform germination rate, and also more vigorous seedlings.
After you soaked them, just like everybody else said, put them on a couple wetted paper towels, and put that in a ziplock bag, and put that onto a heating mat. I keep mine a little on the warm side, at 30 °C (86 °F). Using this combination, and with well preserved seeeds, I get germination rates between 90% and 98% after 14 days, with most germination occuring in the first four or five days, depending on the variety.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
+1000
IMO the way you start seeds depends on how many seeds you start at a time...if you only do a few...the sandwich baggie with a damp paper towel in a controlled 84-86F environment is perfect...then you have to transplant them once they sprout...
I use 72 cell seed starting trays with hoffmans seed starting mix...seeds planted about 3/8"-1/2" deep to allow time and friction to pull the "helmets" off while they are emerging...I start 8 trays at a time and have a seed "germinator" I built that uses a remote bulb thermostat to control the temperature 82-86F via 100 or 150 watt light bulbs...
Started scotch bonnets using this method. A HP solution 5 min bath followed by a wet paper towel into a plastic bag. Then i put inside my germination chamber which i measured ont he surface has 99% humidity and ~82*F. Forgot about them and today was day 3. I pulled them out and 5 out of 10 seeds had tails. The other ones had little points coming out. This method is awesome with its accuracy in result.
Have you tried germinating seeds in plastic cups with lids. Check out this experiment (cups vs bags). I had better germination rates in cups as did others.
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/19898-germinating-experiment-cups-vs-bags/
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/19898-germinating-experiment-cups-vs-bags/