slade122 said:
I'm with everyone else, that yellowing of cotyledons generally means overwatering.
I use the domes until most of the seeds have popped, generally around 2 weeks from the day the seeds were planted, sometimes a week longer if I'm doing seeds that take a particularly long time to germinate. However, this fall I used no humidomes, and misted twice a day or so with equal results. I really suggest only using the domes as long as you need to, the high humidity environment can be inviting for bad bacteria, mold, etc - and become the hinging point for things like dampening off.
I'm using my heating pad for around 3-4 weeks from seed planting date, or until the plant and evaporation are expelling water too quickly for me to keep up with watering (IE: during the 9-10 hours I am at work) as I leave my house relatively cool. Young peppers seem to like the heat.
Peppers need a lot of light, but I believe there are plenty of people who use T8's for germination, although I am not one of them. I use Hydrofarm FLT24's which are T5HO. T8's, plus a window and CFL should be okay, but if you see any early stretching / weak or leggy stems, light may be an issue to watch for. 4x T5HO (96W total) bulbs got me a much better result than 2x T5HO (48W total) in terms of stem strength and internodal spacing.
Thanks for the advice & ideas. I planted 1-2 seeds in each of 96 cells. I started the germination process 10/26 for half of them. The rest by 11/3. I have 82 sprouts now. I think I've come up with a plan...
A) Leave domes off for good.
B) Give seeds that haven't germinated 2 more days. If they haven't popped by now, give up on them & turn the heating pad off. I have 2 more rounds of germination coming- one starting this weekend & one January 1. I got at least 1 seed to germinate from every variety except: Orange Rocoto (Red Rocoto sprouted in less than 10 days. I do want to grow the Orange, so I'll probably just isolate these few cells that have had no action & give them some more time.), Billy Biker (figured an annuum would pop quickly) & Bhut Orange Copenhagen, so I'm pretty happy with the results if they stay healthy.
C) I have the T8 light long ways on the shelf but the 2 trays the short way on the shelf. I'll position the trays long ways so they make optimal use of the light. 2 tray heat mat prevented me from doing that to begin with. I also have a 2nd clip on CFL I can add. I have other T8s to add once I need them for the volume of plants I'll have, but I don't think I need to add a 2nd T8 at this stage.
D) Biggest question- Misting or bottom watering? Wait until I see droop or follow a schedule?
E) Nitrogen when? Not yet, right?
F) Fan. Haven't used one on a regular basis yet because they've been domed.
G) If I lose the cayennes, no big loss. In the end, I will plant about 250 cells. This is probably an absurd amount anyway, so if I lose some to overwatering or lack of light now, I won't be too disappointed & will just chalk it up to a learning experience. I did plant some that I'm looking forward to growing in this first batch, but didn't use all of my seed & did plant some varieties (like cayennes) that I was OK sacrificing through experimentation.
How does this sound? I do a lot of gardening but have never successfully started seeds indoors. I either start with plants or bigger, easier seeds outdoors- beans, squash, watermelon, etc. Not a whole lot to worry about there.
THANKS!!
