Habaneros and unknown-moderate-red-fruit chiles - guilt-trip project of 2016

JDFan · Sep 18, 2016

I put all of the seeds in a folded wet paper towel, at least a fingerwidth apart from each other, and sealed them into a plastic bag this afternoon. The apartment ranges from about 77 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit - my roommate likes to run the AC - so I'm just keeping them at room temperature. I'll check on them every day and add a note here if anyone sprouts! I don't really expect the habaneros to sprout for at least a few weeks, but the unknown-variety seeds might sprout sooner.

79 is a bit low for germination and will probably make them germinate slow -- Personally I'd place them on top of the fridge as that will provide a bit more heat for them from the bottom.

Nicolas_bsas · Sep 22, 2016

Nevermind the time of the year, go fot it!
I planted some seeds the last week of the summer and didn´t know what to expect... Not only they sprouted, but also grew a lot during the winter. Now it´s spring here, and I have lots of grown plants waiting for a sunny week to do what they do best!
So just think how to provide them the best temperature, and send some pictures if you succeed.

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Sep 25, 2016

Thank you! Most importantly, the peppers have decided to go for it - I know the germination temperature's on the low side, but two of the habaneros had small roots by yesterday evening, and now they're in makeshift pots!
I'm really surprised that the habaneros sprouted so early - maybe because they're relatively fresh? - but I'm not complaining...

Edit - if I can figure out how to include pictures, I've got some photos of the sprouts. If I can't figure that out, I'll just say that they currently live in cleaned six-ounce yogurt containers with numerous holes punched in the bottoms, filled with organic potting soil. At the moment, they're in a room with a bright ceiling light but no grow-light arrangement; later today I'll bring them into my office, which has two fluorescent tubes and a high-lumens LED for my loquat seedlings. Yes, I'm growing trees in my office. The habaneros will stay next to the loquats until they're big and strong enough to deal with the sap-sucking insects on my balcony.

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Sep 26, 2016

Ha - got it! I hope. Here are the two seeds with roots, as of the evening of September 24th -

...and their new homes, as of September 25th -

Nicolas_bsas · Sep 29, 2016

Hahahahaha, two thumbs up for growing trees in the office!!!

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Oct 2, 2016

Thank you! They're still extremely small trees - as in, a few inches tall, probably because the office is cold - but their parent was about fifteen or twenty feet high, so I expect they'll look more impressive soon. Hopefully, I'll graduate before they grow taller than the ceiling...
Meanwhile, I've been too busy to post photos, but the seedlings have had a busy week too. One of them started to emerge about a day after I put them in potting mix and shed its seed coat without any problems. I waited for the other one to appear for a few days; finally, I realized that it might have washed down too far into the soil, so I carefully dug it out and reburied it much closer to the surface. Now it's about the same height as its probable sibling. This is how they look now!

Close-ups of each seedling from yesterday -

Here they both are today - when I watered the one on the right, its soil turned briefly to mud and it tilted sideways. I didn't want to try to straighten it and jar its roots, so now it's curving towards the ceiling light.

I decided against bringing them to my office for the moment, since it is cold, so they don't have a strong nearby light yet. I might borrow one of the loquats' lamps.

Nicolas_bsas · Oct 6, 2016

So they actually sprouted, and both of them... Great!
Doesn´t matter one of them it´s bended, you will always have the chance to straighten it in the future.

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Oct 16, 2016

Two weeks after my last post, both seedlings are still green, but don't have any true leaves yet. I can't remember how long my sprouted-earlier-this-year batch of habaneros took to grow their true leaves, so I don't know how worried I should be. These two live in an upper-70s-Fahrenheit room with one bright LED for light as a compromise between growing-environment suitability and safety from sap-sucking insects, so I wouldn't be surprised if they grow really, really slowly.
Their makeshift pots drain reasonably well and I'm only watering about twice a week, but they have some white growth on their substrate; I'm guessing it's a mold that can survive in about sixty percent relative humidity. The seedlings haven't fallen over yet, so I'm hoping that it isn't hurting them, since I don't know what to do about it...?

Last week, they went on a field trip outside for about ten or fifteen minutes of direct sunlight! They didn't get sunburned, to my relief, but the sun didn't seem to affect the white growth, either. I meant to take them outside today and ended up trying to vacuum whiteflies off of my balcony plants instead, so I'll try to be in the apartment during daylight later this week for another field trip...

PaulG · Oct 17, 2016

Patience is key! You can spray a little fungicide on the white stuff
if it bothers you or the plant. Sometimes I just scratch the surface
up and let it dry out and it sort of puts it on hold until transplanting.

They look healthy. Can you see tiny growth tips between the cotyledons?

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Oct 18, 2016

Thanks! I just deliberately overwatered them and poured most of the white stuff into the sink with the excess water, so I'll see if it grows back or not. I can't see any signs of new leaves yet, but I won't panic as long as they're green.
And, I'm definitely willing to be patient now - at least one of my balcony habaneros has died and two others are dead or severely ill, and I suspect that the resident flock of whiteflies transmitted a disease to them. These little ones aren't going outside until I have a good way of quarantining them, and I am extremely glad now that I decided to keep them inside in the first place, no matter how slowly they grow. I just ordered some closely-woven mesh; I'll try that as a whitefly barrier for my remaining balcony plants before putting anyone else in potential danger of infection.

PaulG · Oct 18, 2016

Sounds like a good solution to the whitefly problem.
Are you going to treat the affected plants before
enclosing them?

a yellow sticky trap inside the enclosure would be
very helpful.

Good luck going forward!

Nicolas_bsas · Oct 21, 2016

Pfff, whiteflies... Always messing around. I have to say that the yellow sticky trap worked for me, but I didn´t have a great number of them.
Good thing you kept some plants inside!

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Oct 23, 2016

Thanks! I'm going to get yellow construction paper next time I go to a store to make those traps... A few months ago, I tried making traps from pieces of old manila envelopes smeared with Tanglefoot, but those don't seem to have done much, probably because the paper isn't really bright yellow. Several whiteflies landed on the yellow letters on my T-shirt last week and kept coming back after I shook them off, so I know they like yellow.
The mesh arrived on Thursday, and I finally got a chance to make sleeves for the balcony plants yesterday. I washed off all of the whitefly adults and eggs I could find from one plant at a time, with squirts of water from a spray bottle, and then shook the plant a few times to get rid of any returning adults and stuffed a sleeve over it. I'm very sure that I didn't get all of the eggs, but hopefully I knocked the populations down somewhat and each plant's whiteflies won't be able to carry diseases back and forth anymore. Maybe traps and a few more rounds of high-pressure water will finish them off.
Meanwhile, the seedlings are still green and still have exactly two leaves each...

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Feb 4, 2017

...a long time later, after I've managed to recover my password - unfortunately, both habanero seedlings died, although all six of the cassias who I started at the same time are still alive. I'm about to try again with more habanero seeds from the same batch, along with Black Pearl, purple cayenne, and Trinidad scorpion seeds!

CapsaicinAddictKathryn · Feb 4, 2017

...a long time later, after I've managed to recover my password - unfortunately, both habanero seedlings died, although all six of the cassias who I started at the same time are still alive. I'm about to try again with more habanero seeds from the same batch, along with Black Pearl, purple cayenne, and Trinidad scorpion seeds!