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A Pepperhead glog: Pickling, Saucing, and Powdering

Okay Chiliheads,
At the end of the month I will begin my crop for this season, as it seems the hard core chilis take a while to germinate. Then it got me thinking...Why not run a few experiments to see what germination method works best. People seemed to have some issues with the Reapers so I figure I'll start there and do the same with some other superhots and compare the results.
I'm going to try three methods of germination: Overnight soaking in a solution, scarifying the seeds then overnighting in a damp towel, and for a control just straight into the dirt.
For the solution I'm going to experiment with a vinegar base, I'm thinking equal parts vinegar and water and a little H2O2. I'm trying vinegar off the animal digestive tract transportation and deposit theory. Let's see if the vinegar acidity breaks down the shell a little.
I'm going to use a matchbook to scarify the seeds for the damp papertowels.
I will do my best to post temps, soil conditions, water amounts, etc.
All results with some pictures and colorful graphs will be posted.

I know this forum is full of smartypants, many with much smarter pants than me, so I actively encourage ideas and constructive criticisms to make this as scientifically accurate as I can make it. Perhaps a recommendation for the vinegar solution?

What this Glog is: Hopefully fun and educational for the Glogger and the reader.

What it is not: A forum to whine about the seed suppliers. Even the slightest grumble about any of the suppliers of my seeds will get you reported. My Glog, my rules.

So give me some ideas and the last week of January I'll be ready to go! Enjoy!
 
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Island_Dan said:
Try putting the heat map on a timer. 2 hours on, 1 off. I don't think the cfl's would be the biggest addition of heat to the soil. I would put more of the blame on the reptile heat mat.
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I was very surprised at how hot those CFLs got. I moved the reflector over to allow more heat to escape. With the lights off it cools down considerably. I have a timer I used with Christmas lights, I'm not sure It can do 2 on 1 off. I'll have to have a look when I get home.

WalkGood said:
Works great with rum :)
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Had a bad experience with rum once. I have vague memories of a bus ride, a sloth, and a lot of vomiting. Ahh, Cartagena...
 
Pepperhead said:
... Had a bad experience with rum once. I have vague memories of a bus ride, a sloth, and a lot of vomiting. Ahh, Cartagena...
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Sorry to hear that, I myself got sick off rum in Costa Rica but I didn't keep my eye on the bottle. Possibly they poured you cheap stuff or home made Aguardiente instead of rum. Although it's typically drank neat and doesn’t taste anything like rum to me. I remember some folks dying from drinking some of the illegal home brew in Jamaica. There’s all kinds of bootleggers in these countries and I’m careful where I drink after my Costa Rican experience, even if you can see the bottle dem pour from it’s not always the real thing inside :/
 
on the other end of the spectrum you might try a short bleach soak along side of your vinegar as bleach will eat away at the seed coat also, and or you could try using a heating mat along with one that is not heated but kept moist. i think you have already talked about a heat mat if it doesn't have a thermostat control you could hook up a dimmer switch to it. :P
 
Instead of a timer for the heat mat they do make thermostats for them. Set the temp then forget it.

Looking forward to seeing the results, thanks for doing this.
 
So a quick update, then later on I'll upload some pics.

Found mold or something growing on my paper towels, so removed everything and swapped them into new papertowels with a water/h2o2 mix. Hopefully that keeps the spores, molds and fungus away. Temps for that have been irregular as I haven't had a steady ideal heat spot for them. That portion of my experiment may be a bust as far as using it as a test subject.
On a better note...one sprout today! I'll let you know what it is when I post the pics.

Any guesses who? Hb22b, Ghost, Carribean red hab, dorset, Butch, 7 pot, Jonah, or Primo? I wasn't that surprised by the result.
 
Alrighty finally some pics:

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This is my current setup, cardboard box, aluminum foil, heat mat, 4 6500k cfls 800 lumens each. Dirt is Miracle gro expanding soil.

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Contrast is a bit high but top row left to right: 7 Pot, Dorset, Jonah, Reaper Bottom row left to right: Carribean Red, Butch, Primo, Ghost. The markers are in the middle of the nine spots per type. Left row will be paper towel when they pop, middle row is the vinegar, right row is straight into the dirt. As you can see the Carribean Red Hab, straight into dirt was the overall winner. I don't think they have the same rep for slow germination so niether I or Dshlog were surprised. Good guess! Gaithersburg isn't that far from me, actually.

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And here is my first little baby this year. Papa's proud.
 
Just got home from work to find 3 Red Habs poked out in the straight to dirt row. Clearly, this is how Burpee gears it's seed genetics. Also I found a rootlet popped out of one of my 7 Pot paper towels. Dropped that right into the dirt.

We are off and running! :woohoo:
 
08MGeRZ.jpeg
11 days for Butch T's from Pepper Joe for my 2013 grow.
11 days using Butch T's from a friend. Ziploc, papper towelmoist 5.8 ph RO on heating mat ,no soak
 
Nice set up. I might dare to try DWC next year.
11 days, huh? I'm on day 9 now and just starting to see some results so hopefully we'll have more popping soon. How long for that Reaper in the back?
My middle Hab has the little helmet stuck on it so I'll have to try some careful surgery tomorrow and hopefully can save it.
 
Good luck with the surgery, I can't recall the time exactly for the Reaper in the soil.
But I have had best luck with paper towel, ziploc method. I look forward to your results.

Good luck with the surgery, I can't recall the time exactly for the Reaper in the soil.
But I have had best luck with paper towel, ziploc method. I look forward to your results.
 
So the count now stands at 7 out of 72 germinating. Came home from work this morning to find a new 7 pot hook and a Carolina Reaper, both in the straight into the ground row. Of the 7, two were from paper towels and will clear the surface probably tomorrow. Too early to call yet, but I'm thinking that a vinegar soak may not be a good starting method. But in science failure is always an option, because you get just as much useable data from failure as from success.
 
Pepperhead said:
So the count now stands at 7 out of 72 germinating. Came home from work this morning to find a new 7 pot hook and a Carolina Reaper, both in the straight into the ground row. Of the 7, two were from paper towels and will clear the surface probably tomorrow. Too early to call yet, but I'm thinking that a vinegar soak may not be a good starting method. But in science failure is always an option, because you get just as much useable data from failure as from success.
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Often more data from a failure than from a success!
 
One more 7 pot and a Jonah, both popped from paper towels. 9/72 or 1/8 if we like lowest common denominators. :P

The breakdown by method:

Dirt: 5
Vinegar: 0
Paper towel: 4

by variety:

Carribean Hab: 4
7 pot: 3
Reaper: 1
Jonah: 1

The last group is also in order by Germ time.
 
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