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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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So when it rains it pours. Put 2 Dorsets in jiffy pellets today as well as a reaper and 2 ghosts. But my Primo...ugh. Didn't have tweezers so I picked the popped seed with my fat clumsy fingers and the rootlet popped off. I almost had a seizure, I was so mad.
 
Dshlogg said:
Wow. If not for bad luck...... How's the germ tank treating you?
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Very well. I don't have percentages but I put a new load of Reapers in last week and 2 popped already. I put Thai seeds in one of those little plastic baggies with a damp cotton disc and stuck that in there because I ran out of room with all the cups.

Oh and I now have 2 sets of tweezers.
 
Another Dorset into a jiffy pellet and finally a Primo. Most of my leftover Caribbean red Hab seeds were bad, so we'll try some grocery store orange ones and see how those go. One of my Bunch t seeds was completely black and another looks like it's turning. Would like for at least one of those to be good as I actually paid for those.
I think the main thing I've learned so far is after they are in the dirt give each plant a healthy dose of "leave it the hell alone".
 
Another Dorset in the dirt today and another Primo. Plus the last 7 Pot hooked from dirt. Looks like I might recover my Carribean reds as well, with one going into dirt. numbers are off from original plantings (after my mass die off I've been playing more desperate catch up) but it seems clear that overall the paper towel method has 21 total sprouts so far (including the overwater victims) and 11 from the ground. I might have to try this next year again with lessons learned (no vinegar) and maybe I'll have a more stable dirt medium.

Still no Butch T's. Might have to call Neil. :(

Tomorrow will be picture day, I have been woefully negligent in that area.
 
So here we go. This experiment started with all the hopes and dreams of a relatively new chili grower. It started out so well, a few sprouts, some vinegar, discovering a better paper towel method, then the big overwatering crash. But it looks like some things are recovering, there are a few secondary leaves and soon I'll be transplanting. Took a few pictures of the babies and thought I'd share.

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Here is a 7 Pot I thought I would lose, but although the first leaves browned and dried, you can see new leaves coming.

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Here is a Carribean red hab with the same deal, and it's recovering as well.

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A couple of my Reapers, the back one is the furthest advanced of all my peppers so far.

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6 ghosts, my most numerous so far. 4 from the germinating tank and 2 from dirt.

So some are coming back and more are going in. Two new red habs will go in dirt this morning. Things are looking up.

Add: 1 more Reaper popped and in dirt.

On a side note next year I will be trying to do all (or mostly) yellow chiles, so at the end of this season, if'n you want some of what I got, I'll be needing yellow varieties. I want to make a nice superhot yellow sauce.
 
One more sleeping ghost awakens from the dirt. That leaves me one more in the germinating tank. Seven above ground making it the most successful of my crop so far this year. 7 pots and Reapers catching up with 4 each..
 
Special shout out to MegaSpokaneMan who hooked a few of us up with some free seeds. Mine just arrived today.


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Now since my Butches didn't sprout I have room for one more. Trying to post a poll right now so you all can help me decide which one.

Vote on!
 
So another Reaper seed and Dorset popped and put in dirt. And I was surprised to find a Primo poked from the dirt as well. I've got some orange habs that will probably be ready to plant tomorrow, just not sure where to put them.
 
Sent a polite note to Hippy Seeds and Luke will be sending me new seeds on Monday. It's not your mistakes that define your business, but how you deal with those mistakes. So on Wednesday well see what everyone voted for and, to my Wife's chagrin, try to germinate both.
 
Another Primo and my last Dorset went into dirt. I maxed out on Orange habs for this season actually tossed some seeds. I really think I'm going overboard this year.
 
Sounds like it's all coming together now for you. My vote has been placed, fingers crossed it wins, be nice to see it grown and might be on our list for next year.

I think it's always best to have too many, if there is such a thing as having too many peppers. Keep firing up that germ tank!
 
Picture time! What has two thumbs and a brand new custom built grow cabinet...This Guy.
So I had this old empty cabinet that I just recently emptied of pots and pans, so I lined it with reflective bubble insulation and installed a metal shelf and some CFLs and Voila!

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Some of the transfers

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And a few closeups:

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So after 32 days, I have 2 Reapers, 3 ghosts and 2 Jonahs repotted with first tru leaves. Probably have a Red Hab and and maybe a 7 pot in tomorrow. So, lessons learned:

Don't soak seeds for 8 hours in vinegar.
Don't overwater.
Give your seeds a healthy dose of "Leave them the hell alone".
Dshlogg's seed incubator increased my numbers hugely (is that a word?). If I had used it from the beginning I definately would have had faster numbers on a lot of my sprouts. Check out his glog.

Almost all the Ghosts (save the vinegars) have sprouted and I will have a good crop this year. I think only one seed didn't sprout from those. They were late starters compared to some of the others.
Reapers were one of the earliest starters and out of 19 or so starts, minus the three vinegars, I have about 5 or 6 that didn't sprout.
Red Habs were the earliest, and there are a couple that are still struggling along after the overwatering apocalypse.
I'll get better numbers when I get home tomorrow after work.
 
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