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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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Pepperhead said:
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.
.
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I've heard of many germination techniques, but this is an interesting idea. I'm curious to see how it works, but I think you should also soak some seeds in regular water. Otherwise you won't really know if the vinegar and H2O2 had any impact.
 
muskymojo said:
I've heard of many germination techniques, but this is an interesting idea. I'm curious to see how it works, but I think you should also soak some seeds in regular water. Otherwise you won't really know if the vinegar and H2O2 had any impact.
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In addition, a common method is to soak in KNO3 solution (breaks down seed coat), so that might be a good addition as a comparison.

Also, you will want some repitition with each method, so you can pull some meaningful statistics out of your experiment. (A sample of one could always be a fluke . . .).
 
chsy83 said:
In addition, a common method is to soak in KNO3 solution (breaks down seed coat), so that might be a good addition as a comparison.

Also, you will want some repitition with each method, so you can pull some meaningful statistics out of your experiment. (A sample of one could always be a fluke . . .).
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Thanks for the input! I will be doing three seeds per method per type. Still not statistically significant, but my supply isn't that big and my facilities are kinda small. I'd love to do a hundred of each but we gots what we gots.

Potassium Nitrate eh? Hmm. I'm going to have to research that. You're right about regular water, Musky, but my paper towels will be straight water, it'll be more of a test to see if my solution doesn't work. Maybe I'll just throw caution to the wind and go straight vinegar. If I were a bettin' man my money would be on the scarified seeds for the win.

Gah! Now you got me thinking (and I hate that). Maybe next year three soaks: full vinegar, half and straight water.
 
Pepperhead or should I say Shawn,
I would try water as muskymojo suggests in post #2 so you have a constant to compare all other methods tested against, remember in nature it would only be rain water that does the trick, so that might be the water one to use. Since you stated the soil will be the same in each trial, I'd look to comparing as many logical suggestions compared to natures standard or rain .... You could also try one like stickman is doing with saltpeter in his glog here, Regardless you are the scientist here and end up doing what you see best, I was just trying to suggest as you requested.

Good Great luck with your 2013 science growing season, I be watching as I’m not very scientific and should be able to learn :)
 
Thanks WalkGood! I haven't looked at the saltpeter stuff yet, but I will definately check it out.

I think the seed straight into dirt best satisfies the most natural conditions for my control group. The soak is meant to simulate natural digestion (or as close as I can get to it with my limited resources). Next year the comparison of straight water to various degrees of acidity will be a better experiment for a straight water soak. I do appreciate the input and thanks for reading. It is helping me work out how to make sure everything is going to be set up.
 
You have taken on a great experiment, Pepperhead; in the true
spirit of THP :think: :idea: :pray: :)

Will be looking forward to some results of your trials.

"I know this forum is full of smartypants" - Hey! I resemble that :rofl:

Good growin', buddy!
 
Pepperhead said:
... I think the seed straight into dirt best satisfies the most natural conditions for my control group. ...
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I'm not sure I agree, but you are the one running the trials/experiments so this is just my 2 cents. In the natural conditions rain has a play in it. For example I have a lot of stuff pop up in my yard after a few days of good rain and I mean a lot of sprouts both good and bad. In the winter even the weeds die here, lol. For example I've grown 3 papaya trees because the seed were deposited by a passing racoon and with the right rain conditions bam, they sprouted. I could give you other examples I've noted around the yard but think one should suffice.
 
This is a follow for sure. I have little input as I am a novice and have little scientific experience (Paralegal by nature :rofl: ) But science fascinates me and I will be taking notes as well.
 
WalkGood said:
I'm not sure I agree, but you are the one running the trials/experiments so this is just my 2 cents. In the natural conditions rain has a play in it. For example I have a lot of stuff pop up in my yard after a few days of good rain and I mean a lot of sprouts both good and bad. In the winter even the weeds die here, lol. For example I've grown 3 papaya trees because the seed were deposited by a passing racoon and with the right rain conditions bam, they sprouted. I could give you other examples I've noted around the yard but think one should suffice.
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Appreciated, but how did the Raccoon deposit them? Of the three methods I've chosen to try, the most natural I believe is the in the ground and watered, as opposed to scarified manually and wrapped in paper towels or manually soaked in vinegar. Please understand, I do value your input and I am not trying to diminish your idea, as It is valid and I have considered it and looked at what I was looking for as far as results, but I believe the paper towel method is essentially soaking it in water for the purposes of this experiment. No need to qualify your statements with "it is your experiment". I value all input to try to keep everything as accurate as possible. The three most common methods generally are right into the soil, the paper towel and soaking overnight in some solution, usually some mix of water and H2o2 or salt peter, as I have just read. Perhaps a straight water soak should be a fourth example? I'll have to check my seed supply and see if I may have enough for this.Please continue to add your input as I really do value it. I am not a scientist by training, just someone who likes to see how stuff works, and if I get answers that help me or others get better results, then that's a big bonus. I hope to have a discussion after as to people's theories why something may have worked better. That just leads to more experiments and better results.
Sanarda said:
This is a follow for sure. I have little input as I am a novice and have little scientific experience (Paralegal by nature :rofl: ) But science fascinates me and I will be taking notes as well.
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You don't need to be a Botanist to add input, just have a keen eye for my screw ups! :P
So to clarify as of right now:I will be testing the controversial HP22B Carolina Reaper germinating times using different methods. I will be comparing it to other superhot varieties namely 7 pot Jonah, Butch T, Ghost, regular 7 pot, Primo, and Dorset Naga. I will compare germination rates of each variety to the Reaper specifically, but to each other generally. All varieties will undergo the same pre planting methods. The result will be to see which variety sprouts faster, and using what germinating method. I will use three seeds of each variety per method. And there will be pretty, colorful graphs illustrating the data.
Three methods of starting:
1. overnight vinegar soak to simulate stomache acid effect on seed shell. After soak, right into the dirt.
2. brief scarifying (okay, is that even a word?) seed edge against matchbook starter to breakdown seed shell, then overnight soak in warm damp paper towel, then into dirt.(sprouted or not)
3. remove seed from package, drop into dirt.
Possibly a fourth straight water soak, but my 72 seed starter pack is conveniently separated into groups of nine, so a fourth cup might throw off my lowest common denominator and then I'd have to do more math, and my head already hurts.
Hypothesis: First to hook will be scarified, as I suspect it is the biggest breakdown of the seed shell and the best chance of water soaking into the seed to start the scientifically labeled "growy reaction". Second to sprout will be the vinegar as I suspect the acid will breakdown the shell enough to allow water from the soil to get in faster than a non treated seed after planting.All seeds will be put in the dirt on the same day. to the same depth. What's the consensus on that, 1/4 inch? 1/2 inch?Experiment begins last week of January, whenever my weekend days off fall.
 
Set the seeds 1/4" in the starter mix, any deeper can cause a problem it the above layer of mix becomes compacted from misting/watering. Cood luck with the expierments.

"Confucius" say...fresh fortune cookie cracks open faster then stale one.
 
Ok, so Friday i begin the preps. I bought a small reptile heater pad and realized that though it might heat the medium enough, most of the heat would be concentrated wherever the heat pad would be, thereby heating some seeds more than others. Any ideas on dissipating the heat some to heat things more evenly?

The heater is probably 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the plant tray.
 
So I adjusted some of the parameters a touch and now have everything started. First lesson learned: If you're going to soak seeds in vinegar, use the paper towel method otherwise the seeds just float on top. Seems obvious in retrospect.

I've decided instead of a 24 hour paper towel soak, I would soak them until I see first signs of sprouting, then plant them. The vinegar soak was 8 hours and they are all in the dirt as are the controls.

Seeds:

9 Butch T---- Hippy Seeds (who I believe actually holds the Guinness World Record certificate)
9 Dorset Naga---- Hippy Seeds
9 Bhut Jolokia---- Hippy Seeds
9 7 Pot---- Dulac (Thanks Ryan!)
9 Primo---- Dulac
9 Jonah---- Dulac
9 HP22B---- Ed Currie (Puckerbutt Seeds)
9 Carribean Red Habs---- Burpee

Dulac and I had some minor disagreement on one of the HB22B forums, but overcame our differences to trade Reapers for some Primos. He was very generous and gave me many more varieties than we agreed on. As a result I'll have many more varieties to pay forward next season. The power of peppers to bring the world together! Burpee screwed up my season last year after I bought Habs but they grew into Hungarian Wax. They sent me the Carribeans as a sorry, so hopefully we'll do better this year. The three from The Hippy Seed Company were the first superhots I ever purchased. It was cool to recieve mail all the way from Australia.

Any bets on what sprouts first and when?

Oh, no time for pictures right now, but they are forthcoming!
 
What water did you use for soaking? Just wondering if it was tap water or bottled water as something PH neutral would and without chlorine would be the best for a controlled experiment.
 
Few days out and right now the main problem seems to be consistent heating. The reptile pad seems to be enought to create condensation on the lid. I have four "daylight" CFLs at 6500K. Unfortunately my soil temps were getting a little too warm with the lights on. I measured the soil temps at 90 degrees and switched them off before they started to cook the seeds. Have to work out timing and ventilation to keep the temps consistent.
 
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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