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seeds Best growing/ germination medium

SadisticPeppers

SadisticPeppers

eXtreme Business
Being that this is still very much a learning process for me, I'm wondering what is the best medium for germinating then growing peppers. I've gotten only a handful to sprout despite planting darn near 150-200 seeds.

I know that to better help them along, soaking them in water for 24 hours is best, and despite doing that, even with mixing in a few drops of liquid fertilizer, as I mentioned I've had limited luck. So any advice would be helpful :)
 
I wouldn't use any fertilizer at all, I just did another set of plants using about 1tsp of hydrogen peroxide with 1 cup of water (most people use a higher dose but I didn't want to over do it and just test it out first) and I soaked them for 15-24 hours or so) and I also soaked the Hoffman's Seed starting mix, and that stuff is great... 6 days later I had 3-4 seedlings pop up.. and a few days more I think I have something like 10 or more seedlings up.. I think all of them super hots.. and a few chocolate habs.. was pretty surprised to see the trinidad scorps be the first to pop up only after 6 days.. the hydrogen peroxide helped a lot actually, I was skeptical but I have soaked the seeds for 4 hours before in water, and then 24 hours in water, and these have come up the fastest (besides a few varieties before that came up a little faster, but they had a "fruiting time" of 65 days so they grow really really fast anyways)

keep them between 83-85 degrees and you will be all set, and you don' t even need to water the seed mix much at all either, that stuff holds water very well.. I wouldn't put a dome lid on the top either, at least I didn't for a few days until the mix dried out a tiny bit, I would put it on at night to keep it warm, then open it up during the day to let the moisture evaporate and keep any fungus from growing

for anything else, do some searching on the site, there has been tons and tons of stuff on this lately.. since everyone is starting/started their seeds.. and check out the Glog section..
 
+1 on skip the added fertilizer as a soak. Yoicks! The seed has what it needs inside its shell to sprout. Hoffman's Seed Starter mix is excellent for the germination phase. There are others out there--ProMix, Fafards, Black Gold, Jiffy Mix--usually best to find one that specifies "seed starting" but many labels are confusing.

Good luck.... :cool:
 
Gotta love serendipitous timing. Seems my posting on here about them not growing was just the kick in the pants they needed, so to speak. Last night, I checked my seeds, and now I'm in the double digits as far as viable sprouts. A couple of my early sprouts from a couple weeks ago didn't make it on account of me being a little overzealous with fertilizer, so lesson learned. I'm also preparing one last set of Butch T's in warm water to plant this evening.
 
elcap1999 said:
Gotta love serendipitous timing. Seems my posting on here about them not growing was just the kick in the pants they needed, so to speak. Last night, I checked my seeds, and now I'm in the double digits as far as viable sprouts. A couple of my early sprouts from a couple weeks ago didn't make it on account of me being a little overzealous with fertilizer, so lesson learned. I'm also preparing one last set of Butch T's in warm water to plant this evening.
Click to expand...

Make that a grand total of 22 sprouts and growing :)
 
This might be a little strange, i use red onion essence as my soaking water, they work out great, 4 day germination for a Douglah and ts Large.
 
Cool, thanks for the advice. One thing I just noticed is that there are a number of very tiny white wriggling worm-like things on my germination tray. They're less than a millimeter long and much thinner than the width of a hair. I almost missed them on account of them being so tiny, but they were moving around. Was wondering if that is something I should be worried about. If they are something to be worried about even a little bit, what would be the best way to get rid of them without risking my seedlings
 
I had the same thing in my soil, I am pretty sure they are from the fruit flies.. I just stick a little wide container (right now I have the top dome of one of those window sill germination sets from Jiffy) filled with vinegar and a little liquid dish soap and some water in there too, but there is a nice collection of fruit flies in the bottom of them.. I need to replenish it soon actually.. fruit flies are a pain in my @$$ lol
 
elcap1999 said:
Cool, thanks for the advice. One thing I just noticed is that there are a number of very tiny white wriggling worm-like things on my germination tray. They're less than a millimeter long and much thinner than the width of a hair. I almost missed them on account of them being so tiny, but they were moving around. Was wondering if that is something I should be worried about. If they are something to be worried about even a little bit, what would be the best way to get rid of them without risking my seedlings
Click to expand...


Yes, be very worried. Those are fungus gnat larvae and can cripple your season if you are not on top of them. They come when you keep the soil a little too moist and feed on the little baby roots. There are a few good ways to get rid of them, make sure your mix dries out before watering again. Get some mosquito dunks, soak one in a gallon of water and water with that. It contains a bacteria that will kill the gnats in larval form but will not harm your plants or yourself, or your pets. Put a good layer of sand, or even better Diotomaceous Earth on top of your containers.
 
Little tiny white worms like this?

DSC015131600x1200.jpg


The Millman is right. Follow his advice and best of luck to you.

Soaking seeds isn't necessary but it can help speed up the process. The main concerns for successful germination are moisture and temps. If things are allowed to dry out, no germinate. Best temps are in the mid 80's. 90 and above you'll cook them and 70's and below you're in for a long wait. Fertilizer is absolutely worthless for germination.
 
Thank you both, I will give that a go at the first chance!
 
hmm, crap, I just realized that they were not fruit flys but are gnats. I didn't see the black heads when I had first seen them a whole ago, but what a PITA, I will have to start killing them now
 
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