Cygnus' First Grow

It's my first time growing peppers and I chose an unfortunate time of year to germinate seeds, but I figure I'll try to keep them alive over winter for next spring, or if things go poorly I'll start some new plants in the spring with a little experience under my belt.
 
I sowed the seeds on 9/3 and 9/4 and have had intermittent germination through today. So far 15 out of 18 seeds have germinated. I planted the seeds in a 2:2:1 mix of happy frog soil:coco coir:perlite. The soil wasn't sterile and I saw a little bit of mold formation in some of the cups when they were under ziploc humidity domes, but I just scooped it out and haven't seen any issues arise from it (unless the seeds that haven't germinated succumbed to the mold).
 
I've had some quite disparate germination times from identical varieties which is kinda interesting. Two of the jalapeño seeds germinated in six days, and the third took twelve. Two Brazilian starfish seeds germinated eight days apart. One fatalii white seed germinated in a week and the other two still haven't, so it will be interesting to see if they'll pop up further down the line. Is it common for seeds from the same packet to take significantly different amounts of time to germinate?
 
I built a trough to hold my germination cups, heat tape, and light fixture. I 3d printed a few parts that allow the light to be vertically adjusted down as the seedlings can take more intensity and adjusted up as they grow taller. The jalapeños were starting to stretch a bit so I've been moving the light down a bit over the past few days. 
 

 

 
I'm growing (clockwise from top left) fatalii white, leviathan gnarly, chocolate habanero, TAM jalapeño, Brazilian starfish, and aji limon, as well as a Lowe's red ghost.
 

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Any advice/tips are appreciated.

 

[Downriver]

It's my first time growing peppers and I chose an unfortunate time of year to germinate seeds...

Welcome to the madness Cygnus. I didn't think there was a bad time to grow in SoCal.
 
As far as a wide germination range of a given seed. You can often see this can happen with seed that is older. As seeds age, their vitality diminishes. Some seeds are still strong and germinate normally, some have weakened which takes them longer to germinate, and some are dead and won't germinate at all. I'm not saying that's your issue, it's just one possibility.
 
I like the light setup. What kind of light are you using?

 

[PaulG]

Good start, bud!  Nothing like taking advantage
of that Cali weather!
 
There is always a variety of germinations times
among seeds even when from the same pod.  
I'm usually surprised when a variety pops its
seeds all at once. Usually I expect a few days
variation, but hopefully less than a week from
first to last seed of a given variety.
 
Then there are the wilds.

 

[Cygnus]

Thanks for the insight on the seeds germinating at different times. I'm using a two-bulb T5 fixture with some full spectrum bulbs. The only seed left to germinate is a leviathan gnarly, and I managed to kill the most recently germinated fatalii seedling. I moved my light way closer to the plants and I think the intensity was too much for such a young seedling. A few of the other seedlings are getting some purple pigmentation from the light intensity, but they seem ok. It's tough to keep all the plants in perfect shape when they've germinated at different times and are under the same grow light. 

 

[Cygnus]

Today I took the most well rooted and healthiest looking seedling of each type and gave them their own cups to grow in. I transferred the other seedlings to either sifted coco or a pot that I'm going to keep outside. I watered the plants in coco with GH flora nutrients (micro, bloom, and grow) at 1/4tsp each per gallon. I figured I may as well try to grow them with a different method rather than throw them away.
 
Over the past few days I noticed some of the seedlings' leaves yellowing and cupping up a bit. It seems like overwatering is the most likely cause, which is surprising because I've been fairly conservative with my watering. I also moved the light up a little, because I had it very close the plants and I read that too much light intensity can cause yellowing of leaves. Considering that some of the leaves have purple spotting, it seems like the light might've been too close. Once the soil for these plants is dry I plan to start introducing nutrients in the form of either 1/4 or 1/2 strength fish emulsion. 

 

[PaulG]

Sounds like you are off on the right foot, Cygnus.
 
Good luck going forward.

 

[Cygnus]

I haven't updated this in a while but my plants are growing decently.
 
The plants I have in soil were severely stunted for a while, but they seem to be doing pretty well now. I think the stunting was due to overwatering and waiting a little too long to start applying nutrients, because now that I've reduced my watering frequency and started using fish emulsion they're growing noticeably faster and look much healthier. I'm bottom watering them about once a week with 1/2 strength fish emulsion. The chocolate habanero was showing some leaf cupping, so I sprinkled a little bit of crushed up Tums onto the soil and watered it in. The cupping was gone in a few days. 

 
The plants growing in coco are doing great. I've been feeding them Blister's recommended nutrient mix and it seems to be working really well. The Brazilian starfish was growing a little too tall for my light setup so I topped it and put the cutting in some water in an attempt to propagate it; we'll see how that goes. The jalapeno has been putting out flower buds like crazy; I've been cutting some off and letting others grow. Only one has been successfully pollinated and has begun forming a pepper, the others have been falling off. I think the flowers have been dropping due to the pretty low nighttime temperatures in my house, but it's not a big deal because I don't want to weigh the plant down with peppers while it's still so small.

 
The plant on the left in this cup is an aji limon that had no leaves at one point, so it has made a solid recovery. The one on the right is a gnarly leviathan that I pretty unceremoniously ripped out of the soil to put in coco, and its been growing really well ever since it established itself.

 
A few of my soil plants grew their stems horizontally for a while before going vertical, and I'm not too sure what that's about, but it doesn't seem to be problematic:

 
The chocolate habanero has a few brownish/purplish spots on one of its leaves. Only one leaf is exhibiting them, and the leaf isn't showing any signs of falling off, but I don't know what might've caused it.

 
I think the soil plants are still growing relatively slowly due to their distance from the light. My light setup isn't ideal because I'm using the same light for my short soil plants and tall coco plants, which necessitates having the light way higher than would be ideal. It's not a big deal though, they're still healthy and growing, which is all I need until I can get them outside when the weather gets warm enough.
 
As always, any input/suggestions are welcome.

 

[PaulG]

Everything looks good, Cygnus.
 
If the spotting on that one leaf bothers you,
just cut the leaf off. Often, when I am unsure,
I take off a leaf to prevent possible spreading,
especially if it looks like a leaf spot disease.
 
Good luck getting your lighting system dialed in.