• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

Drizzt's first season log.

Well this will be my first post here. I found the site about a month ago because I got the sudden urge to grow my own tomatoes and peppers and decided that the only way to do it is to grow them from seed. So I went to the store and when in front of the seed display I saw some Cayenne seeds and I got this image in my head of me making my own Hot Sauce.

When I found this forum I got even more excited looking at all the past season's pictures from everybody here and I started to look at the sites selling seeds and I stop myself right there and took the decision to concentrate only on the Cayenne for this year.

I hope this log will help others like me starting this new venture. I will try and document what I will do right and also what I did wrong.


I planted my first seeds on March 11 and reading all the good info on the site since there are already some steps I would've done differently like putting my seeds in an hydrogen peroxide and water solution before planting and I would've used some seed starter soil.


So here is my setup:

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I live in an apartment so come time to get them outside I will be confined to two small balconies so I won't be able to have a lot of plants. Already with those 72 cells with two seeds each, I could be overwhelm if I'm lucky and they all germinate.

The soil I use was some leftover soil mix for African Violet.

I alternate spraying the soil to, only keep it moist, with only water, hydrogen peroxide solution (about 1 tsp in 1 cup of water) and I sprayed twice with some 20-20-20 fertilizer. Any advice on that would be great, I know there is some seed starting fertilizer I could use, but I wanted to keep the cost down and not buy anything before I have to repot. On my "to buy" list so far I have: Epsom salt, a calcium additive and some fertilizer. Oh and yes some soil.


Now its only been 5 days since I planted and today the first sprouts are making there first appearances.
 
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Hay zz sounds like you caught the bug.

202020 sounds a little rich maybe!? others will comment on it, good rule of thumb less is more.

But above all else have fun with it and these guy/gals will have some good advice for you!

Cheers, Spicy Chicken





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I think I jumped the gun a bit :). I don't think I sprouts from my peppers, instead I think they are tomatoes sprout.

Another thing I should have done: identifying whats in each cell.
 
Welcome to the game!

I'd avoid spraying the fert directly on the tiny pepper seedlings. Use straight water to begin. Maybe after a week, make a really weak solution of the 20-20-20 you mentioned, if that's all you got. Like a half teaspoon to a quart? and then water from the bottom by watering the tray and let the plant soak it up. Later you can do the spray from the top.

I was a hydrogen peroxide user, but it does wipe out some beneficial soil microbes, so I stopped. It might be good while in the dome, but I would limit the use. Remove dome from time to time, blow a fan across there, will help many things as they sprout and grow.
 
You'll be able to sort out the tomatoes from the peppers a little later. They like a lot of the same treatment, so no big deal.... :cool: I just noticed my little tomato sprouts are quite a bit fuzzier than my peppers at about 2 weeks old.

Post some close-up pix when you can, the folks around here are pretty smart.... :cool:
 
You just want to keep the soil moist until it sprouts, doesn't matter as much at the beginning. Spraying from the top is okay, but later you find the bottom watering is easy to do and has other benefits.
 
:welcome: from Kansas. A great selection for your first run. Keeping a log of your sucess and falures will help you every year to get better. Alot of good info here and around. Take it all with a grain of salt and go with what works for you and your Zone. You can go from pure organic to total tech and every point in between. Everyone here comes from different backgrounds, growing different ways in different zones. Common to us all is the passion of growing and enjoying peppers. One good piece of advice from me. Learn to work with mother nature and she'll take care of you
 
:welcome: you seem to know your business. but i will wait on any fertilizer, for now let the seeds germinate then you see if they need any knid of fertilizer.
nice project
 
Thanks for the Welcomes everybody!

Has of today I will stop with the fertilizer and the hydrogen peroxide and only water them.

Right now I'm 98% sure that none of my peppers have sprouted, but then again its only been 5 days, so I will relax about it.

Tonight or tomorrow I think I will start bottom watering the tomato tray since most of them have sprouted. I will put up a pic later.

Oh yes as far as lighting is concern, my trays are right beside a window with probably about a couple of hours of direct sunlight in the late morning and I have a LED light equivalent to 500watts that I use for my media company to do video. That project is on ice for now, so as long as its in the closet and I don't have to buy another one, I don't see why not. The temperature of the light if I remember correctly is around 5500K.
 
Ok So here is a picture I took this morning of my trays and one of the biggest sprout, so fare the only one with leaves.


15 by Drizzt_g


14 by Drizzt_g


Now I only have one problem. I wanna have a nice macro lens to take more closed up pics. :)
 
Six days in and no sign of the Cayenne Peppers. The tomatoes are doing fine tough, so at least I'm not just looking at soil.
Unless I'm wrong, Cayennes can easily take at least 7 days before sprouting, so I'm not too worry.

I have one question. I started to bottom watering yesterday and the soil is still moist 24hrs later. So my question is: How often do you usually water you seedlings while they are in their starting cells?


The Cayennes were a no show this morning.




Hard at work :).



 
Keep in mind, I'm a noobie, too, so some searching around is in order! From what I have learned, however:

What's your temp down there at soil level? They like 80-85F and preferably from the bottom heat. They will still germ if cooler, but will take longer. Don't know how much heat your LED light stand puts off.

My limited experience with cayennes (long red slim and chile de arbol): I had first germ in a baggie in six days, with around 80% by 11 days. (kinda stubborn!) For me, add another 4-5 days to germ time before emerging from soil. So your 7-days is still in the ballpark.

Moisture: keep medium damp but not soaked until germination. Don't keep them in standing water in the tray bottom, but dont allow to dry.

Once sprouted, remove the dome and get under lights (which you already are). Watering should be cut back to allow the soil top to dry. Many report bottom watering about every 3 days, but it depends on how well your soil medium holds water.

I'd get your maters out of the dome and start using the drier regime for them. Patience for the cayennes.

Consider this: If you have any seeds left, put them in baggie or container (see post "baggies vs. containers" on how to do this). It will test the viability of your seeds and you could insert them into any empty cells if needed... :cool:

Hopefully other cayenne-heads will respond for other/different advice.
 
Now temperature might be an issue, because I don't have a heating mat, but tonight I will put the Cayenne tray in the oven with the light on.

The LED light doesn't put off any heat at all.
 
My 'free' germ station was the top of the hot water tank! Others have used the top of their light stand, refrigerators, computer modems, anything with just a bit a heat. Hope the oven works for you--be sure to air it and the dome out regularly. You really need to get a thermometer, even a really cheap one, so you know about where you're at with the temp.
 
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