I decided to plant some habenaro seeds when my friend game be a bunch of chilis his sister grew. These are probably a month and a half to two months old (did two batches of twelve a few weeks apart). I started them in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel. They germinated pretty well. Though I am not sure what strain they are, they were a deep red and were decently hot but not off the charts, that all I could tell you. I transferred them to egg cartons and then again when they had their first set of full leaves. From the looks other plants on here they seem like they may be stunted. I don't have any fancy grow lights and kept them on a extended glass plant window that we have for various house plants, so I don't think they got the whole amount of sunlight needed. Ive started hardening them off and having them outside in full light seems to be helping. I just used some Miracle Grow starter soil that we had out in our garage.
Sorry, this was the second part of my post that I couldnt post yesterday (to many pics per post).
These are two of my original plants that I did not have enough jiffy pots to put them in. I decided to plant them outside and see how they did. As you can see slugs have devoured them. Im trying to keep up with egg shells but I just don't eat them all the time to have a decent amount. How much area should the egg shells cover around the plant? I also have a few containers with beer in them that have been a lot more successful at killing them. Ive got to move a few plants so that these can get more sunshine, but with the weather still dipping pretty low I don't see these little guys making it.
As any head strong red blooded American I could not settle on some random chilis from a friend. I caved and bought about thirty bhut jolokia seeds from NMSU's chili institute. Like a rookie I tried rigging my own propagation mat with an old heat blanket. I might have had them over heated and had it above 110 for a few hours. I turned it way down and put a towel between the two, Im afraid that I may have cooked them. I don't have an accurate thermometer so they are probably between 70-80 degrees right now. I'm thinking I might move some into jiffy pots like the egg shell ones we have some sunflowers growing in the above picture. I think the sun in the extended window if I clear the other plants would be enough to keep the temperature up during the day. Do seeds need round the clock heat or is there a day night cycle they need to be on for germination? Also when using a plastic bag/paper towel method. Do you transfer them as soon as the roots appear? The habs I posted before had started their first seed leafs before I put them in soil. I have a feeling I did that wrong?
If they do germinate I'll definitely be getting some different potting mix that have been suggested around here. In all likely hood I'll probably not be getting any fruit from them and will try moving some of them inside before next winter.
I'd also like to ask what is the best way to keep these plants from cross pollinating? You guys have dozens of different strains growing. What techniques do you use to keep them pure?
