seeds Germination help.

[Pita]

Hey there! Thought I should give you guys-n-gals an update. I was able to save some of the orange hab seeds from my little science experiment and plant them along with a lot more seeds from store bought habs. My dad works for a packaging company so we have a lot lot lot of those clear food containers (kind of what you would buy pre-made sandwiches from the grocery store in). Though the soil layer is very thin, it seemed to work well.

At first, I only had 3 sprouts from the dozens of seeds I had put in there. After a good couple weeks, they just kept popping up. Now I have more than twenty little baby habs!!! I am really excited - I hope I can keep them alive XD I was thinking of getting a 4' shop light to let em grow. Not sure on t8s or t12s. Ill have to look into it. (I have to save all of my money for school, so it is a squeeze). To top it off, I had two ziplocks with seeds in some papertowels that would just not grow. I had tossed them to the side after a month or so - happened to glance over the other day and every single seed had sprouted and they're all making their way out of the paper towels! I'm so excited!

I tried to clone two of my larger plants, the ones I have had for quite a while. I'm not sure how they are doing. They're a wee bit droopy, and seem like the leaves are really thin, though they are not burning/ browning out.

Now, if any of my bigger plants would ever make pollen to set some fruit, that would be great!!

 

[chilliman64]

I germinate in jiffy pellets which sit in a small tray which holds 30 pots. seeds are planted about 3mm below the soil surface. the tray sits on a heat pad which is turned up to full heat (about 40 deg C) and I had 69 out of 70 jp germinate within about two weeks. last season I had similar results.

I use a mist sprayer twice a day (morning and night) and don't cover the trays with clingwrap or anything else. I have only use ziplock bags to test germination rates on any new seeds I plan on growing, otherwise I don't recommend it as a means of kicking off your seeds due to mold.

once they sprout I place them under pink grolux fluoros (2 x 18watt), I have heard them referred to as aquarium fluoros - these lights have my seedlings ready to harden off about 4 weeks after germination is commenced. to give you some idea, I set down my chinense varieties on 6th Sept and they have been hardening off for the last 2-3 weeks either under shadecloth or in direct sunlight ever since. I'm just waiting for mild conditions to plant out.

 

[chilliman64]

I saw a study by NMSU CPI that showed the germination percentages for a couple of different kind of chilis and from what I remember, heck....I am going to try and find that study right now...back in a bit...

I had 100% germination from my NMSU bhuts this year - 20/20