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How long? Am I just being impatient?

zoddy

zoddy

Three and a half weeks ago I put down 10 different varities of chilli seeds.

They were put into seed raising mix/soil and put into my greenhouse which has maintained a min. temperature of 22 degrees since I put the seeds in (expect over night where it has dropped down to 19 at the lowest) Temps in Celcius, sorry I'm not sure what the Farenheight conversion is.

There is absolutely no activity on any of them. As I split the seeds I bought amongst a few people I only ended up with about 5 seeds of each of the 10 varieties so I initially only put 1 seed in each punnet as I didn't want to waste/loose any seeds I didn't have too - yes I'm a tight ass :)

At the same time I planted capscicum, beet seeds, mustard seeds and fennel seeds all of which have germinated and are almost ready to go out into the garden.

Am I just being impatient, or are they not likely to germinate?
 
Seeds were:

Tabasco, Asian Birds Eye, Pusa Jwala, Aji Lemon and Medusa, Hungarian Hot Wax, Peruvian White Habanero, Kempsey Red, Scotch Bonnet and Fatali Habanero
 
Zoddy, The chillis like a little higher average temp to germinate (around 28 - 32C) so they may still germinate but just a little slower...

I was the same, my caps came up after a few days but even at a perfect 29C in good seed raising mix, my chillis still took minimum 8 days....

is the soil staying moist but not wet?

It should be ok. I would only start to get worried after another 10 days
 
Yeah definately moist, I use a mist sprayer twice a day (morning and night).

Hmmm, it will be a struggle to get to 32 degrees without a heat pad I think. Should I try putting them in a plastic container lined with foil and a lamp above them for a week or so, instead of in the greenhouse?

Alternatively, where can i get a head pad from?
 
have a look at THSC's website. He made a germination box with a light bulb and a cardboard box. I think it would only take a 40W globe to get to temp.
 
zoddy said:
Alternatively, where can i get a head pad from?
Click to expand...

Indoor gardening stores, hydroponic supplies stores and pet shops also sell heat pads.

What is working for me is a heat pad with the plants in shallow seed pots - and the seed pots sitting in a water bath - which heats up and keeps the soil warm and moist and the air humid.
 
Hey Zoddy, my first time growing too :)
I put down,Dorset Naga, Tabasco, Aji Lemon, Medusa ,Asian Birds Eye,Red Savina, Choc Hab and Pusa Jwala. That was about five weeks ago.
Out of this batch the following happened, week 2 the Dorsets started to sprout, 100% success rate, actually i swear i have more Nagas then seeds i put down but anyway:) Couple of days later the Tabasco started to sprout and continues to do so.
Week three Pusa Jwala (1) sprouts, couple of days later a Choc Hab poked it's head through (he is sick though).
Week 5 (now) the Medusa and Asain Birds Eye finally decide they want a piece of the action!

These were sprouted in normal potting mix on my shed bench, getting filtered sun during the day and a blast of sun for about 2 hours in the afternoon. My temp would have been way too low which explains why some didn't sprout (can't explain the Nagas though).

To summarise- be patient grasshopper, wax on wax off :)
 
Temps at this time of the year here in NSW don't require a heat mat now.

Either wait it out like Novacastrian said (I know, it sucks!!!), or for a very cheap price: My brother and i usually start all our seeds (I tried to be fancy this season and wasn't as good) in 1.5Lt soft drink bottles cut in half. fill the bottom with seed raising mix and insert the seeds then make the soil moist and push the top part over the bottom and it seals well. Leave it in the sun and it forms it's own green house. We got 100% germination this way.....Seed usually sprout within 7 - 10 days.

Once the seedling sprouts, transplant it pretty quickly cause they get very leggy very quickly in the sealed bottle. If you only have one seed per bottle then just take the lid off and it should be right till you are ready to do your think with it....

Hope this helped....Good luck.

P.S. keep the seeds in the pots going cause they will most likely still come up and then you have options, and you will learn the different germination times with different techniques
 
Cheers everyone, great advise Novo and Moy. I'll give the drink bottle trick a go.

I didn't think I'd need a heat pad now, but hey nothing was happening so I paniced....
 
just be patient... when i started my Bhuts they took a long time to germinate... i think something like a month and a half +/-, and i used a tea solution to start them in, and they sat in a really warm place; i was about to give up when they finally germinated; now I've got to plants that are well on thier way to producing, don't give up & don't panic
good luck
 
patience grasshopper

2-4 weeks can be normal for chinenses but I'm surprised your annuums have taken this long. I'm in Sydney and my seeds took no longer than 2wks but I was using a heat pad at 40 deg C. can you place your seed trays on a water heater or on top of the fridge to give them a bit more warmth? there are many many more experienced growers here than me, nonetheless you can check my THP blog if you like to see how I did it.
 
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