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New to Superhots

The Howster

The Howster

Hi All

I decided to grow some scotch bonnets last year and caught the chilli growing bug. It was a simple affair using the jiffy bag in the airing cupboard method then on the windowsill all summer.
This year I have decided to give the superhots a go. I have the following:

From Chileseeds.co.uk
CPI Bhut Jolokia x 10
Naga Morich Super Spanish x 10
Orange Habanero x 10
Naga Jolokia India PC-1 x 10

From Nickys Nurseries
Bih Jolokia x 10
Naga Morich Indian Strain x 10
Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah x 10
Trinidad Scorpion x 10
Trinidad Scorpion Marouga Red x 10
Red Habanero Devils Tongue x 10
Red Scotch Bonnets x 10

I decided to stick the CPI Bhut's in a damp paper towel and put in a jiffy bag in the airing cupboard on 19/03/2011. 2 Days later they were covered in black furry mould. I put them in dilute domestos (bleach) for 20 mins then set them up again in a new paper towel and jiffy bag and so far no new mould nor any germination. Not optimistic for these now.

On 21/03/2011 I put all the other seeds in two heated propogators. One was unheated so i popped a 7watt vivarium heater underneath with some polystyrene insulation backing it.
I used Jonh Innes Seedling mix and filled the trays, then put 50 seeds in each:

Tray 1
Bih Jolokia
7 Pot Jonah
Trinidad Scorpion Marouga Red
Naga Morich Indian
Habanero Devils Tongue

Tray 2
Trinidad Scorpion
Naga Morich Spanish
Orange Habanero
Red Scotch Bonnet
Naga Indian PC-1

These then went in a cupboard underneath my fish tank after a gentle watering with RO water.

I put a thermometer in near the edge which showed they were around 30C and let them be.
A few days later I moved the thermometer from the edge to the middle of the other tray and the temp was at 40-41C.

I immediately lifted the lids and cooled them off. Since then I have had the vents open and the cupboard door open and the temps have been 32-35 at the centre (likely deeper and nearer the heat source than the seeds).

I figured I had baked them but last night 25/03/2011 I noticed two seedlings. One was the Trinidad Scorpion and the other a Naga Morich Indian. Today I now have 2 Trinidad Scorpions and 4 Naga Morich. Nothing else has come up.

Now this is fantastic, but also worrying. Can I really have germinated these tough cookies in such a short space of time or may the seeds be a litte dodgy. Both these varieties came from here

Any thoughts?
 
The way I usually germinate MY seeds, they germinate in 1 week, typically. 2 max. I dont think there is any wrong reason honestly.
 
Thanks for the comments

I've been checking out these forums for the last few weeks and there seems to be some great knowledge on here.

As of today I have the following up:

4 x Naga Morich Indian
4 x Trinidad Scorpion
3 x Orange Habanero
1 x Trinidad Scorpion Marouga Red

All the rest have yet to show.

Fingers crossed they are all genuine. I had doubts as I've read so much on here about scorpions being so tough to germinate and yet the ones I though would come up sooner are only just starting or haven't come up at all.

I'll get some pics up later today.
 
I had two scorps show in 6 days & 4 more today - day 7. I also had a 7 pod on kitchen roll show in 6 days, no Dorsets or Bhut Jolokias yet.
 
Another Scorpion Marouga has come up plus 3 red scotch bonnets.

I am keeping the heat mats on for now while I wait to see what else comes up. The seedlings look fine for now but should I look to move these early starters away from the heat while the others germinate or are they fine where they are for a week or so?
 
All my superhots this year are acting funny. Except Scotch Bonnet and one Trinidad, all seeds refused to sprout.

I will now wait for the weather to stabilize .And replant all superhots in April first week.
 
Here are some shots of what my little set up looked like earlier today:

The light only went in once I had my first seedling.
IMAG0187.jpg


The Naga Morich and Marouga Reds coming up:
IMAG0190.jpg


The Trinidad Scorpions and a few others:
IMAG0191.jpg
 
These are starting to come up quickly, so far:

Indian PC-1 0/8
Trinidad Scorpion 4/10
Naga Morich Spanish 0/10
Orange Habanero 5/11
Red Scotch Bonnet 6/8

Trinidad Scorpion Marouga Red 8/11
7 Pot Jonah 3/10
Bih Jolokia 0/10
Naga Morich Indian 4/10
Red Habanero Devils Tongue 2/10

I uncovered a couple of bih jolokia seeds and they have germinated so hooks should be up in the next couple of days. So excited!
 
As of today

Indian PC-1 1 of 8 (12.5%)
Trinidad Scorpion 5 of 10 (50%)
Naga Morich Spanish Strain 0 of 10 (0%)
Orange Habanero 8 of 11 (73%)
Red Scotch Bonnet 5 of 8 (previous number wrong) (62.5%)

Trinidad Scorpion Marouga(sp?) Red 11 of 11 (100%):)
Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah 5 of 10 (50%)
Bih Jolokia 3 of 10 (30%)
Naga Morich Indian Strain 6 of 10 (60%)
Red Habanero Devils Tongue 3 of 10 (30%)

If nothing more germinates I'm pretty happy with what I have as I was only gonna grow a couple of each at most myself (may have to change this now). Just a shame nothings happened with the Spanish Strain Naga Morich. I know for certain there is at least another devils tongue germinated but hook hasn't started. I also have a 7 Pot Jonah that has germinated but the root has gone round in spirals making a tight corkscrew so it probably won't make it.

I'm gonna move a few of the more prolific ones into cells onto a mini homemade greenhouse on the windowsill and leave the propogators on to see if I can get more germination. Am I good to give them their first mild dose of Chilli focus or should I hang fire?
 
after a hole lot of experimenting have started my hard to germinate seeds with a four hour soak in salt petre, rinse put into baggies 100% germination 4-5 days at 85 degrees.
 
woody3says said:
Hang on the ferts till the first leaves appear. The cots will feed them till them.
Click to expand...

Will do. I'm just starting to see the first set of leaves appearing on a few now.

HawaiiAl said:
after a hole lot of experimenting have started my hard to germinate seeds with a four hour soak in salt petre, rinse put into baggies 100% germination 4-5 days at 85 degrees.
Click to expand...

What is salt petre? Thats some fantastic germination, does that include superhots?

I now have at least 1 of everything up which I'm chuffed to bits about:

Naga Jolokia Indian PC-1: 1 of 8
Trinidad Scorpion: 8 of 10
Naga Morich Spanish Strain: 1 of 10
Orange Habanero: 9 of 11
Red Scotch Bonnet: 5 of 8

Trinidad Scorpion Marouga Red: 11 of 11
Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah: 5 of 10
Bih Jolokia: 4 of 10
Naga Morich Indian Strain: 6 of 10
Red Habanero Devils Tongue: 4 of 10

Last night I checked out the CPI Bhut Jolokia I have in a paper towel and plastic bag in the airing cupboard. I had given up on these due to time and the mould they got early on. It looked like one had gone mouldy again until I realised it was a hairy root. I looked again this morning and 4 now have little roots poking out. They took a while but I got their eventually.

I've just been out and bought some large pots for later on down the line. My options were 10 litre round, 11 litre square, or 15 litre round. I have bought half a dozen of the square for now. Will these be big enough or should I go larger?

Cheers for the comments!
 
I have moved all the viable seedlings into mini greenhouses on my windowsill to get them lots of natural light. The successful candidates were:

8 Trinidad Scorpions
8 Orange Habanero
6 Naga Morich Indian Strain
1 Naga Morich Spanish Strain
5 Bih Jolokia
5 Red Scotch Bonnet
6 7 Pot Jonah
4 Red Habanero Devils Tongue
9 Scorpion Marouga Red
1 Naga Jolokia Indian PC-1
7 CPI Bhut Jolokia (all germinated on paper towel but only 1 has a hook up above the soil so far).

Something odd I have noticed is that 3 of the Scorpion Marouga Red and 1 of the Bih Jolokia have 3 distinct Cotyledons. Does this happen often and what effect can it have on the plant?
 
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