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seeds Newbie Germination Question

Zone 9b

Zone 9b

My wife brought home a sickly WalMart habanero plant about eight weeks ago... now the plant looks great and has about 50 or so pods on it thanks to bone meal and epsom salt and attention...

now, it also has eight different pepper plants next to it to keep it company... all looking good...

so i'm getting cocky...

and i decided to buy some datil seeds on ebay to try and germinate them...

have a pot covered in saran wrap sitting on top of my internet router (hey, it throws off heat)...

anyway, i figure i have a 10% chance that i'll get any sprouts as i'm basically a dumb ass newb...

BUT, my bigger fear is that they do sprout as I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO NEXT...

so far i've figured out that i should remove the saran wrap and get em under a flourescent...

what advice do y'all have for me (be kind).
 
I started off reading a lot before I planted my seeds. Although you can do it your way I opted to go with several guys suggestions here and I got a jiffy 75 with heat mat and dome. Yeah I had to shell out around $35.00 or so for the setup, but in less than a week I had over 150 sprouts all growing fast. The biggest mistake I made was planting 3 seeds per peat puck and getting way too many plants to know what to do with. I suggest going that route where your almost guaranteed success. I'm a first year grower so I wanted to keep it simple stupid.
 
yup...as soon as they sprout, pour the light to them...if you don't they will become leggy (long, weak stemmed) because they are reaching for the light...

a gentle breeze made by a small fan is also good for strengthening the stems (think of it as exercise)...I run a fan on mine 30 minutes twice a day...
 
With sprouts I suggest doing about 16hrs on/ 8hrs off light cycle. I have just used fluorescent ligts with my seedlings. I have 2-4' dual bulb shop lights with some higher end (some Japanese bran I think) 35w grow bulbs. Keep in mind though that for optimal growth. Not only do you want the lights on A LOT but you want them just inches away from the bulbs and you should estimate about 35-45w/plant. That figure right there is why you will se a lot of setup that use more expensive setup and bulbs but for seedlings what I have works quite well.
 
I run my lights 24/7 on my seedlings and don't cut back on the lighting until they are several weeks old....
 
Interesting. I would try that but even with as little electricity that it would take my dad would put my chicklets in a grinder if I were doing that...lol. Its bad enough that my girlfriend and her brother keep telling me "Why cant you just wait and put a seed in the ground and start plants that way like they were intended." lol
 
crazy8 said:
Interesting. I would try that but even with as little electricity that it would take my dad would put my chicklets in a grinder if I were doing that...lol. Its bad enough that my girlfriend and her brother keep telling me "Why cant you just wait and put a seed in the ground and start plants that way like they were intended." lol
Click to expand...

Tell them if you waited and put them in the ground in spring you would be looking a a small plant with no peppers on it come frost. :) Four 23W cfls can do 24 plants and would cost around 15 cents to run all of them for 18 hours. You need to do this for about 8 weeks so give your dad $9 and be done with it. That is if your planting around 24 plants. Adjust the price accordingly.
 
Well I got 8 I am winterizing and yes I may be seeding about that many. I dont want to Hihjack the thread but just a quick question considering I have considered CFLs, is there a brand/spec you recommend?
 
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