seeds Newbie Starting from Seed...Comments and Help Welcomed! Especially the Help!

[ScottyTooHottie]

Ok. So this is the first time I've tried starting from seed and growing anything other than Jalapenos and Bell Peppers.

Below are pictures of where I'm currently at as well as my setup. Most of my set up was purchased before I found this site.

I have 24 different varieties in 3 - 72 plug trays. I've used Burpee Organic Seedling soil which i believe is mostly coconut fiber (I believe). Most seeds were obtained from PepperLover, PepperMania and rareseeds.com

The first picture is 2 rows - Jamaican Hot Chocolate, Scorpion Butch 'T's, Bhut Jolokia, Chocolate Habanero, They were sowed on Feb 6 and all seeds were soaked 12 - 24 hours in a water/peroxide solution.

Note on the photo below, the third and fourth rows of my Scorpion Butch T's look to be curling up and dying. At least they seem to be doing the worst in this tray. I thought it might be water but I'm fairly confident they watered well and two days ago I watered with a dilute solution of MaxiCrop.

I will say they all tend to dry out quickly, I bet after 3 days they need watered. I still have the heat mat in the tent because I have a bunch that didn't germinate yet. The mat runs around 84-85 deg. The temp inside runs 80 - 85 deg. i have a small fan that blows across the top of the trays. I do have a cheap inline fan at the top of the tent. I'm waiting on a fan controller that will have it come on at a certain temp. Now the Butch T's were purchased off of Ebay.....before I knew about this forum, so I'm not too hopeful.

The photo below is 2 which has, 7 Pod Brain Yellow, Datil, Fatalii, Dorset Naga, Trinidad 7 Pot Red, Naga Morich, Orange Habanero, White Habanero, Thai Red. Most were sowed Feb 11 however 7P Brain Yel, DN and NM were on Feb 17. The ones planted on the 17th seem to be sprouting before the ones on the 11th??? I Wonder if ones on the 11th were nuked at all?

Below is Tray 3, not much better than Tray 2. Sowed on Feb 11 & Feb 17. Orange Hab, Inca Red Drop, Datil, Lemon Drop, Aji Limon, Red Scotch, Yellow Scotch, Mystery, Queen Laurie, Tobasco, Red Hab.

Again, they do seem to dry out quickly which means I'll be watering more than once a week.

Tray 1 has the biggest seedlings so far, at what point do you pot up?

Below are photos of my tent, lights and fans. I did have four - 4' T5's in it but it was always 85 deg or more so I put the LEDs in. I'm thinking about getting a 4' x 4' tent and putting it in the basement to help with the heat.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Scott

 

[nitwit]

the potting on is normally done when the roots are showing out the bottom

the seeds that are not up yet need a little more patience from the farmer

stuff that looks dry might do better with a little more water even if it is just a spray every now and then

at this stage yours do not look too wet at all but some look a little dry

overall your grow looks pretty good

please keep posting

good growing

 

[Dulac]

That's pretty cool. I sowed mine in jiffy pellets on Feb. 15th for the seeds I got from pepperlover. I'm having very good rates and very happy with pepperlover. I also noticed that seedlings dry out fast after you take the lid off. I quickly transplant mine to red cups before they even get true leaves. I'd take those dry ones and put em in cups if I were you. They will do much better since the cups obviously don't dry out as fast. It's looking good .

 

[ScottyTooHottie]

I'm trying not to over water them, but if they are dry they are dry! I do have a spray bottle where I hit them in between regular waterings.

I guess I just found it strange that a lot of tray 1 sprouted within a week where as the other other 2 have been around 2 weeks and seem slow to sprout.

But yes....I do need more patience.

I took the dome off of tray 1 when 80% of the seeds were sprouted. What is a good rule of thumb?

Thanks!

Scott

 

[patrick]

When a seedling appears take it out of the germinating tray and place it into it's own container and get it under some lights. By taking the lid off of the germ tray you're allowing the other non germed seeds to dry out. That's a big no-no. They get dry they do not germinate. It looks like all of your trays are dry. The dying Butch T's look like they're half cooked. The cotyledons wrapping under like that is a sign they're thirsty. They're trying to hide from the light. You fetilized too? That's fine but go at a reduced rate, say 25% of recommended strength.

For pot size i would suggest something in the range of a 20oz cup. They should be able to stay in them for six weeks.

Good luck.

One last thing. WATER THEM ALL ASAP!

 

[wrightdaddy]

^^^^+1

they all look very thirsty you want to keep it moist at this stage not dripping wet just moist.

 

[ScottyTooHottie]

I'm going to make sure they are moist but not dripping.

I have some kord pots on order to pot up the germinated ones. Once I do that I'll also get the heating mat out of the tent.

I hope to have them done by this weekend.

Hopefully the non-germinated ones aren't cooked!

Thanks!

Scott