Hi everyone,
Just introduced myself over in the welcome section. I'm new but I have been lurking on here a long time.
I started my seeds for this season 4-5 days ago since I'm in zone 6. I watered my seeds yesterday afternoon (they are in individual small dixie cups with 1/2 seed starting soil and 1/2 orchid soil) and by this morning several containers were really dry. I did have cling wrap over all of the cups, laid over the cups in sheets, and the cling wrap had condensation, but the soil was DRY. I cut large holes in the bottom of the cups to ensure good drainage, maybe too good, and I have under heat as well as heat from above (heat lamp) to maintain an 85F environment. I think it all got dried out so fast because of the heat lamp plus the humidity in WV is nonexistent right now with this crazy cold weather.
The dixie cups are sitting in a rubbermaid container so I watered them really well this morning and put the air tight lid on the container, tossed the cling wrap. The heat from the lamp hitting the lid is still keeping the temp inside at 85, but I am worried I already killed some of the seeds because they dried out overnight.
I read that if the seed has not started to germinate it might be ok, but I got curious and dug a couple up to see since it has only been 5 days. The ghost pepper seed was cracked open as if it is starting to germinate. I then dug up a jamaican hab and it already had a small root coming out of the seed casing. The root looked healthy, not dehydrated.
Everything I read says that if you let the seeds dry out one time you might as well start over because they won't sprout. Has anyone had experience with this? I would hate to buy more seeds if these have a good chance of making it. Thanks!
Just introduced myself over in the welcome section. I'm new but I have been lurking on here a long time.
I started my seeds for this season 4-5 days ago since I'm in zone 6. I watered my seeds yesterday afternoon (they are in individual small dixie cups with 1/2 seed starting soil and 1/2 orchid soil) and by this morning several containers were really dry. I did have cling wrap over all of the cups, laid over the cups in sheets, and the cling wrap had condensation, but the soil was DRY. I cut large holes in the bottom of the cups to ensure good drainage, maybe too good, and I have under heat as well as heat from above (heat lamp) to maintain an 85F environment. I think it all got dried out so fast because of the heat lamp plus the humidity in WV is nonexistent right now with this crazy cold weather.
The dixie cups are sitting in a rubbermaid container so I watered them really well this morning and put the air tight lid on the container, tossed the cling wrap. The heat from the lamp hitting the lid is still keeping the temp inside at 85, but I am worried I already killed some of the seeds because they dried out overnight.
I read that if the seed has not started to germinate it might be ok, but I got curious and dug a couple up to see since it has only been 5 days. The ghost pepper seed was cracked open as if it is starting to germinate. I then dug up a jamaican hab and it already had a small root coming out of the seed casing. The root looked healthy, not dehydrated.
Everything I read says that if you let the seeds dry out one time you might as well start over because they won't sprout. Has anyone had experience with this? I would hate to buy more seeds if these have a good chance of making it. Thanks!
