seeds problems germinating fatali/orange hab

[slick]

I'm in Sydney Australia and weather's starting to get really nice as spring just about started here (20+ degrees C during the day's starting to get common and only gets as cold as about 11degrees C during the night)

Anyway I'm germinating in Amgrow seed starting mix and 80cm jiffy pots.

I've put 3 seeds per pot and leave them out in the sun during the day and take them inside at night so they get constant 20 degree temperatures. I've left them outside during some recent rain as well but the problem is I got very quick 6 day germination on the Cayenne, 8-9 days for the Thai bird's eye, 2 weeks for the Costa Rican Habanero and after 3.5 weeks nothing for Fatali/Orange Habanero.

About 1 week in when I had a problem with too much water I got a bit of mold forming on the surface. I scraped it off and sprinkled a tiny bit of bicarb soda. That got rid of the mold quickly (as I've read on another site) but shortly after that I've read that bicarb soda can actually negatively affect the germination rates. Anyway I've been waiting patiently but after 3.5 weeks today I started digging around for the fatali/orange habanero seeds and they look like they've started rotting away was it over watering that did it? temperatures too cold? did I stuff it up with the bicarb ??? I've read jiffy pots arent the most popular way to germinate but the thing is the other species (cayenne+bird's eye) were super quick.




On another note here's 4 plants from last year. They've lived in this enormous pot outside all winter. I've got 3 bird's eye and 1 organge habanero. They were just sticks sticking out of the ground with a couple of leaves but in the last 2 weeks they've exploded into life. I've added a bit of dynamic lifter (chicken manure) and some yates professional blood and bone. It really seemed to do the trick. On the orange habanero I had about 20 flowers but since the plant's a bit small and doesnt have enough leaves I cut the flowers off and only left one. It's already for a nice pod forming. Was thinking of cutting that off too but I cant wait to have another fresh organge habanero. Here's a picture earlier today of the whole pot. There's a couple of herbs growing in the pot but it's massive. I'm unable to move the pot by myself. Also notice the other chilli plant to the left of the pot? I have no idea what it is. A seed fell on the ground last year and it was too late in the season to produce any chillies. I've left it there over winter and it's still alive. Look forward to seeing what it actually is this year but it's not in the best spot in the shade of the large pot. Maybe I'll transplant it...

 

[bennoz]

good stuff

Im in Syd too and started a bunch of seeds on Aug 8 (prob a bit early as it was still coldish). It took a while but my fatali's and bhuts are just started to pop up now. 4/6 and 3/6 respectivley. The other non chinese variety took about 2 weeks to germ . i guess just be patient

 

[slick]

thanks bennoz - do you have pictures of yours yet?

I've started August 18th so around the same time. So not all is lost if germination hasn't occurred after 4 weeks? After I got curious and started digging away I've actually found some seeds that were rotting away (all soft and squishy and mouldy)... maybe there's till some viable seeds in there though and they're just slow... I'll leave the pots as they are for another couple of weeks.

Neil at TheHippySeedCO has looked after me with some more seeds. I'm going to try a couple of other species as well.
Trinidad Scorpion + Aji Limon going in this week too but might try some other germination methods since what I've been doing so far hasn't worked well (6/20 success rate after nearly 4 weeks isnt great in such a mild climate as Sydney Australia - I was living in the cold of Siberia maybe that strike rate would have been good...)

So what's the verdict on the bicarb soda incident? Does it help get rid of mold and also stuff up chances of germination or is it ok to use if mold becomes a problem??

Do typical chilli seeds respond well to being put in a cold fridge with a bit of water for a few hours before being put in the seed raising mix to really wake them up from their slumber??

 

[mega]

20C is too cold to germinate. You really need 27-30C. At 20C you are going to get low germination rates and long germination times - exactly as is occurring.

On the other hand, 20C all day should work quite well once they sprout.

If you have some more fresh seeds, you might try starting up some new pots and get them on a heating pad or something so they start out right from Day 1.

They need high humidity too in order to geminate, not just higher temperatures - you might want to cover them in a plastic dome or saran wrap or something, for a week.

 

[Timmmy newbie]

@ Slick

I've already got a few Fatalii's going, if you have majors and can't get any going feel free to Pm me for some. But I won't be around for a week or so.... so be patient lol

I germinated 20-30 fatalii's in winter and outside with no heating. So at night the lowest temps were 0 yep zero c It just takes a lot longer. Don't totally give up on what you have in the dirt but maybe make some new attempts just in case

good luck

 

[slick]

thanks for the offer timmy

i'll give it 3 more weeks with the fatalii and if still no luck I'll beg for some of your seedlings


I've separated the pots that have sprouted vs the ones that havent. I'll leave the seedlings outside since it's not that cold but the seeds that need more warmth I'll bring in at night where it's currently 23° C. Tomorrow 17° is the top

 

[slick]

wow 3 weeks have nearly passed - I've given up on the first batch of fatali and orange habs and having a second go now after getting more seeds (it's been about 8 days since planting - leaving the pots outside in a semi protected spot but wont bother bringing these in at night if it's too cold - too much work looking after those bastards

to my surprise it's been about 2 months since I've planted and the thai bird's eyes have achieved 100% germination (3 plants per pot) but the seeds may have been a little too deep or not enough moisture or something... 2 of them only germinated today - I've got too many thai birds eyes - the main plants that germinated initially are on the 3rd set of leaves and so the seeds that have germinated today may have to be pulled out the cayenne germination has also been very good 2/3 seeds per pot germinated and one even had 3/3.

if only some of the fatali or orange habs or newly acquired trinidad scorpions and aji limons would hurry up and germinate....it's so annoying for things to be going so well

 

[franzb69]

if only some of the fatali or orange habs or newly acquired trinidad scorpions and aji limons would hurry up and germinate....it's so annoying for things to be going so well

chinenses are notoriously hard to germinate, but even moreso are pubescens varieties. trying to germinate chinenses require lots and lots of patience. longest i've had to germinate a chinense is about 2 months. i have had even more trouble with pubescens since they have such a thick and hard seedcoating. now i'm already considering doing unorthodox ways of trying to germinate them.

good luck with your grow.

 

[bennoz]

g'day Slick

thx for the update - least you've got SOME chillis started.

This is my 2nd year growing from seed and i learnt some stuff from last year:
-Seeds dont need light, just heat and water. So keep the planted seeds inside in a warm spot (ontop of the fridge for me)
-seeds dont need much water to germ. water em once, cover and leave em till they sprout. I overwatered last year and alot rotted - like yours have
-new sprouts are delicate. Dont leave them in full sun and dont overwater. i actually left mine covered in the window sill till the 1st set of true leaves emerged. then i put them outside in a sheltered spot to harden up.

now mine are starting their 2nd set of true leaves. Progress prob isnt as fast as most but their going in the right direction.

if your desperate i could give you a few of my seedlings

PS; too lazy atm for Pics

 

[LGHT]

Just get a jiffy seed starter kit. I got the large 72 cell one with heating mat and have never had a problem. I put a small CFL above them so they will have some light to reach for when they start to sprout. Put the whole setup in any room and in few weeks i've gotten every seed to sprout. Including the Bhut's

 

[slick]

quick update for the last 30 days or so

On 3rd attempt with Fatali and I've had no luck with zip lock bag method, jiffy peat pot or plastic pot with seed raising mix will give fatalis a go next year but I've run out of seeds again (2 lots of 10 seeds without success)

There's plenty of positives though having bought 15x 330ml pots and also got a few smaller ones for seedlings I'll give away as presents. Getting soil mix ready in the next few days. A bit frustrated with a local nursery selling orange habanero too. The seedlings looked fantastic at first glace in terms of health and size (but quite expensive at $4.79 each). On closer inspection every single orange habanero was different in terms of leaf colour, leaf shape, overall appearance and some looked very similar with my bird's eye. They've probably all cross pollinated or there's been some stuff up with the seeds because there were 10 seedlings at the nursery and it looked like there were 6 different varieties...I asked someone who said they looked different because of the different rate of fertilizer but that sounded like BS to me. I ended up giving them a miss an picking up a nice looking one at a local Bunnings. I got my orignal orange hab from last year at Bunnings so hoping for the same intense heat !


ok now on to the latest photos: closeup of the jiffy peat pots

healthy looking yellow cayenne: - used bokashi compost juice diluted 100:1

Aji Limon looking good (this was the third batch of seedlings and seems very quick to grow and almost catching up with the Costa Rican Habaneros (in the background there's my only Trinidad Scorpion with the helmet stuck on - seems stuck on unfortunately and it is growing very very slowly - popped up 8-9 days ago and only grown very little - dont want to try to remove helmet because it's my only Scorpion and scared i'll loose it)

Jiffy pots in a protected area getting a bit of shade and a bit of sun and away from the wind (I live fairly close to the ocean and the wind can be really bad especially at night)

final attempt with germination - the plastic containers seems to have helped keep the moisture + heat in better than covering the whole tray with plastic...

over wintered plants about 1 month after the last photo (gigantic pot containing 3 thai birds eye + 1 orange hab)

close up of the orange habanero - it's got a nice looking chilli on it but it's turned orange before it's reached full size - got a feeling it was a bit cold overnight this month and that stunted the growth a bit - should I leave it to get bigger or just pick it now??

a cayenne that was a bit sick and didnt overwinter well - pulled it out and about to chuck it out but decided to stick it in some dirt - it's doing surprisingly well now

same plant as above

this is a plant that went in very late last summer and when it got big enough to produce it got cold - it survived winter and now it's first to bear fruit only problem is I dont know what it is - used seeds from a supermarket bought chilli and it was either an orange cayenne or a some sort of jalapeno - looks more cayenne like to me but not really sure what it is

 

[megamoo]

Nice pics slick
I found a good method for taking the helmets off, You soften them up by spraying some water on them and then use nail clippers on the very outside edge of the seed case where the rim is thickest and hardest. You only need to clip off the smallest sliver. Then sqeeze them with tweezers gently and they should come away. I think its worth doing because if you leave them on too long the seed uses up its stored fuel trying to grow up to the light and won't get any more from its leaves in the sun. I have left one too long and even after free it died.

For germinating, just put them in a seed tray like you have in the picture with the jiffy pots, water them once and wrap in glad wrap. The label sticks will hold the plastic up and make a nice humid air pocket. Then stick it ontop of the fridge, you are already paying for that heat pad .
Once they start to grow you have to give them air and light, but I have similar pot trays and you can take out one pot and rewrap and leave the others undisturbed.
Its been 2 weeks since I planted individual seeds in little pots and I have 23 out of 40 germinated. ( I do individual seeds because I can't bear to thin them out later and waste seeds, some of the varieties are expensive!)
If the mix you are using is good there should be no mould. They don't have the up and down of day and night temps so they germinate quicker. They are sealed from bugs and up high away from devil chlldren and pets.

 

[slick]

I found a good method for taking the helmets off, You soften them up by spraying some water on them and then use nail clippers on the very outside edge of the seed case where the rim is thickest and hardest. You only need to clip off the smallest sliver. Then sqeeze them with tweezers gently and they should come away. I think its worth doing because if you leave them on too long the seed uses up its stored fuel trying to grow up to the light and won't get any more from its leaves in the sun. I have left one too long and even after free it died.

Many thanks for this but I should have asked sooner - after spending a few minutes operating with surgical precision I was able to take the helmet off by cutting the outer edges of the seed. I then removed it with tweezers. Unfortunately the inside of the helmet was brown (rotting I assume) and this brownness started moving down towards the root. I could see it properly because of the helmet but it didnt really grow much for 8-9 days as I said so something was obviously wrong. The only thing that doesnt make sense is - why was it stuck? If the inside started rotting then it should have come of really easy??? oh well - I have 3-4 seeds left I cant try again with the scorpions...

 

[harry]

Many thanks for this but I should have asked sooner - after spending a few minutes operating with surgical precision I was able to take the helmet off by cutting the outer edges of the seed. I then removed it with tweezers. Unfortunately the inside of the helmet was brown (rotting I assume) and this brownness started moving down towards the root. I could see it properly because of the helmet but it didnt really grow much for 8-9 days as I said so something was obviously wrong. The only thing that doesnt make sense is - why was it stuck? If the inside started rotting then it should have come of really easy??? oh well - I have 3-4 seeds left I cant try again with the scorpions...

The seed needs to be sowed deep enough to stay lodged in the soil when it sprouts. As the cotyledons grow they push against the inside of the seed case and thus outwards. Sometimes the potting mix used doesn't provide enough resistance to keep the sprout from pulling its head up before it can push itself out of seed cap.

 

[geeme]

Nice pics, Slick. That mystery pod does remind me of my cayenne - curious to see what it actually is!

 

[Moshman]

Hey slick, some of your seedlings are doing well. The birdseye looks like it's powering along.
To get a constant temp try putting your seedlings in a plastic takeaway container with the lid on and sticking it on the top of your fridge or under your router (mine got too hot under my router but yours may run a little cooler).
Those cold nights may be affecting your strike rates with the superhots for sure. Even when they sprout, they never seem to grow as quick for me and appear to go dormant once their first true leaves come in for a while.