I ordered several exotic strains of pepper this year. Purple Jalapeno, Purple Ghost, Red habanero, and caroliona reaper to be specific. I have planted 3 different runs in the past month, using about 50 red hab, 30 purple ghost, 10 purple jalapeno, 10 carolina reaper respectively.... Now here is the kicker, I have only had 2 red hab, and 1 purple ghost actually germinate! I have 10 years on and off experience with gardening, and this is my fourth year doing a large variety of peppers. This is the first time I have EVER had an issue with germination. I always either sow directly into soil in red solo cups, in a tray with 1/4 inch of water to keep the soil moist, or directly into my beds, and I never have any issues. This year it is too early to sow into beds, but I wanted to get ahead of the game a little bit to bump up my yield and pepper size. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, because I only have enough seeds to try this one more time, and I do not want this time, money, and effort to be in vain.
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Problems sowing exotics...help!
- Thread starter TheOther-One1
- Start date
Where? Is it possible supplier had bad batch?TheOther-One1 said:
Garden soil or potting media?TheOther-One1 said:
One last thing, do you pre-soak seeds before planting?
Bad seeds?
I had trouble with some Trinidad Moruga Scorpions this season that I ordered from a reputable vendor. None of mine came up. Tried several times and several methods with no luck. Another member on here got his seeds from the same vendor and his grew!
I guess we all get a bad batch of seeds sometime. Looks like in your case, more than one batch!
I had trouble with some Trinidad Moruga Scorpions this season that I ordered from a reputable vendor. None of mine came up. Tried several times and several methods with no luck. Another member on here got his seeds from the same vendor and his grew!
I guess we all get a bad batch of seeds sometime. Looks like in your case, more than one batch!
CaneDog
Extreme Member
That's not necessarily a lot of information to go on, but I can share some thoughts - other than bad seeds - which is possible but probably unlikely if 4 different varieties are showing bad rates.
If you've grown predominantly annuum varieties in the past, the reaper, ghost, and habanero are different animals. They're likely to be noticeably slower to germinate and may not sprout as well at lower temperatures. If you've made 3 runs already in a month, you should be prepared to wait longer than 7-10 days for germination, even under ideal conditions
Perhaps consider:
1. Get your soil temps for germination up to between 80F and 85F for these varieties.
2. Be prepared to wait up to 3 weeks, though with the #'s you're planting I'd expect to see at least some sprouts within 2 weeks.
3. Don't leave the solo cups in water. Seeds that take longer to sprout are more likely to be adversely affected by wetter conditions, e.g., rot and lack of adequate oxygen. Start with moist-but-not-wet soil and rubber band some saran wrap over the top of each solo to hold in moisture. Remove it after about 5 days. Make sure the soil doesn't dry out by spritzing it with a spray bottle, but don't spray it so much or so often it stays wet. Lightly moist works best.
Also, it will be difficult to get production from the Purple Ghost, Red habanero, and Carolina reaper (any Chinense or Ghost pepper) according to the time line of annuum production. i.e., if you wait until it's warm enough to plant seeds outside, it's unlikely you'll get any amount of ripe pods during the season. They simply grow slower. Most growers plant these varieties indoors around Feb +/- and plant out a couple/few months later in May. Starting in April is already behind the game.
Hope this helps.
If you've grown predominantly annuum varieties in the past, the reaper, ghost, and habanero are different animals. They're likely to be noticeably slower to germinate and may not sprout as well at lower temperatures. If you've made 3 runs already in a month, you should be prepared to wait longer than 7-10 days for germination, even under ideal conditions
Perhaps consider:
1. Get your soil temps for germination up to between 80F and 85F for these varieties.
2. Be prepared to wait up to 3 weeks, though with the #'s you're planting I'd expect to see at least some sprouts within 2 weeks.
3. Don't leave the solo cups in water. Seeds that take longer to sprout are more likely to be adversely affected by wetter conditions, e.g., rot and lack of adequate oxygen. Start with moist-but-not-wet soil and rubber band some saran wrap over the top of each solo to hold in moisture. Remove it after about 5 days. Make sure the soil doesn't dry out by spritzing it with a spray bottle, but don't spray it so much or so often it stays wet. Lightly moist works best.
Also, it will be difficult to get production from the Purple Ghost, Red habanero, and Carolina reaper (any Chinense or Ghost pepper) according to the time line of annuum production. i.e., if you wait until it's warm enough to plant seeds outside, it's unlikely you'll get any amount of ripe pods during the season. They simply grow slower. Most growers plant these varieties indoors around Feb +/- and plant out a couple/few months later in May. Starting in April is already behind the game.
Hope this helps.
Yes I have noticed the ones that are growing do so remarkably slow. The first run I did WAS in February, so I guess I had my timeline a little off. I was unaware of the finicky nature of these varietires, and, with that in mind, I may keep them indoors until next year (I have the appropriate gear), do you think that would be feasible? I guess what I'm asking is, do they do well over a long period under COB lighting? I will trynthe alterations you suggested and report back if I have any success. Thanks man, I appreciate the help.CaneDog said:
CaneDog
Extreme Member
You bet. And sure, there's no reason you can't grow some and produce peppers indoors and LED lights should grow them fine. You may find they don't set peppers as quickly indoors under LED's as you're used to outside, but they usually get around to it after dropping flowers for a while. I've had great luck with T5HO lighting and HID lighting with Chinense, but I'm still learning how to get the best results from them with my LED. I actually have a ghost (peach bhut) and habanero (Galapagos habanero) flowering under an LED right now and they're doing great - they just haven't started setting pods yet. Your Purple Jalapeno (or any other annuum) should be easy to get peppers from under LED, though. I just grew a couple Jalapeno Zapotec x Purple Jalapeno hybrids under my LED and they produced pods like gangbusters.
As far as growing them now to keep overwinter and put out next year, there's no reason you couldn't do that. Myself, I'd probably grow one batch now through ripe peppers and then start a new batch early next year to put out. That way I wouldn't have such big plants for so long. But either should work.
As far as growing them now to keep overwinter and put out next year, there's no reason you couldn't do that. Myself, I'd probably grow one batch now through ripe peppers and then start a new batch early next year to put out. That way I wouldn't have such big plants for so long. But either should work.
I was also thinking maybe in stead of trying to sprout seeds again next year, just cloning the ones that do end up thriving. Do you have any experience in cloning peppers? I have had great results in the past with medical cannabis cloning and would be confident in doing so if it were at all possible.
CaneDog
Extreme Member
Sure, that's another option. Have a look at what swinglish did recently with a reaper.
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73010-my-overwinter-room/?p=1664439
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73010-my-overwinter-room/?p=1666137
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73010-my-overwinter-room/?p=1670192
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73010-my-overwinter-room/?p=1664439
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73010-my-overwinter-room/?p=1666137
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73010-my-overwinter-room/?p=1670192
TheOther-One1 said:
While Cane Dogs links to shinglish posts good I saved this link because I thought it very helpful: How do you clone?
Don't forget this will open a different issue....Keeping these clones alive during the winter months....
If you have a strong mother stock cloning is absolutely the way to go!
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Awesome! Looks like I am going to give it a try! Unfortunately, the few healthy plants that I had just succumbed to a late frost/light snow. The farmers almanac mislead me to believe that we were past that. That being said I have 2 chilis, 2 jalapenos, and a bell and a red habanero that are iffy whether or not they are going to live, I have them covered with pots turned upside down with a sleeping bang laid over that weighed down by stone, but it seems that the damage may have already been done. That's the last time I go by the almanac....
they arent the best pics, and they are from the day after, which was 3 days ago. They are a lot darker green now, except for the one in the close up. That one is a jalapeno that is in an extra large pot, I wrapped that one in a tarp before the snow hit so it had some protection.
Attachments
UPDATE: everything but the Carolina reapers from the second batch have started to come up, so there is hope! The first batch was destroyed and recycled, so maybe I just jumped the gun, but they did take almost 3 1/2 weeks. So I guess they were just late germinaters.
