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seeds Rotting seeds?

Toleman

Toleman

I have been doing the damp paper towel method for germinating seeds and what I find is the seeds go all brown after a couple of weeks.

They are in the cupboard on top of the hot water tank (about 25 degrees in the eve/ night and 20 during the day).

I get specks of blue mould growing on the tissue and I don't know why they won't germinate. I have tried having the tissue very slightly damp and its still no help. Some germinate, others don't.
Even fresh orange habs, nothing after 2 weeks.

I have now put them in my grow box on top of the fluorescent fitting. Its currently 26 in there and gets to about 28 max, 20 during lights off.

Does fluctuating temps harm the germinating process?

Chris
 
Fluctuations might harm, but what might be worse is the low of 20. That seems like it might just be too cold for proper germination. If you have a cable box for your tv try putting them on top of that, even when ours is turned off, the temp gets up to around 30C.
 
I have used around 68 deg f for night time temps and it has always worked out fine with 86-92 day time temps Read this http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/research/horticulture/CTFRep2.pdf it says that the optimal germination temps are 68 at night and 86 during the day. So, Fluctuation of temps i don't think should cause any problems. I have done mine that way for years and it has worked out great. Could there be something in your water?
 
Well its certainly hard and the ph is high too.I have re dampened them with rain water this morning.

I have since moved them to my light box which is 28 degrees.

Im going to leave it on 24hours to give stable temps and I will report back in a few days.

Chris
 
Still nothing as of yet but we have better temperature.

I have put my probe in the tissue and its showing around 90F (on top of the fluorescent fitting) - Hope I dont cook them.

They are also showing splits in the seams of the seed casings so hopefully the little white bit will poke out soon :)
 
Be sure to watch the high temps. I had seeds in baggies on top of my stereo. Nothing sprouted so I checked the temp. It was 100F on there but didn't feel that hot. I won't use a heat source w/o proper testing again.
 
Mould I was talking about...

DSCF1830.jpg
 
My first time growing peppers I bought a little greenhouse kit that comes with a 72 cell tray, bottom container, and a plastic top. It sits on a heating mat that is connected to a temperature regulator. A little probe goes into one of the cells in the greenhouse from the regulator. I planted about 40 Bhut Jolokia seeds and all but 5 or 6 germinated. I believe the Jiffy greenhouses come with a temperature regulated heat-mat so you dont have to buy the separate heat regulator like I did. I think this would suit you better since its colder there in England.

To start them off I soaked the seeds overnight in a quart of drinking water with about 3 drops of "Superthrive" before placing them into the greenhouse. Good luck!
 
I think Ive baked them, probe the other day said 100F.

Im getting frustrated now! To much pi55ing about with them.
 
Just a guess but have you boiled your water and sterilized all your equipment? How about trying a differnet brand of tissue?

Could be some spores lurking where you are trying to germinate ?
 
Well I have since removed them from the tissue and put them in jiffy's to see what they do. I don't have high hopes for them though.

I am just starting some for growing over winter and the main batch will be started February. Its just annoying wasting seeds, especially when sent to you from members in other parts of the world.

It just seems to be some seeds that don't germinate, possibly due to higher tempreture requirements. Im using rain water as the tap water here is so hard.

I was quite patient in the beginning but now I've pissed about with moving them and trying different things with the same seeds its getting on my wick.

Chris
 
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