• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

seeds Seedlings and Humidity

Seedlings are coming along for the first time, some great, others okay, but none are dead yet lol.
 
Is it advisable to completely remove the humidity dome when it's very dry?  Basement is currently 78 degrees and bone dry, just 17% rH.
 
Been keeping the humidity domes on for this reason with vents open and fan going.  Water just evaporates so fast with it off, but I don't mind watering more often if it is better.  Just bottom watering for now.
 
Thanks in advance for any advice you have to share.
 
I like the dome on until all the all the seeds have popped. After that get rid of it. My first year, I had mildew kill most of my seedlings in one night. It was probably there longer, but you don't see it until its too late.  Also airflow will get them dancing and that builds thicker, stiffer stocks. 
 ​
If you are worried about soil drying out, pot them in solo cups with a little more soil. I like to use a soil that holds a little more moisture like a base of Peat moss or Coco.
 
Thanks Cayennemist.
 
Some I think may be in need of a pot up soon, at least the leggy ones that germinated before I had the chance to click the lights on.
 
Some others are misshapen.  One is a little crunchy.  A couple are yellow.  And some others, even, are just about perfect with short stems and nice leaves.  Lots of variety considering they've all been under the exact same conditions, and trying to figure what to make of it given lack of experience at this stage.
 

Attachments

  • 20210125_121735.jpg
    20210125_121735.jpg
    223.6 KB · Views: 109
I do the same. I use the domes only until they start to pop up. if the fans are drying things out too quickly you may try to point the fan in a different direction so that it can indirectly blow the air if that makes sense like blow it against the wall so it hits the wall first and then bounces back
 
willard3 said:
 
Do they look damped off?
 
Seems a bit of a terse reply, given that the state of your sprouts certainly invited the question.
.
They don't look damped off, but that looks like some grossly abused rockwool.  And you have ~50% occurrence of helmet tops, which is alarmingly high - although not surprising, given the oversized holes in the planting media.
.
If you were a newbie round these parts, you'd almost certainly be given advice to change that setup.
 
willard3 said:
These seeds were tepins which frequently keep the seed cap on for quite  a while. 
Leave them in a humid environment and they will self correct.
 
One trick to prevent helmet head, sow a little deeper 1/2" rather than 1/4" deep makes a difference. I don't think they look Damped off either.
 
 


If you are worried about Mildew/Damping Off, you should be, then try a little cinnamon on the top of the soil. YouTube it if you have questions about the application. I am just trying that this year as it is new to me too.
 
 ​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coRHndcS78c&ab_channel=GaryPilarchik​
 
Interesting. I just recently had a ton of helmet heads doing my first run of chinense. I planted my 2nd batch, only annums, much deeper, actually maybe about an inch deep and they've turned out to be really high quality looking seedlings. Really no issues at all germinating with zero helmet heads and not as leggy either.

I potted up the chinense a bit more than a week ago and took the dome off. Don't have solos, just some nursery pots. They haven't really grown at all since but the cayennes in the same batch are doing excellent so I think I'm on the right track and maybe they're just adjusting.
 

Attachments

  • 20210203_164200.jpg
    20210203_164200.jpg
    220.2 KB · Views: 94
  • 20210203_164242.jpg
    20210203_164242.jpg
    140.7 KB · Views: 85
I plant a little deeper, also.  Sorta started by accident, but I stuck with what works.  I have close to 0% incidence of helmet heads.  
.
These guys are tiny tiny varieties, but I started some in rockwool, and the others in my normal coco coir.  I was having some issues with germination, due to problem still unknown, but when they started popping, they were popping all over the place, in every given media. 
.
50906185821_1b10ee3b4e_z.jpg

.
50906185801_d97b20a12d_z.jpg
 
I think I learned this from Guru years ago. logically I get it, the more the leaves have to push through the medium, the more it pulls on the shell of the seed. 
Classic overcoming adversity and becoming stronger because of it. What doesn't kill yah, makes yah stronger.
 
Waiting an extra 24hrs for that 1/4" is soo hard though  :pray:
 
If I do try to grow some chili peppers from seed (I don't usually succeed) living here in Houston, TX the humidity is normally relatively high. 
What would y'all suggest for growing chili peppers from seed??
 
Willinator said:
If I do try to grow some chili peppers from seed (I don't usually succeed) living here in Houston, TX the humidity is normally relatively high. 
What would y'all suggest for growing chili peppers from seed??
 
That's a pretty vague question.  When do you plan on starting them?  Indoors or outdoors?
 
Willinator said:
If I do try to grow some chili peppers from seed (I don't usually succeed) living here in Houston, TX the humidity is normally relatively high. 
What would y'all suggest for growing chili peppers from seed??
You should be able to start seeds just fine. Control what you can. You can't change the weather so just make the little guys as comfortable as you can.
 
Back
Top