• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

seeds Started a few seeds...need some advice.

S

silverwing

I just started a few seeds. Bhut jolokia and Thai hot peppers. two of each. (unfortunately don' have much room at the moment).
But I wanted some advice. I set up a little seedling heatery thing in my garage. Its just something I threw together since I only wanted to start a few seeds and I couldn't warrant shelling out a couple hundred for a proper setup. ( though I would love one lol :D )
Now I realize that my lamp is probably not producing the right type of light for the seedlings to grow once they poke out of the soil which I will take care of when the time comes. But the lamp does produce significant heat ( its one of those sun lamps you put on reptiles cages [ghetto I know lol] ) If you can see it the thermostat I put on top of the cups is exactly 100 degrees F and holding there. I also put about 4 thumbtack sized holes at the bottom of the cups for some drainage.

Now what I was wondering is, is there anything I missed or should change? I am still extremely new to this and would greatly appreciate the help. Thanks. :D

Sorry about the bad pics, I rushed it.



 
100F is too hot mate, drop the thermo 15 degrees or so. I'm thinking your drainage holes need to be a bit bigger than a pin prick too. Check this link on how to post pics:
How to post pics

Edit: I see you have the pics sorted. Please ignore that :)
 
SeeYouJimmy said:
100F is too hot mate, drop the thermo 15 degrees or so. I'm thinking your drainage holes need to be a bit bigger than a pin prick too. Check this link on how to post pics:
How to post pics

Edit: I see you have the pics sorted. Please ignore that :)
Click to expand...

Hehe yea like I said I was rushing. :P lol.

But yea I thought maybe 100 may have been a bit too hot. But I just kept reading online how the germination for bhut jolokia's are much better is very warm soil. Guess I got a little carried away. And I also thought the holes might have been too small at the bottom but right when I poked them through water started dripping out, so I figured it might be enough?
Thanks for the help. :D
 
I too asked a lot of these same questions a few weeks ago and I was recommened twixt 83 and 86 degrees. 87 I'm sure is fine as my temps fluctuated a couple degrees. By no means am I an expert so what I'm passing on was advice from those here on THP. Make sure the soil is moist, not wet or you can experience dampening off, make a long story short your seedlings will die from fungus. I found it a lot better to place water in a container and then place the pot/cup, what have you and let it soak up from the bottom. This has worked very well. Don't saturate them to the point of overwatering, just enough to moisten the soil. Just do a search in the forums, more than likely its in there. Listen to their advice and I'm sure you will have success.
 
My Bhuts didn't germ till the summer heat in my workshop was in the 90's. I'm gonna get a heat mat for seed starting for the future. I think someone was talking about a reptile heater mat a few days ago...
 
kcso53 said:
I too asked a lot of these same questions a few weeks ago and I was recommened twixt 83 and 86 degrees. 87 I'm sure is fine as my temps fluctuated a couple degrees. By no means am I an expert so what I'm passing on was advice from those here on THP. Make sure the soil is moist, not wet or you can experience dampening off, make a long story short your seedlings will die from fungus. I found it a lot better to place water in a container and then place the pot/cup, what have you and let it soak up from the bottom. This has worked very well. Don't saturate them to the point of overwatering, just enough to moisten the soil. Just do a search in the forums, more than likely its in there. Listen to their advice and I'm sure you will have success.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the help. I just got one last question. Is it really possible for fungus to grow in such a direct light? There is a lot of heat and light hitting the soil in the cups. Now from what I can tell the first inch or so of soil is perfect, but I can't really tell about the other 3 or 4 inches without digging it up. I was just wondering if the fungus thing can become a true problem for me. Thanks.
 
Well from what I understand and if I'm wrong someone will correct me. Once ur seedling pops up thru the soil, they need lots of light and air circulation. I have a 16" fan at about 4' away that I keep on 24/7 along with the T5 fluorescent. The fan will help eliminate the damping off. In addition it'll strengthen ur seedlings. I believe if ur seedlings are kept to wet, then yes I don't see why they could not be affected as well.
 
A temp in the low '80s will get you maximum germination % and fastest time to germination. 87 won't affect it much and is OK (though not optimal), but 100 will not work.

The important thing is, after you get sprouting (aka "green"), you will have to provide lots of light AND get the temperature down. You can't raise that seedling at 100 or 87 degrees, those kind of temps are strictly to get the seed to germinate. For seedling raising, you'll want a light that pumps out large quantities of light and low heat. I recommend a T5, but if that is not available or affordable then a traditional T12 or T8 flourescent shop light. But T5's are much, MUCH better.

+1 on the fans. I had two 10 " fans blowing 24x7 across my seedlings after about the 4 week point, and it really made them tough and resiliant, with thick stalks, and kept them dry. Made a big different in multiple ways for me, over not having the fans.
 
Perfect I think I got things set now. I plan on moving my seedlings once they sprout to a window with a small fan to keep it company. How long does germination usually take? ( Like how long till I see a sprout do you think? :) )

Thanks guys I really appreciate the help. :D
 
With large fans blowing directly on them you can also dry out your seedlings in a few hours. Just check them periodically till you get your system figured out.
 
Sprouting times are pretty variable. IF you maintain a high humidity environment (meaning a dome or other enclosed environment for the seeds until you see green) and a temperature in the 82-83 degree range, you should see:

- anuums: about 30 % by day 6, 40-50 % day 7, about 80 % by day 10, peaking at 85-ish % after day 11-12
- chinenses: add about 3-4 days to those expectations and reduce the %'s a bit.
- some chinenses take a lot longer than this

IF either the humidity is not super-high in an enclosed environment, OR your temp wanders too far off the low 80's, it'll take longer.

If you make sure the soil is moist but not soaked, and then wrap saran wrap over the top but be sure to poke a little hole in it, you should get get quicker germination, just be sure to take the saran wrap off as soon as you see green.
 
mega said:
Sprouting times are pretty variable. IF you maintain a high humidity environment (meaning a dome or other enclosed environment for the seeds until you see green) and a temperature in the 82-83 degree range, you should see:

- anuums: about 30 % by day 6, 40-50 % day 7, about 80 % by day 10, peaking at 85-ish % after day 11-12
- chinenses: add about 3-4 days to those expectations and reduce the %'s a bit.
- some chinenses take a lot longer than this

IF either the humidity is not super-high in an enclosed environment, OR your temp wanders too far off the low 80's, it'll take longer.

If you make sure the soil is moist but not soaked, and then wrap saran wrap over the top but be sure to poke a little hole in it, you should get get quicker germination, just be sure to take the saran wrap off as soon as you see green.
Click to expand...

Ah okay thanks. Yea I thought about covering it with a little saran wrap but I am in south Florida and its in my garage, the only place more humid is a sauna lol. :P
 
Hey again guys. I got a couple more questions if nobody minds me asking. :P.

Well I have been looking around some articles and websites and I keep seeing different soil used for seeds. Now I am totally oblivious to gardening "no no's" but I think I may have done one. I put seeds in miracle grow soil and it seems that after a couple of days after watering the seeds the soil in the cups has become somewhat hard (even if watered again). Now in any other situation I wouldn't call it hard but considering seedlings have to pop through the top soil, I would call it hard. And to top it off I found out that I may have put the seeds too deep in the soil, I put them in at about 2 - 2 1/2 inches deep. Now I am getting a bit worried again, I don't know what I should do. Should I get some other soil and try to find the seeds in the one I already planted and switch them over or should I just leave them alone and let them do their thing.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thanks. :)
 
That's way too deep silverwing, I don't know what is optimal (hopefully someone else can tell you that) but I plant mine around half an inch. Is that Miracle Grow a seed raising mix or a potting mix?
 
SeeYouJimmy said:
That's way too deep silverwing, I don't know what is optimal (hopefully someone else can tell you that) but I plant mine around half an inch. Is that Miracle Grow a seed raising mix or a potting mix?
Click to expand...

Yea thats what I thought. :( Its potting mix. So do you think its wise to attempt to pull out the seed to replant higher?
 
Okay well I just looked at my cups again to put things in a better perspective, I may have accidentally exaggerated how deep I planted the seeds. The soil when dry was originally about 4 1/2 inches deep and I planted the seeds about 1 1/2 inches deep. After I watered the soil it shrank overall to about 3 inches. So I guess the seed may have sunk a little deeper or have gotten a little higher. I am probably just overly worried I guess.
 
got some bhuts germinating after 3 weeks of sowing. nice to see, kind of a bit getting impatient. almost threw it in the soil recycling bin. lol.
 
actually, I think you want those seeds about 1/4 inch under the surface of the soil. I push them in with my thumb just a little and flick a few grains of dirt over the seeds and that's it, probably more like 1/8 inch. There's just no upside with peppers in having them struggle their way to the top. Your seeds are way too deep and should be relocated closer to the surface. And, yeah, you may want to look at swapping out that MG potting mix for some seed starter mix, coir, peat pellets, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top