seeds Three Experiments In One: Testing Seed Soaking, Seed Starting Mediums, And Growing Mediums.

[Tim in Tucson]

Chiliheads! I half hour ago I started two experiments that I have wanted to try for the last month or so. Actually, I have combined both experiments into one.

I have been curious about whether or not it is better to soak chili seeds before planting them. Will soaking improve the germination rate of the seeds? What solution should be used when soaking, should soaking be necessary?

I have also been curious to find out whether or not there is a difference (advantage or disadvantage) between using a Peat medium or a Coco Coir medium.

And finally, I've been real curious about whether or not it is better to start my seeds in Oasis Hydrocubes, a Peat medium, or a Coco Coir medium. I'm curious because I had good success using the Hydrocubes, and poor results with getting seeds to germinate using a peat mixture.

So here is a description of what I am doing. I have counted out 20 Chiltepin seeds for each of five small containers today. These Chiltepin seeds are all from the batch of seeds I collected this past November after my walk in a local nature park. These seeds have been the best performing Chiltepin seeds for me, and they're definitely not old.

One container contains 20 seeds that will not be soaked, and will be planted in Oasis hydrocubes (I'm calling them "cubes" from here on out).

One container contains 20 seeds that I just started soaking for the next 24 hours in a solution that is 10% of the 3% Hydrogen Peroxide one can buy at any pharmacy. These will be planted in cubes.

One container contains 20 seeds that I just started soaking in a 700-750ppm Gibberellic Acid solution for 24 hours. These will also be planted in cubes.

One container contains 20 seeds that will not be soaked, and will be planted in a peat mixture that is 70% peat moss (with no additives), 15% perlite and 15% vermiculite.

One container contains 20 seeds that will not be soaked, and will be planted in Coco Coir that I just acquired from a local hydroponics store. The brand of Coco is Canna.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will plant all five batches accordingly, so that all are started on the same time-line. All after planting will remain in a room that is between 85-95 degrees fahrenheit during the day, dropping to 70 degrees by dawn.

I chose Chiltepin seeds for a couple of reasons. First, Chiltepins are my favorite chilies. They are my passion! Second, they are not easy to germinate. However, I have been able to successfully germinate the seeds I collected from the park back in November, so I believe that all or the majority are viable seeds. Third, I didn't want to use seeds that are extremely easy to germinate, like jalapenos for example (they'll sprout and grow in anything!).

I decided to test using the Gibberellic Acid (GA-3), as I recently obtained some for use in my battle to sprout Ulupica seeds. I'm wondering if I can increase the germination rate by using GA-3, without having abnormal plants.

Because I have read studies where Coco Coir was tested against Peat at a couple of universities, I plan to keep this experiment going for at least six weeks, and hopefully longer. Once the experiment regarding germination is complete, I will continue with the comparison of germination and growing of seedlings in the Peat and the Coco Coir. My plan is to update this post at least once a week if possible.

So, tomorrow afternoon/early evening I'll update this post after I have planted the five batches of seeds.

 

[sicman]

hope you get all your answers. only thing i do know after soaking thousands upon thousands of seeds. is a hour in tap water does about as good as you can get it. ive planted dry seeds all the way to 24 hour soaking. seeds in a cup of water for a hour is perfect?

side note me and a buddy planted over 1000 seeds dry and got easily 90% germ. so that just goes to show you we really baby these damn peppers way to much

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Yes, we do baby them, don't we! I've gone completely overboard and am trying to grow too many varieties at once. We'll see if this teaches me anything about controlling my wants and being realistic about how much I can grow.

 

[sicman]

Yes, we do baby them, don't we! I've gone completely overboard and am trying to grow too many varieties at once. We'll see if this teaches me anything about controlling my wants and being realistic about how much I can grow.

ive never learned how much i can grow. every year i get a little closer though,lol. last year i grew for the first time in florida,and boy is florida diffrent from tennessee,and n.y. good luck with what you doing!

 

[sudostahp]

I understand that chiltepins tend to grow wild in countless varieties, and that they're usually fairly small.

I'm interested in learning more about them! What makes them your favorite?

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Yes, they're fairly small.

What makes them my favorite? When you eat one fresh or dried, you get hit with an intense heat almost immediately. This is followed by a rush (endorphine rush?), and then a rapid dissipation of the heat. The flavor is exceptional! And being so small, it is fairly easy to control the heat of whatever it is you are eating that you add Chiltepin(s) to. I also have to admit, that Chiltepins are supposedly the "Mother of all Chilies" (although this is being challenged by the Ulupica), and that intrigues me. Maybe it's the fact that they're still wild and untamed. I don't know.

Maybe I need to lie down on a Psychiatrist's couch for a spell!

 

[CBarkley]

Nice ideas for experiments. I'll be watching this one, for sure!

 

[indoChilli]

+1 and following

 

[Tim in Tucson]

I have just finished "planting" all 100 seeds late this afternoon, 40 of them after 24+ hours of soaking.
Not much else to say at this point, except to include a few pics. Just to make it clear, I planted all
100 seeds at the same time.

 

[thismembername]

have you thought about extending this into ferts, compost tea, etc ?

 

[Tim in Tucson]

have you thought about extending this into ferts, compost tea, etc ?

Not yet. I don't want to make this over-complicated. This is just the first experiment. My goal is to
find a way to create a better germination rate for chiltepin seeds, which are notorious for being very
difficult. I WILL fertilize the Peat and Coco medium plants after germination, as I continue that
experiment for a minimum of six weeks. But I will do everything possible to keep all factors outside ofthe growing medium equal.

I'm sure after these three experiments (in one), that I'll have other questions that I'll want to test.

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Hello Chiliheads!

This morning I checked to see if I had any sprouts before going to work. When I got home this evening, Iwas surprised to my first sprouts. In the batch of 20 seeds that I did not do a pre-soak, and planted
in the cubes, one sprout has appeared. No sprouts yet among the 20 that were pre-soaked with H2O2 and
water and planted in the cubes. There are two that are starting to sprout among the 20 I pre-soaked in
the GA-3 solution. There are no sprouts among the 20 unsoaked seeds, planted in a
peat/perlite/vermiculite medium, and one sprout among 20 that were unsoaked and planted in coco coir.

These are just the first sprouts, so no conclusions should be made at this time, especially since we aretalking about Chiltepins!

Pictures:

Left to Right, unsoaked in cubes, soaked with H2O2 in cubes, and soaked with GA-3. Directly behind the cubes are the 20 planted in the peat mix, and the farthest 20 are the 20 planted in the Coco Coir.

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Here is the sprout of an unsoaked seed in a cube:

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Here are the two sprouts that were soaked with GA-3 in cubes:

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And finally, the unsoaked seed sprout in Coco Coir:

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I will not be giving daily updates. I will give updates every so often, especially when relevant to
these experiments.

Tim

 

[Tim in Tucson]

No photos for today's update. As of this morning, here are the current results:

cubes/no pre-soak--5 out of 20 sprouts
cubes/h202 presoak--5 out of 20 sprouts
cubes/GA-3 presoak--10 out of 20 sprouts
Peat/no pre-soak--1 out of 20 sprouts
Coco/no pre-soak--2 out of 20 sprouts

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Just a quick update. So far, there is still only 1 sprout out of 20 in the peat mix, and 2 sprouts out of 20 in the coco. There are 13 sprouts out of 20 seeds from the batch in the cubes that were soaked with GA-3. They sprouted the quickest. However, there are now 13 sprouts out of 20 seeds in the cubes that had no pre-soak. The seeds that were pre-soaked in water with hydrogen peroxide have only 10 sprouts out of 20. At this point, I am sold on using the hydrocubes for seed starting. I've also come to the conclusion that when using the hydrocubes, it is not necessary to pre-soak the seeds for 24 hours (maybe a short pre-soak in water with H2O2 to clean the seeds).

 

[Al-from-Chile]

Good going!