Starting hot peppers can
be kind of tricky. The first thing to understand is that not all seeds will
germinate. Depending upon the variety, I usually see a 60 - 90 percent success
rate within a 60 day window. Sometimes if you let the seeds sit longer some of
the duds will sprout later.
In a lot of the gardening
sites, I've seen recommendations of soaking your seeds in a saltpeter solution.
I've never done it and my seeds seem to sprout fine. It supposedly simulates the
chemical reaction that happens inside a bird's stomach. Pepper seeds in the wild
are typically distributed via bird droppings. That's why some peppers are called
"Bird Peppers."
Through experimentation
I've found a process that seems to work well. I'll outline it below.
Procedure:
Fold a piece of paper
towel into eights.
Wet the paper towel so
that it is moist but not wet.
Sprinkle your seeds on one
side of the paper towel.
Fold the paper towel over
so that the seeds are sandwiched between moist paper towel pages.
Put the paper towel in a
zippy bag.
Label the bag.
The pepper seeds need to
be kept at 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit for up to two months. There are a
multitude of ways of doing this. Sometimes the top of the refrigerator will be
warm enough. I use the print server for my printer and the transformer for my
computer speakers to accomplish this. If the seeds are kept to cold, they will
not germinate. If they are too hot they will cook.
Then I put a domed nursery
tray on top of the print server and transformer. This keeps it a toasty 80 to 85
degrees. Put the zippy bags containing the seeds in the nursery tray.
Put the lid on the tray to
keep the heat in. Now we wait a week before checking to see if any of the seeds
have germinated.
After a week check to see
if any of the seeds have sprouted. Transfer the sprouted ones to peat pellets or
other planting medium. If you are growing multiple species, make sure you mark
them in some way. I use different colored plastic toothpicks. Keep them at 80 to
85 degrees until they pop up above the planting medium. Place the un-sprouted
seeds back into the paper towel for a few more days before checking for sprouts.
Repeat as needed. Remember germination can take up to 60 days!
When you see the first two
leaves, its time to get them some light.
Either a windowsill or
artificial light will work fine.
