I've saved hundreds of seeds but i'm thinking the same. Its a lot of hassle and a 6 punnet of plants is often under $3 if you shop at a nursery that grows their own seedlings (or even less if you buy trays of 100 from a wholesaler! haha)
I'm enjoying growing from seeds These chilli seedlings are 1-3 weeks old. The ones which haven't popped up being the 1 week olds, and most of the 3 week olds are getting their second set of leaves:
I'm in the colder south so I'm just starting to think about getting seeds now. I've had success in the past with the paper towel in sandwich bag method but last year most didn't germinate or went moldy. Poo. This year I might try a combination of some paper towel and some directly in jiffys. I've got an led grow lamp but don't have a heat pad. Is the heat pad really worth it? Here are a couple of ebay options: This one appears to have a controller of some kind so it doesn't get too hot, but looks like an O/S plug. Still, 7 bucks.... This one looks a little more robust but could get too hot and I can't be bothered faffing around with thermostats. Finally, this fella.. Thoughts?
I use a reptile heat mat, it's a little too warm but fine with a couple of hand towels in between. I haven't tried growing without a heat mat but I image that's why your seeds didn't germinate and some went mouldy. I've had good germination rates with my heat mat.
Thudd, I agree with Hetty. A heat mat is hugely beneficial for germinating seeds. My mat hasn't got a thermostat, as said, just use some towels to regulate the temperature.
Heat pad is on the way then! When heat-padding do you put your (pre-soaked) seeds directly into jiffy or similar pods or still do the paper towel?
Last season I did seeds in damp paper towel in ziplock bags AND seeds in plastic containers on wet cotton wool in my heatmat esky. Both methods resulted in sprouting seeds but I lost a few when transplanting the sprouted seed to jiffys. This year I've just put dry (non-soaked) seeds into jiffys in the heatmat esky. I think it's been 12 days and I've had 3/8 hot lemon, 3/8 Cornish naga and 0/12 Carolina reaper sprout. Hopefully the reapers are just slow sprouting seeds.
Fresh chilli's from the garden Out of two jiffys of reapers (6 seeds), I had one jiffy (all three seeds) sprout after 8 days. Other jiffy hasn't done anything yet, planted them almost two weeks ago now. Fataliis haven't sprouted either, I'm having no luck with them at all. I'm going to try fataliis again tomorrow. I'm planting lots on the weekend, hopefully it will be the last of my seed planting. The first lots of jiffys (four weeks old now) are getting close to potting. Since I posted the pic above they've shot up, many are getting their second set of true leaves. This shows their growth over the last seven days. Amazing how much they can grow in a week!:
5/6 reapers are up now, that's after two weeks. Any luck with yours Stone? I'm thinking these fatalii just won't sprout. I planted another 12 fatalii seeds on the weekend, crossing fingers now.
Still 0/12 for me... I think I'm up to 15 days. The top of a few of my jiffys got a little white mould so I may have had them too moist, yet my hot lemon and Cornish naga didn't get mould. I'll give them 30 days as I've had some superhots that took forever to sprout. Luckily I have a couple more seeds that I'll try in a ziplock bag with moist paper towel. I haven't set up my grow light this year either so my seedlings are kinda leggy.
Stone2x, I've also got Reapers from Buckeye, mine have been in jiffy pellets for only 4 days so no action yet. It took 15 days to get my 1st sprout from my Chilli Factory Reapers.
I'm not going to germinate any this season. Too small a backyard for any more so I'll just see how the Master's plants I got earlier in the year go.
4 more Carolina Reapers up this morning so 5/12 now Maybe try a new source of fatalii seeds, I haven't had a problem sprouting them.
Fresh chilli's from the garden Where did you get yours from Stone? Mine are from the chilli factory. Everything else from there sprouted fine. I'm planning on making lots of sauces and powders Quan-Time
I only keep the strongest couple of plants and give away the rest to people at work, so I shouldn't have too many Mine came from Wildfire Chilli 2-3 years ago. Last year they still sprouted but I also bought a fatalii seedling from Masters.
EDIT: Nevermind just ended up buying these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/131098914906?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 2nd EDIT: received 12 in total, in a J bag wrapped in paper towel in a plain letter put 6 in some damp paper towel tonight after soaking in warm water for 20 mins or so, then sealed in a plastic container and currently sitting in my PC as its a nice temp in there. Will report back once and if germination occurs!
About, oh, one and a half weeks into germinating with my new heat pad. So far I've had two pop their heads through: a moruga scorpion and a chocolote bhut. Fingers crossed for more.
