Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi I don't have a propogator and want to have a go at some chillis and peppers. I sowed some peppers on the windowsill in a tray with a lid and nothing yet in 14 days. I know they need a long growing time so getting anxious!

Do I need a propogator or is there another way to start them off?

Thanks, janeyo

I don't have a propogator and sowed some chilli seeds about 2 weeks ago - 4 seeds to a 3" pot, watered it, covered it with a little clear plastic freezer bag & secured it on with an elastic band and they have come through in the last couple of days. I think chillis do take a little while to come through & like the warmth but mine were on a sunny-ish windowsil in the kitchen and appear ok (so far )

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Newbie,
keen but clueless

Don't worry, they can take a long time to germinate and there's still plenty of time for a crop.

I start mine in the airing cupboard - once the first one pops up I move them to a sunny windowsill. Others have come through since being on the sill, so it's probably warm enough in itself.

Any heat you can give them is welcome, but it's not essential to have a propagator if you have central heating.

I don't have one. Kitchen windowsill with a sandwich bag over them does the trick. However, they take WAY longer than toms to come through.

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I planted chilli's and toms on the same day(26th Feb) in my propagator (new this year, used freezerbags last and that worked fine) and the toms have already been potted on and have 3 or 4 sets of true leaves, the chilli's are only an inch or so high and only with seed leaves, so yes they do take a lot longer. Will be potting chill's on today and that's it for the propagator for this year I think.

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si'sraisedbed

I'm sure you don't need a heated propagator but it makes a huge difference for stuffs like tomato, aubgergine and pepper. If you're like me hates waiting and wondering if they're going to germinate or not when they take too long, then go for it. Takes anywhere from 4-5 days onwards when you starts to see signs of germination but this is based on using shallow, thin tray and fresh compost. I had to abandon my first batch of tomato, pepper and aubergine sowing (mostly disposed) without the heated propagator. It went horribly wrong before I sold myself to the heated propagator. I'm sure there are people who are very capable without one but I can't live without it.

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Food for Free

I planted my chillis, peppers, aubergines and tomatoes on 18th Feb upstairs in house, then moved them into greenhouse. My chillis and tomatoes are both about 2" high and seem to coming along slower than I expected, and I can see one tiny pepper and one aubergine shoot just starting to peep through. As weather going to be colder over weekend have brought them all back into house today - will see what happens!

I decided to have a careful dig about in the soil to see if the peppers were actually doing anything, and they are! I wondered if they were finding it hard to come out of the ground so to speak so have gently bashed it about to hopefully mean they can get out now. I sowed them on the 3rd march so it's taken them a while.

Is this normal behaviour, rooting about in trays of compost to see of seeds have sprouted?! lol

janeyo

will have a go with some chillis and put them ina bag as directed, thanks

Don't worry too much. My 3rd batch of peppers were sown on 26 Feb which took about 7 days to get going in the heated propagator but I tell you, they're teeny-weeny plants so perhaps it doesn't matter so much that yours are taking long time to germinate. Even once they've germinated, they grow very slowly because it's not warm enough but I feel obligated to put them in the unheated greenhouse (still pretty cool) for the light to avoid them getting leggy.

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Food for Free

I'm afraid it is.

Chillis don't need to be very deep under compost (otherwise they never make it out!). I start some of my seeds on damp kitchen roll in a plastic tub covered with clingfilm. Then when they've germinated pot them on into compost.

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."