First chillis are up

[rhyswales]

Planted 5 Apache, 5 cayenne, 5 habenerro, 5 jalepeno 2 weeks ago. Was hoping to get 2-3 of each. Every one has germinated and are growing well under lights. All germinated in 10 days, good start to the year Now to sow some peppers.

[Bacchus]

I took this picture a minute ago. It's my heated prop. There should be enough room in there for about 60 jiffy 7's. Once they are up I'll put them in the grow tent and start another batch off to germinate - but it's really too early for me just at the moment. The grow tent is in the garage - it's 2m squared so a bit big for the cupboard

[Bacchus]

Is that a cayenne type chilli Bacchus? Cayennes are usually the easier of the chillies to germinate and probably one of the first to fruit. You should be in for an early bumper crop if you can give them what they need. Super hots can take much longer to germinate.

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They were "ring of fire" seeds that I had on a plant from last year. I really just stuck them in to see how they would germinate. My main sowing won't be until the 2nd week of Feb. I'm probably a couple of weeks behind you's in the south of England.

[Scarlet]

To be honest, I live in an old farm house and it's not the warmest! Chillies can't cope in temps lower than 10 but I very much doubt your house is lower than that when the heating is off. It is best to grow chillies in cooler temps when the light levels are low. Give them too much warmth (cosied up in a prop, even unheated) and they will grow much faster causing leggy plants.
I only germinate in a propagator and then they are on the windowsills during the day and moved off during the night. Chillies don't like the draughts either.
Why don't you keep a few in and a few out to experiment?

[Lamboluke]

Is that a cayenne type chilli Bacchus? Cayennes are usually the easier of the chillies to germinate and probably one of the first to fruit. You should be in for an early bumper crop if you can give them what they need. Super hots can take much longer to germinate.

Lamboluke...even though your prop isn't heated (I also thought it was) I would take the lid off during the day and put it back on at night. Or at least wipe the condensation off the inside, that may well cause you damping off, rotting problems.

Thanks for the advice. I'll start doing that. First time growing anything from seed so it's a huge learning curve but massively exciting.

[Scarlet]

Is that a cayenne type chilli Bacchus? Cayennes are usually the easier of the chillies to germinate and probably one of the first to fruit. You should be in for an early bumper crop if you can give them what they need. Super hots can take much longer to germinate.

Lamboluke...even though your prop isn't heated (I also thought it was) I would take the lid off during the day and put it back on at night. Or at least wipe the condensation off the inside, that may well cause you damping off, rotting problems.

[Bacchus]

Just as an update - every seed planted is now up, so no complaining there. I took a chilli off the plant, stripped it of the seeds (and used the rest for cooking) and planted the seeds the same day so freshness is certainly a good thing.

[Bacchus]

I went up my allotment and my new cloche/pollytunnel hoop thing was 3 plots away!!!!

More concrete needed Hope you get it sorted out.

The plastic is still on my poly tunnel thankfully, but there is a goodly amount of water blown in under the door - but given the rain I'm not surprised. I think the stone shore I put in helped a bit anyway...

[Spunky]

I went up my allotment and my new cloche/pollytunnel hoop thing was 3 plots away!!!!

[chilli_grower]

Chilli grower do you own a greenhouse?

Yes, an 8 x 6 polycarb one, that is currently damaged due to the high winds!!!!

[Kristen]

My propagator is an unheated one and a storage tub with cling film ontop. Are you referring to a heated one?

Sorry, yes I was referring to a heated one. For unheated best to put somewhere 20C ideally, at least 16C otherwise, until the seeds have germinated. Check twice daily for germination, and move to the light as soon as the seeds germinate.

[Lisasbolt]

I have wanted to try growing from chilli's i have bought but never tried.

How do you know that hey are not F1 plants? or is it just experiment.

Don't worry if they get a little leggy, tomatoes and pepper plants are fine to be planted deeper when potted on as will grow roots from the bottom stem.

All my pepper/chilli and tomatoes are all making a show and i love going and sitting with them and staring seeing the progress. i will get some pics later

good luck guys

[Lamboluke]

My propagator is an unheated one and a storage tub with cling film ontop. Are you referring to a heated one?

[Kristen]

When we are in the house we set the central heating to 21c but when we aren't in the house and the heating isn't on it drops quite low so my concern is that the temp may be too low for them to survive.
The prop may help stabilise this.

Propagator stabilising temperature will help a lot with germination - but no light needed for that, so you could put them in an airing cupboard (or somewhere else warm) until they germinate.

Once they have germinated temperature of MIN 10C is sufficient, but for active growth higher is needed. Propagator provides bottom heat, and thus heats the soil in the pots, which will encourage the plants - air temperature less important than root temperature (within reason!). However, good light is needed for growth, so providing heat without good light will encourage growth, but the plant will make weak spindly "leggy" growth. Propagator needs to be on a well lit windowsill at least - not on a table "somewhere near the window" If you have a Horticultural Growing Lamp then you can provide all the light that the plant needs for rapid growth.

Early in the year the natural light is weak, infrequent (lots of "grey days"), and daylight hours are short. If it is not possible to provide good light it is better to delay sowing. Yes plants sown early may survive, but they will be stressed and thus much more likely to succumb to disease.

[Bacchus]

I take mine out of the propagator as soon as they are up.

These first ones were just to be doing something and to test their germination time.