Indoor Bell Pepper starts?

13 years ago

Hey all,

We've ran into some problems with bell pepper starts (seedlings). We're new to this whole indoor start thing.

The bell pepper seedlings shrivel up all the leaves every time we open the "mini greenhouse". Out of the 8 we started, in jiffy peat pellets (50mm, for tomato starts) only 3 are left, and those just shriveled up within a 20 minute time span. It's crazy, like the life was sucked right out of them. They looked great with the lid on, but now lifeless.

Read a few threads here on GW concerning peat pellets and peppers, some say they do great, others claim the pH is out of range for pepper starts. I'm guessing my only option is to use something else for the starter medium.

Should we use peat "pots" filled with our starter medium, or is this the same as using the "pellets" and start causing problems?

Comments (3)

sherizona
13 years ago
I've used the pellets and had the same problem. They did great until I put them outside of the greenhouse, then they just dried up, almost within minutes. The one way I got them to pop up and grow strong was just using generic potting soil and putting some saran on top until they peek out (no greenhouse). I could almost watch the little guys grow. Good luck :)
greenthumbjeff
13 years ago
I've never had any success with the peat pellets. The best thing to do is plant the seeds in seed starting mix and transplant them into pots later on.
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mangledmind
Original Author
13 years ago
they have come thru somewhat, still lost over half of the new starts and now only have about 6 or 7 left of those ready for their life outdoors. It's a little odd, we may try out the "just soil" methods ya'll described, hopefully that will work out better. Thanks