DANG Dude, what's wrong with you? You're going to be patient zero. How will you kill a zombie plant? They don't have heads! Don't be messing with these things, you're going to bring the walking dead to life.

If not me then who? If not now then when?

I depend on my trusty weed burner. (Gotta remember to get it refueled.) But who's to say what threat the zombie plant would pose. I mean, plants aren't into brains. So what would they seek? Soda? Sweet liquid charged with tasty tasty CO2?
As for these dead seeds, are they really dead? Should I not even try to germinate seeds that float? Or are they just floaters ?

obviously you've never seen Little Shop of Horrors.

I go ahead and plant the floaters... not sure if they germinate or not cos I don't mark which are floaters and which aren't.

Also, zombies don't float, (World War Z), so if they do germinate, you are probably safe.

This post was edited by kuvaszlvr on Sun, Jan 6, 13 at 20:28

Little Shop of Horrors? Yeah, I saw it. Keep repeating to yourself, "It's only a movie. It's only a movie." and you'll be alright.

Seriously, if these things stick their little heads up and start asking for cat food, I'll ... I'll eat this bhut! That's what I'll do. Right after going for the weed burner.

Okay, I put the floaters - that after two days were finally starting to lose their buoyancy - in a baggy. Baggies are cheap. I don't hold out much hope, but who could have predicted that the dead would have a hit series?

Biggest problem is the temperature. Things were much easier in the days of pilot lights. At the moment I've got two bags stacked in a casserole atop a space heater. I have no idea what I'll do when I start germinating for real...

As for keeping the baggies from collapsing, I partially seal, then blow into them with a straw to inflate before final sealing. So far that seems to work. Good seals.

You know, I think of something completely different when people start talking about floaters...

ok, now that I'm through gagging from that last comment. ;-)

why do you keep them from collapsing? I always push all the air out of the baggie. What am I missing?

Yeah, damn, I miss pilot lights. What's the use in having a gas oven if you can't use it when the electricity is out. DUMB*** World!

Why keep them from collapsing? I don't know. Maybe the same reason as making zombies in the first place: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

I guess my feeling was that you don't want the seeds wet, you want them damp. Moisture condenses on the inside top and surface tension would hold the drop against the seed, effectively putting it back in the soaking glass. That wasn't a conscious thought at the time, but makes sense to me now.

Well, it's pretty much a closed system, so the only water in the bag is what you put in, the moisture condensing is from the paper towel. I don't think it'd be possible to dry out, at least not the amount of time they are in the baggie. I just always squished mine down flat, trying to mimic the ground, tuck it in nice and warm. I don't have years of experience doing it with paper towels, so I'm no expert, but I wouldn't think it'd be worth worrying about.

The times that I have used the baggie method, I did like you, Pam. But, I don't think there's anything wrong with the way DMF did it either. Flat is just easier, and I'm lazy. :-)

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean that there was anything wrong with DMF's technique, I was mostly wondering if there was a specific reason for doing that (cos he's not the only one I've heard of doing it that way).

btw, once they germinate, and you pop them into pots, do they still need a heat mat? I hope not, cos I put mine out in the greenhouse with the other seedlings.
Pam

One of my zombie test beds (the one from the peps I was pretty sure were heat dried) molded after a week. No activity in the other after 10 days.

I started a bag for real (BJ, Twilight, and Lemon Drop) and for this one I'm using a flat bag with the towel folded over the top (with an area map on it so I know what seeds are where). After your comment about the bottom sheet drying, I observed that it did seem to dry as the moisture condensed on the roof. Thanks for the suggestion.

There is still hope for the Zombie Peppers, but it is dimming...

1) Dead pepper seeds are still dead. Nothing but mold after 2 weeks. Zombies therefore remain elusive. Aren't you glad?

2) There is no relevant data on whether floaters are viable. I do note that of my 10 recent soaking operations, all 10 quickly sank.

3) Generalissimo Francisco Franco is also still dead.

Thenk yew. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Modern day chili drying method may killed the seeds already so it may not grow.

When I was young I witnessed a lot of time chili seeds from the kitchen chili bags grew when we threw them away. About 4 years ago, once I tried seeds from dried ghost but failed.

Caelian

This post was edited by chilliwin on Sat, Jan 26, 13 at 15:51