First 20 seeds--Planted in peat moss in a greenhouse. Stayed too wet-nothing sprouted.

Next 20 seeds-Planted in MG Orchid Mix soil, non greenhouse, 3" pots covered in aluminum-I think it dried out too much. Nothing has sprouted.

As you can see I went from one extreme to the other (due to research I found peat soil was a no no with these guys) so I decided to go with MG Orchid Mix from which I read does very well. Also I read that you need to keep the soil moderately moist but not soggy. I was pretty much letting these suckers dry out with every other day watering.

Since the Orchid Mix drains so fast I think I wasn't letting my seeds get wet enough. I soaked the soil the first day, then every second day would only get the top wet because I was afraid of overwatering. I think since I let the top dry out so much I killed them this way!!!

When it says "water your seeds" and you're using a high draining soil do you give them a good dousing or just a little bit of water? I would literally take a spray bottle (typical windex type bottle I got from the feed store. NO chemicals have been in it) and spray the soil 2 or 3 times and move on. I'm thinking I should be using more.

Specs-
3" peat pots
Miracle Gro Orchid Mix for soil
Seeds planted 1/4"
Pots are covered in aluminum and set in aluminum trays. Bottom heat provided with mat
Light provided with 6500k blue light spectrum fluorescent (I know seeds don't need light, just kept them on a timer so when the first sprouts do come up I don't have to do anything).
Did not presoak seeds
Growing inside. 85 degrees day time 70-75 degrees night.

As you can see my setup is pretty generic and follows most of the guidelines for what hot peppers need. I know that I rambled, I just wanted to make sure I had all my info out there so the pepper gods could aid me to the best of their abilities.

1. WTF-OMG-BBQ-UFO-NFL SUNDAY WHY DIDN'T ANYTHING SPROUT
2. Should I use more water?
3. Could I technically dig these up, soak them, and replant with any sort of success, or are all the seeds most likely dead? They've been in dry soil for the last month so I doubt they're rotted, and have not been in direct contact with light.
4. Should I just buy some more, pre-soak, and stop being such a baby and water these suckers while they're seeds.

Thanks!!!!

I sowed the first packet all on a heat mat using 3 different methods... moist paper towel rolled in a ziploc bag, small closed container with open topped paper towel, 1/4" under jiffy mix. Kept all seeds moist, not too wet. After about 6weeks with no sprouts, I gave up.

I couldn't figure if it was me or the seeds, so I opened the second packet and sowed 3 on top of jiffy mix and sprinkled just a dusting of mix on top. Spritzed a few shots of water every few days and finally one came up in 10 days.

If I can grow this thing out and actually get some production I'll be very pleased. If not, I'm not going to cry about it. There are plenty of other hot ones I'm growing and haven't yet tried.

Good luck to you.

Josh

Here is my 2 cents. I am not an expert by any means. But, I think letting the seeds dry out was not good. Moist is good, soaked is bad and dry is worse. Second, it doesnt sound like you had any kind of cover over them. You should have some kind of cover to keep in the moisture. They should not dry out completely in one day and the cover will keep them moist and humid and hold in heat which is great for germination. You can use one of those multi compartmented mini green houses but if you want to skimp on money, that is fine, just use cups of some sort and put plastic cling wrap over them. Or use one of the other ingenious contraptions people use. Then, I think the peat is a problem too. Many caution against the use of it. Others seem to have good luck. I used MG Orchid Mix and had great results. My first three seeds I ever planted, I did in a cup with a lid and all three came up in about 10 days. Then, you have temp. I would go for leaving them at room temp for about 14 hours and then boost them up to about 80-85 for about 10 hours. You dont have to use a heat mat but that makes it easy. Just check the temp with a thermometer of some type. Those mats can go haywire sometimes. I actually put mine in the oven for 10 hours a day. It has a pilot light and if I kept the door open just enough, it kept a good 80-85 inside. I had a thermometer right beside the plants and checked it often until I was sure it wasn't fluctuating. I had to put a sign on it so my wife wouldn't fire it up to preheat it for cooking....ahhahhahaha. Then, one other pitfall that I can see is how deep you planted them. When I planted my first three test plants, I planted them one eighth inch deep. They all came up in 9 or 10 days. When I planted my mass planting, I planted them a bit deeper at about one quarter inch and had about 80% for all my peppers and a little less for the Bhuts so I will be planting more like one eight inch from now on.

Here is a pic of my original test planting of the three Bhut seeds after 13 days (note the toothpicks sticking out of the soil. I put them in to mark the location I planted the seeds)

Here is a pic of my best Bhut from the original test planting. It was taken a couple days ago. The gallon milk jug is for size reference.

Josh

Spread the seeds on the paper towel

Insert the paper towel in the zip lock bag and wet the paper towel....not sopping, just wet. Close the zip-lock bag and put it in a place where it's 85-95F (measure the temp) and wait. Some chiles take longer than 30 days to germinate.

I second what Josh (greenman28) wrote: soak the seeds in warm water for a little while, then plant about 1/8" deep and cover / seal the container with plastic. Preferably, put the container on a low heat source of some kind.. a heating mat, the cable box, etc. I have close to 100% germination using this method.

So everyone agrees to keep the soil moist and everything else will follow?

BTW thanks for all the pictures! Means a lot you took the time to show me what to do. Great looking Bhut's too :P

One thing I'm going to do with my next batch (which should be arriving in the mail any day now) is to put each one in it's own little private greenhouse made out of a coke bottle.

Basically just cut a plastic soda bottle in half, drill a few holes in the bottom, fill with starter and one seed, then put the top half back on. Viola, instant one plant greenhouse. Should make knowing when to transplant them much easier as well. Just have to look at the clear bottle, if I see roots, time to transplant!

Since I also grow in Hydro I'm able to use low PPM level hydro nutrients to help give them a head start before I put them into soil.

I also use a seedling heating mat as well. I think this helps a good bit with getting them to sprout.

When they pop up in about ten days, I remove saran wrap. When they reach about 2 inches I move them to 4 inch diameter plastic pots with organic potting mix and feed them a fish/seaweed fertilizer.

Start getting them acclimated to sunshine at this point starting on partly sunny days so they don't get sun-burnt. Also keep oscillating fan running for air movement and to help with stem strength.

Have 25 thriving Bhuts right now which I'll be re-potting again in mid to late May.