Weirdest thing, I went to dig in one of my others, brushed aside the top layer, and bam, there's the seed. No activity yet, so I gently covered it back up, but what the heck?

I know good and well I put a seed into every one of those...

Maybe it was a bad egg and it deteriorated. Rotted into little pieces. Or maybe the pepper fairy took it.

My money's on the pepper fairy.

I've had this happen with other types of pepper seed. I just assumed they rotted away. Bummer, though.

Ever hear of Seed Mites? Well neither have I. J/K. Other than a bout with early onset Alzheimer's, I would say it rotted after 45 days. Mine came up in 11 days. If this happened to me, i would probably try the coffee filter and ziploc bag method of germinating the seeds. Then you can view first hand what is going on. I haven't tried it before but many do.

I agree with esox -- start them in plastic so you can see what's going on. This is my first year with Bhuts, and I had problems. Seed from two different sources did nothing, but at least I could see what was happening since they were in plastic. I then tried two more different batches and made sure the temperature was above 80, and I had success. However, one seed did take 40 days to pop. Keep trying! Tom

There is also a lot of people that suggest soaking the seeds in warm (not hot) water anywhere from 4 hours to over night before you plant them. This step is suggested for many different plants and not just peppers. I have never heard that it hurt anything so you might want to give that a try also. Like Kentishman, keep those seedlings at about 80 degrees for best results.

ive had 10 out of a 15 seed pack not sprout after 90 days of planting in the jiffy peat pellets. I just called it and trashed them. They likely rotted and disintegrated from the sphagnum peat moss being too wet. Those ones DID have peat turning green on the top. are all of your seed gone?

I had the same thing happen after 30 days. I suspect a vast right wing conspiracy.

Nope, found several other seeds in there. Not using peat moss in these at all, they were planted in a potting/lily/perlite mix with good drainage (the dirt was over a layer of pea gravel over drainage holes) and moisture control crystals.

Couldn't have stayed too wet. They were in plastic water bottles I had cut out into individual greenhouses, lid off to keep them from overheating. And I found one of the other seeds just fine.

Freaking weird is what it is.

could be mice

Okay, I went to dig out the seeds I had in my soil and compared them to the ones I have in coco coir starters planted about 2 weeks later, and I solved both mysteries.

Q) Where did that seed go?
A) In the pot next to it. Yes, I'm an idiot. I had pre-soaked the seeds in warm water for about half an hour before planting, and they were sticking to my fingers as I tried to plant them. The one container I checked was apparently the exact one that stuck to my finger long enough to get planted in the next pot with it's sibling by mistake.

Q) Why have they not sprouted in a month and a half?
A) When I dug the seeds up, they were still flat and wrinkly. Out of curiosity I brushed some of the coir off the top of my others, and they were nice and plump and fat (about ready to sprout too, from the looks of them). Guess my drainage was a little *TOO* good in my bottle pots when combined with being out in the sun. They just plain didn't stay moist enough to break out of hibernation.

I've now moved the seeds over to a starter tray with my third batch of seeds I planted the other night. These I'm keeping out of direct sunlight and covering in plastic wrap to keep the moisture levels high, and I'll be sure to water them more often so they stay more moist.