dont worry about sinking/floating seeds, if it is obviously crushed discard it, otherwise, its worth a shot.. also many float until you tap them after a few hours then they sink.

ok here is the quick and dirty germination method:

soak over night.
place moist paper towel (moistened with hydrogen peroxide and water (1:10 or less) inside ziplock, lay seeds on top of moist (moist not wet), close ziplock and place it in a warm location.

re:light or dark, its a seed, it doesnt matter

once it pops, put it in your growing media and place it in the sun, you can give it a spritz or 2 of 1/2 strength fertilizer at this point, or not, sometimes you'll burn the seedling if you use too much.

that's pretty much it, let the soil get pretty dry before you water it so it uses its roots, other than that dont play with it and it'll do fine.

Thanks, SNDK.

So the seeds just need to sit on the moist towels, not be covered by any?

BTW, do different seed varieties have differing sprouting times?

SNDK is right, I just sprouted habaneros indoors. All four seeds floated. That's doesn't mean anything.

And yes, different varieties have different sprouting times. I've heard habs take 8-21 (although all mine were up by day 7), tepins can take anywhere from 20 to 100 days! I like growing peppers, but god damn! That's a test of patience.

Who am I kidding though? I'll probably being trying to sprout some in a couple weeks. =P

Thanks Bob.

I've read that Anaheims can go from seed to harvest in 80 days. I'm sure hoping that's the case cause that'll be second week of March which is the end of summer in my part of the world. My Jalapenos, Serranos, Hungarian Wax & Cayennes are going great, all starting to bud up :-)

Any thoughts on how small growing pots can be? Since I plan to transplant all the Anaheims I can sprout, I was thinking of using 2 litre (1/2 gallon) plastic ice cream containers. Any experience with something that small?

I think I remember seeing a pretty healthy cayenne with lots of fruit in a very samll pot on someone's patio a few years ago.

> Any thoughts on how small growing pots can be?

Ross,

Pretty darn small. However, there are optimal sizes depending on variety of pepper. I wouldn't go any smaller than 3 gal (U.S.) for an Anaheim. The 2 liter containers would suffice until final transplant. (or about 6 weeks give or take) A lot depends on the particular variety of Anaheim you are growing. Mature plant size could vary from 2 to 5 ft.

Germination time will depend on soil temperature and quality of the seeds. 86°F is most often quoted as the best temp.

I prefer to surface sow the seeds with bottom heat in the low to mid 80s.

The above is just my opinion (for the moment) & trust me there is always someone that can do just fine by doing things entirely different.

Thanks, John.

I've got my current peppers in standard 2.5 gallon laundry buckets. They only cost 80 cents and they work great.

Anaheims, 2 to 5 feet? Jeez, that's a big plant!

I've got a Jalapeno that is growing at a phenomenal rate. Everyday it seems to bud new leaves. It's 16" high and getting very bushy. My Jalapenos are growing much quicker than my Serranos, although all are very healthy. It's quite exciting.

I wonder how many are like me: never really enjoyed gardening but enjoy cultivating peppers becuase they are a little bit exotic & fit in nicely with our culinary choices?

The floating seed thing is bogus. I dry my seeds out real well prior to freezing them and they all float.

what matters more is average temperature. getting the medium warm will help. the top of the refrigerator works well.

i also use a humidity dome as its sometimes really tough to germinate something that takes 40 days without it damping off.

mold is not my friend.

The floating seed thing refers to fresh seeds and I believe is correct in that context but does not apply to seeds already dried. When I save tomato seeds, I ferment them for a few days and then wash them the debris and bad seeds float and the good seeds drop to the bottom of the cup.

John

Hey nuwanda I recommend a bit of heat under the pots if you are having trouble germinating. I had a lot of trouble getting reliable germination until I stuck a small heating pad under my little germination greenhouse. I used to used the pad to keep my frog warm, but he passed away.

The greenhouse has a lid that I leave on all but 2 hrs a day if they haven't sprouted (to kill fungus). A side note on killing the fungus, leave the lights on when you remove the lid. Light kills fungus, even if the light isn't natural.

If they have sprouted I put the lid on only to keep them warm, usually at night. The lid rules cause if it gets cold throw it on there, it holds heat and humidity which rules for sprouting. I like the humidity cause I don't have to water as often. Just be sure to take off the lid for an hr or two everyday. I just started using this set up, but I've had 10 of 10 seeds sprout in the last month (they sprout fast too). They won't sprout outside so I must be doing something right. =)

Just a follow-up about my seeds.

Six days and quite a few of my Hungarian bananas & Anaheims have sprouted! In fact, a few of them are about an inch tall.

I need to get them into the light and wait for leaves now, right?

I have much success getting seeds to sprout, but it seems for some reason the damp-off/Fungus Gnats never seem to let up. I have tried the remedies (Chamomile tea solution; corm meal sprinkled on the soil; cinnamon sprinkled on the soil; as well as just not watering to dry out the top of the soil line) and they don't seem to prevent the inevitable that they flop over. Here's a picture which explains my frustration:

Notice how there are many healthy looking sprouts intermingled with wilted sprouts. A few days ago all the sprouts were healthy, and I am assuming if I don't do something, they will all perish. Save my sprouts!

I would put the seedlings in individual containers using a soiless medium and be careful to not overwater.

john

Wouldn't just letting the seedlings have some sun kill of the fungus/mold?

John, when I use a soiless medium like vermiculite 1 forget to water one day and boom they're shrivelled up.

Also seems like if I don't water every day they dry out even in this mixture of Miracle Grow/Perlite (which was recommended to me by Craig from Redwood Seeds - as I didn't have much luck with his seeds 2 years ago).

I forgot to mention they get mostly sun all day long outdoors and since they are containers I am supplementing the shorter days with some Fluorescent lighting for 3-4 hours in the evening.

Nuwanda, they get plenty of light during the day, so I don't know if the lighting myth about killing fungus applies here.

nuwanda, I thought the same thing, that the floating ones would not germinate, so I soaked 5 red fataliis instead of 2 to make sure something germinated. They all initially floated, but a day later, they all sank to the bottom, and all 5 germinated in 6 days.

Pka, I had good results germinating hot and sweet peppers the same way I do tomatoes -- by first soaking the seed in Maxicrop kelp solution for a day (or more if I forget), then mixing some Gardener and Bloome planting mix (about 2/3) with some perlite (about 1/3), and moistening the mix with Maxicrop kelp solution -- so it's thoroughly moist but not soggy. Place mix in plastic cups. Pack it down about 1.5 inches deep. I tried it both ways, poking drain holes in bottom of the cup, and not poking drain holes, and both actually worked to my surprise, but drain holes are probably safer. Spaced just 2 or 3 seeds per plastic cup, so it won't get too crowded, covered the seeds and tamped firmly to get good contact w/ seed and moist media. Placed all plastic cups into another large plastic container w/ a lid (actually a recycled salad container). Kept the lid almost shut, with just a little opening to let some air in, but keep most of the humidity in. Opened the lid once a day to get some air in, then replaced lid. Never watered again till after they germinated. Only if the seedlings took extra long, and if the planting mix looked like it was drying out, I add a little more Maxicrop solution, but just a little so it doesn't get soggy, and that seemed to work fine. Never had a damping off problem using this method. I learned that peppers like it on the dry side, drier than tomatoes, and many sprouted right about when I gave up on them, and started letting the media dry out.
I noticed in your photo you have green algae growing, so IÂm thinking you might have kept the seedlings too moist.
HereÂs a picture of the fataliis that popped up in 6 days:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/honu2/garden/050103redfataliisprouts.jpg

and the below link shows my sprouting apparatus (paper cups in plastic box).
Good luck on your peppers!

Here is a link that might be useful:

PkapeckOpickldpepprz

When I am germinating seeds I have the trays covered with those clear plastic tops that sometimes come with them---or youn can buy them alone. This helps maintain surface moisture without soaking the medium.

John