RickCorey said:
I think that " kno3 soak 4h" means to soak seeds in dilute potassium n9trate for 4 hours.

Seriously? Does anyone actually do that?? The only "extra hot" pepper I've grown is habanero, but I've very rarely had any real problem getting pepper seeds to germinate. The only times that I had a problem i attributed to the fact that it was seed from 2 or 3 years (or more) back and storage conditions were probably not that good...

The other thing I've never understood is, if the seeds are covered with 1/4" of potting mix or whatever, aren't they inherently IN darkness already?

I found a few Internet references to using a nitrate soak, then just one article saying they found no advantage to doing it that way. Or to using peroxide.

But since none of the original references really said WHY they did it, or under what circumstances it was most helpful, I don't give EITHER the Yea or Nay authors much credence.

But I respect Tom Clothier, so it seemed worth asking about.
I was hoping some ATPers would jump in with "Yeah!" or "Hunnh?" comments.

So far, it sounds like one "Hunnh?"

Of course, any time something is difficult or bothersome, like really slow germination, many "helpful" suggestions are likely to float around. In non-gardening circles, it's a BAD sign when there are many different ways suggested to do something. It means there is no obviously GOOD way!

But gardeners love to find things that seem to help under their circumstances, and then other gardeners propagate the suggestion as The Way To Do It (instead of asking "why?" and "when?" or "under what circumstances?")

>> The other thing I've never understood is, if the seeds are covered with 1/4" of potting mix or whatever, aren't they inherently IN darkness already?

Well, 1/4" of vermiculite MIGHT not block all of a really bright light. (But really, yeah, I agree with you, most potting mixes are opaque.)

I recall someone who said to cover the whole seedling tray with a dark cover if you needed to surface sow AND provide darkness.

If someone recommends "needs light" AND "sow 1/4 inch deep", I hope they explain how to do it. Small glass beads? Fiber optics?

Okay, apparently -- and to my great dismay -- I DON'T know everything...

Found this on Pepper Joe's website, in a description of how to start peppers from seed:

"Some varieties can be finicky to germinate. I recommend soaking seeds overnight in warm water to give them a head start. I am a 100% organic gardener, but of course there is many people are not. Some of them soak the seeds overnight in Saltpeter (potassium nitrate). (When sowing outdoors, the Saltpeter actually simulates the digestive tract of birds that eat wild hot peppers, therefore accelerating germination.)"

So... for difficult to germinate pepper seeds, perhaps this would be worth a try. Except... where does one get potassium nitrate?

Isn't saltpeter used in making gunpowder?

And would you believe.....Walmart?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Azur...

I used to get saltpeter on the shelf at the drug store. People talk about using gibberellic to help cycad seeds germinate faster, but I didn't see any obvious difference from using that either.
I've germinated plenty of pepper seeds and and types of pepper seeds and have done very well with most of the seeds. The only seeds I've had trouble with was all but one batch that came from Pepper Joe. I mainly start my own seeds now and get a few extras from time to time from specifically pepper seed vendors that I already know will have good seeds. I can tell everyone what I do, but most of it won't help the person starting this thread, because it was stressed that they wanted to go cheap and I just don't do that. I have used all kinds of methods and all kinds of mediums and found what works best for me. I also can elaborate on why I do each thing, but to save time tonight, I'll stick with the basics.
I soak the seeds over night in warm water. They should be clean, and if they are brand new, I dry them on a plate for 40 days before I start them. This simulates a short dorment period. Clean seeds don't need hydrogen peroxide to kill the fungus, but can't hurt if you think you have infected seeds. I'd still soak over night and then just dip them before planting. If you don't have sterile medium though, this doesn't help if you are already starting with good clean seeds. You want medium to be sterile and have a good and uniform water holding capacity. People dry out their seeds or rot their seeds when they don't have time to keep up with watering, or water too much. It happens all the time. I found that the Miracle Grow Sphagnum Peat Moss is beautiful for starting all kinds of seeds liked this. It has a bit of fertilizer in it and it has a wetting agent in it. It is nice a fluffy and is sterile. However, I think it is too wet to use to grow out the plants. I put the medium in first and wet it. I then place the seeds on top at the spacing I want. I then take the very fine medium and lightly cover the seeds just enough that they are uniformly moist. I wet the whole tray down after I'm over. Sometimes I'll do that with a ZeroTol mixture to sterilize the entire tray. I'm good at keeping up with proper watering, but if you are not like me, I would cut the bottom out of some 4 inch pots and plant the seeds in those. Then place those on top of one of those trays you can buy from Lowes that have the capillary pad. You can't mess up your watering that way. You know they are being watered perfectly. I start my seeds inside and put them right under florescent lights. Putting them in the dark sounds stupid. You are wanting them to germinate and grow. What do you do? Once they germinate in the dark, do you pull them out of the tray full of seeds and plant then in light? They germinate just fine in bright light. Unless it is cold, I don't use any heat to germinate. Doing them inside the house instead of the cold garage in the middle of the winter time has enough heat to do fine. Some seeds like Bhut Jolokia can take up to a month to germinate, but most sprout in 10 days if you had to make an average time. I don't start seeds outside. Too many insects have cut down or completely eaten my new seedlings, light can vary, and temperatures vary each hour. Not all seeds germinate. I expect 50% on average and that is why start many seeds in trays to save space. Once the seedlings show which ones are good and which ones are wimpy and aren't worth growing out, I move them up into 4 inch pots until they are ready for something larger. I always start more seeds than the amount of plants I think I need. Most of the seeds I start are free, but if you look on the internet, reaper seeds go for a buck a piece. A little more than the home depot packs of seeds, and I still buy more than I think I need, even when I bought those. The time it takes to start another batch of seedlings, if you are starting for spring planting, it is almost too late. I start seeds all during the year for different reasons. I'm getting ready to start about 200 more plants so they are flowering size for very early spring. Tom

Thanks, Tom -- there's nothing like hearing directly from someone that has a lot of experience with what you're trying to figure out!!

I just re-read this whole thread and I must have missed where @ckatNM mentioned that she had also bought Marigold seeds that didn't germinate. That really makes me think that she just got some seeds that weren't stored properly. CKat, have you considered doing mail order for your seeds? If you keep an eye on the Garden Deals forum, you can very likely find a free shipping or discount offer. There are lots of good seed sources out there.

Thanks Tom - you're the voice of experience.

Pre-soak, uninfected seeds, barely cover, light, sterile medium and uniform moisture.

I mentioned that the ATP Plant database entry for Bhut Jolokia (Capsicum chinense) said that germination requried darkness. I browsed through several other Capsicum chinense entries. One other ( 'Habanero') said "Provide Darkeness", and the rest that I browsed had no germination details. Some online searching did not produce suggestions about light or darkness for germination.

I would totally defer to your experience!

When I first started growing cycads, I heard all kinds of ways to germinate them. Pepper seeds are simple compared to cycad seeds. As I taught myself exactly the way cycad seed germination works, I could then see what was correct and what was totally BS. Sure, you expect some things on the internet to be not totally correct, but you would hope that when you pay $150 for a book, they might have their act together.
I have to tell you a funny, unrelated story. This one book by a guy in Australia showed a picture of " the special yellow form of Zamia furfuracea". It looked neat, but I had never heard of it. Years later I was talking to a guy from down there named Stan Walkley. He is a good grower and a pretty funny guy too. He told me this guy cam out to his place and wanted to take all kinds of pictures. He had this plant that was really deficient in fertilizer and when the guy asked him what that was, you guessed it! In another book, a REAL cycad expert wrote in his book that cycads can't tolerate higher levels of phosphate. I found out years later that another guy in Australia was telling him this certain species in Western Aus. couldn't handle phosphate, bit when the book came out, it was all species.
Anyway, whenever I hear things like this I at least try to think what happens in nature. Peppers fall on top of the ground and degrade. The peppers dry up and the seeds fall on top of the ground. They may fall between some organic material, but it isn't really ever dark. This spring when I cut back a row of Bhut Jolokia plants I noticed half the pots were filled with accidental seedlings just from the peppers that had fallen during the winter. I'm watering the pots every day anyway and they came out all over the place. Didn't someone say Bhut Jolokia is hard to germinate and need extra heat? Sure, my greenhouse was real hot during the winter, wasn't it? Just saying. Tom

I guess I'll have to publish an article about my "special yellow-leaved blueberry plants" !!

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge here, Tom -- this thread has really become a very interesting and informative discussion!