Frank, have you ever grown Peter Peppers?

Karen

no i haven't

Google it for A giggle.

Karen

The only hot pepper I am growing this year is a cayenne.

thats sissy peppers compared to what we are talking about.

karen - i've herd of them but will google it

OK, I went ahead and dried the seeds I had been working on germinating, and now have a few new seeds (already dried) in the wet paper towel. I'll keep you guys posted on their progress...

bit =- can i ask why you don't start your seeds in the conventional way with seed starting mix in a 2 inch plastic container??

karen - i just looked up peter pepper, i had no idea they ere that hot. have you tried them and are they hot or just mildly hot.

I do germinate some seeds in cups, but for my tomatoes and peppers I've always used the paper towel as a first step. I've had some varieties with very low germination rates, so it keeps me from wasting precious space on empty cups. As soon as I see a tiny radicle, I transfer the seedling to a cup, and it doesn't seem to slow the plants down at all.

ever think about the soil cubes?... I have 2 one large one and one that makes little plug size cubes

http://www.plantea.com/soil-cu...

Yeah, I used those when I used to work on a farm. They are fun, and very efficient for a large operation. But I grow my food partly for financial reasons, and spending a lot of money on garden gadgets negates that benefit.

I've never tried them Frank. I just think they look funny! I did get seeds for them in trade once but they didn't sprout. The seeds were greenish, I thought maybe they weren't mature.

Karen

i'll stick with what i like best.

The best use for the bhut's is to dry them and grind them into pepper/powder... that way you can use them to season a dish without burning someone's taste buds off! LOL I got my original seeds from the U of NM too Frank, paid a ghastly price for 15 seeds... now you can pick them up as cheap as other pepper seeds, almost!

My Bhut is in a pot, has a tiny pepper on it and a lot of buds.

Cajun, My "greenhouse" is made out of cattle panels, I love it, it serves it's purpose. I can use it from April to November here with no heat source. I'm sure you could too since you're further south than I am.

I put a couple of tiny bhuts in a jar of vinegar to extract the flavor, and add a few drops of that to dishes. I love hot foods, but using a whole pepper is just too much with these ones.

Oh, and I never did get any germination. I think maybe the seeds I got weren't mature. I'm going to try again next year with new seeds.

Temperature makes a big difference when it comes to germinating peppers. All of my peppers go on heat pads in oqrder to ensure quick, uniform germination. This year the Bhut Jolokias were the last to germinate, even so.

I start my peppers on heat mats also. This year my Bhut Jolokias germinated in 11-20days, not the first to germinate but not the last either.

Well, I've been trying to germinate them in my sunroom, which is usually 80-100 degrees this time of year. So I don't think they've been too cold.

Before I started using heat mats I had terrible germination results but with the use of the mats I can get even the hard to germinate peppers to come up.

True, heat mats make a difference. Even then, sometimes peppers are really stubborn. Mine took FOREVER this year, even on a heat mat. I got scared, and took seeds to Badseed to germinate for me, (that woman could germinate a fence post) so I knew for sure I would have plants. After mine finally germinated they took off, and I also got a tray of plants from badseed, so I'm flush with peppers this year. :)

I seem to remember some folks setting trays on top of the fridge for bottom heat. It seems like peppers do really well with bottom heat when they germinate (most years) ;)

hate to say it.. I gave up trying to grow peppers.. I don't get enough sun for the poor babies