Hi,

I hope all are doing fine, m a new Gardner and planted some seed of tomatoes, peppers, water melon, sweet melon, cucumbers and a little mint plant, my cucumbers have germinated in just 2 days and are still growing well and sweet melon also germinated (i've transferred them to a little soil now- i started them in paper towel inside a zip lock bag) but the problem is my peppers, tomatoes and water melons haven't sprouted yet, though i've tried every method none of them has germinated even after more then a week, i used all purpose potting mix to start with, i have a big space for lawn as well and m not sure how to use it, i live in Sharjah, UAE and this time of year is really hot here its reaching 40+ degrees Celsius.

I really like a proper guidance here, would be glad if someone can help me out with my quarries, i have lots of lots of and loads of questions to ask.

regards.

A week is a pretty short time period. Peppers can take a while depending on variety up to 20 days. Optimum starting temp for tomatoes is 40 degrees C. and drops off rapidly with higher temps. Watermelons usually are pretty fast to germinate in heat. I direct seed, but they are fairly easy to start in a soft drink cup with a good starter mix. They should be up in a week to 15 days.

So.... Are your tomatoes and pepper seed still in the paper towel?

I'm not a fan of using the paper towel method.

What might work better....
Is to scatter fresh tomato seed, and fresh pepper seed in a larger container, and use a plastic bag as a tent over the pot. This increases humidity, but.... You wouldn't want to place these pots in the sun....
After seeing signs of germination, you will want to remove the tent... Leave the tent, cook the seedlings.

farmerdill said:A week is a pretty short time period. Peppers can take a while depending on variety up to 20 days. Optimum starting temp for tomatoes is 40 degrees C. and drops off rapidly with higher temps. Watermelons usually are pretty fast to germinate in heat. I direct seed, but they are fairly easy to start in a soft drink cup with a good starter mix. They should be up in a week to 15 days.

Hi farmerdill, thanks for the reply, yea i have my watermelon 🍉 in yogurt cup, but I've also put few seeds in paper towel just to track down the progress, plus I've put few sweet melons in paper towels n they germinated in just 2 days so i transferred them in a soft drink cup with all purpose potting mix now its 4 days n i can see a lil sprout on it, but m very eagerly waiting for peppers and tomatoes since I've planted them in 3 different places i.e. Papertowels, tin can and plastic pots, lets see which one sprout frst.. thanks again for sharing time span and temperature needs for them

stone said:So.... Are your tomatoes and pepper seed still in the paper towel?

I'm not a fan of using the paper towel method.

What might work better....
Is to scatter fresh tomato seed, and fresh pepper seed in a larger container, and use a plastic bag as a tent over the pot. This increases humidity, but.... You wouldn't want to place these pots in the sun....
After seeing signs of germination, you will want to remove the tent... Leave the tent, cook the seedlings.

Hi stone, yes i still have them in Papertowels as well as in tin cans and plastic containers, I've covered tin cans with zip lock bags and plastic containers well i just spread the black garbage bag on it.. I was hoping it will be up by now but they r still sleeping...

Here in uae it's very hot during day time, usually its humid too but now a days its dry n hot, how long do u think those seeds will take to germinate in such climate?

My other seeds r doing good though.. Cucumbers and sweet melons seems very happy...

Thanks alot for the tips though they r really helpful I'll recheck my seeds n cover them properly by tenting instead of carpeting them.