Poor peppers

[Libby]

It looks like a trip to the garden centre will be in order if I want chilli,s in my greenhouse. My poor seedlings don,t look at all well. Probably going to die I would think.
The whole point of growing from seed for me, was to get a good variety that I probably won,t get ready grown.
I,m a bit fed up about it, since they seemed to be doing ok up until yesterday.
Oh well!

[Wombat]

When you say they look like they are going to die, what do they look like? Are they looking pinched at the soil level and ready to fall over?

Nev

[The Chili Monster]

Hi Libby
Don't despair... at this time of year it's not unusual for chili plants (at any stage of growth) to look a bit sorry for themselves.Try not to let the room temp drop below 10 C, treat them to an outside view and water regularly. As soon as the weather picks up so will your chilis. Good drainage is essential: if they have their first true leaves then pot them on asap, mix sand into the compost to aid drainage.
However, the real mantra is food. Chili plants make their tomato cousins appear to have an eating disorder. It's critical that you invest in decent nutrition. On potting on I always plant the tip of an unused match near the roots of the plant for sulphur. I then treat my chilis to a dose of magnesium in the form of epsom salts and again at fortnightly intervals, with a shot of seaweed extract in between, that way they get all the nutrients they need to grow.
Pinch out at 30 cm so that they bush out. Good luck!

[Libby]

They have pretty much withered up and died wombat
I have 3 left that are still standing, with 2 leaves a piece. For some reason, those 3 still look pretty healthy
I haven,t done anything different than I did for the dead plants. It,s very strange.
I,ll give the match thing a try chilli, see if it helps. What strength should I dilute the epsom salts to?
I,ll be crying if I have to go and buy plants.

[The Chili Monster]

Hi Libby

Dilution: 2 1/2 Oz Salts to 2 gallons water ( 70 g to 9 litres ).

[Libby]

Thanks chili

[ina]

Could one of you pepper specialists tell me how long pepper seeds usually take to germinate? I sowed mine on the 20/2; they are in a nice warm place (I know they need it comfy), but there's nothing showing at all. My tomato seeds, which went in on the same day, have all come up by now. They were last year's seeds, but the packet was still sealed, and they were well within their sell-by date.

[The Chili Monster]

Hi Ina

Germination rates in chilis vary depending on variety. Jalepenos & Cayennes germanate rapidly (7-14 days) at 20 C to 30 C but haberneros can take up to a month. Heat is especially important for their roots.
Sweet peppers, I have discovered (when I thought that they would not take and experimented ), do not seem in need such high heat: 18-20 C and keep it constant.

By the way, Libby, how are your peppers going?

[Shirley]

will bear this in mind when I plant mine - eagerly awaiting several chilli seeds including jalapeno, rainbow chilli, purple venuezelan, lemon drop chilli and tree chilli - all from realseeds.co.uk

[Libby]

Hi Ina

Germination rates in chilis vary depending on variety. Jalepenos & Cayennes germanate rapidly (7-14 days) at 20 C to 30 C but haberneros can take up to a month. Heat is especially important for their roots.
Sweet peppers, I have discovered (when I thought that they would not take and experimented ), do not seem in need such high heat: 18-20 C and keep it constant.

By the way, Libby, how are your peppers going?

Hi Chili,
They are still alive but they don,t seem to be growing much(ok, at all)
I have 1 joe longs, 2 jalepeno,s and 2 inferno that each have 2 leaves.
The inferno appear to be growing 2 more each, so there may be some hope! I also have 1 joe longs with no leaves, but the stem is still alive so I left it potted, just in case
I moved them into bigger pots on saturday and stuck a match in each, but my local chemist was out of epsom salts so I,ll have to try again for those.
I put them in the new pots quite deep, as I,m sure I read somewhere that they root out from the sides of the stems if you do this (probably something you said, I can,t remember )
I have put them into the propogator bottom to keep them warm(no lid) and am just hoping for the best at the moment.
I,m watering them a little every day since they are heated slightly. Should I reduce this, and leave them dry out slightly, or will they be ok with this?
Thanks Chili

[The Chili Monster]

Hi Libby,
don't let the soil dry out. keep watering. they like a good drink but make sure of good drainage. A good flush through may get rid of a build up of salts you don't want. chilis are sensitive to salt so don't use the sand you get off the beach. it's ok to feed them with tomato feed if that's at hand but magnesium gives them the kick up the backside plus protects them against nasty shocks. I use organic seaweed extract which they seem to like (although it's a bit pricey for those on a budget).
I grew infernos one year and remember that they were slow growing. They picked up in the summer when I transplanted them but a lesson I have learned is that there is a definite advantage to starting in December and that is you'd have the heating on indoors anyway and haven't got to fork out on heated propagators. The fact that they have survived pricking out is encouraging.
I have heard that the heating pads you get from Boots make for good alternatives to heated propagators. Never tried them persoanlly, but they'd be cheaper.
Yeah, chilis do grow extra roots from the side of their stems. Not sure if I mentioned it here though!

Well I managed to knock over my sweet peppers today.(clod that I am). salvaged 4 of them but it looks like I'll have to try and grow some more. They didn't go quietly and took three tomato seedlings with them.Oh well.

[Libby]

Sorry to hear about your little accident chili
I,m totally fed up now! First seeds I planted died except for 3. I put a few more seeds in, but didn,t have much luck with them either, and was struggling to keep 6 alive. Alas I think they,ve all had it now!
I tried the match and epsom salts, but it must have been too late to save them. I have no idea where I went wrong.
Added to the fact that my free greenhouse has suffered irrepairable vandalism whilst waiting for me to arrange transport to collect it, it,s been a most depressing week.
I now have no peppers and no greenhouse.
I,ll have to hope I can buy some outdoor loving pepper plants somewhere if I want any chilli,s at all. I don,t suppose I,ll have much of a choice of peppers either!

[The Chili Monster]

Hi Libby
sorry about your pepper plants. Where did you get your seeds from? sometimes you get a bad batch. if you're still keen to grow some chilis then try this link: www.mrseeds.co.uk
They supply organically reared plugs although I suspect there won't be much choice, I'm afraid. I can't vouch for the quality, since I have only ever used them for some seeds.
if you want to have another go at growing from seed then leave it until December and grow them on a window sill at home. You can get varieties of chili pepper that are suited to containers. They quite like a loam based soil to start off with but the fact that you got some to germinate in a vandalised greenhouse suggests that you were getting it right.

[Libby]

Hi chili,
The seeds were suttons, and only 6 per packet.
Thanks for the link, plugs may be a better idea under the circumstances, but they only had one variety left to buy. I have emailed to ask if they will have any more available, so here,s hoping!
They even have a forum, but I didn,t visit it yet.
I never got the greenhouse chili, It got vandalised before I even picked it up! I took too long to arrange the transport for it unfortunately
I,m on the lookout for another though.

[ina]

Hi Ina

Germination rates in chilis vary depending on variety. Jalepenos & Cayennes germanate rapidly (7-14 days) at 20 C to 30 C but haberneros can take up to a month. Heat is especially important for their roots.
Sweet peppers, I have discovered (when I thought that they would not take and experimented ), do not seem in need such high heat: 18-20 C and keep it constant.

Sorry for being so slow to react - no idea where the last week went; we seem to be very busy just now.

Anyway, good news: They have finally germinated! Took them almost 4 weeks. And by the way, 18-20C IS very high heat in my book...

Thanks for your advice!