This year, I had a terrible time starting my bell pepper seeds. I'm not exactly certain what I did differently last year, but my seeds germinated quickly in the soil, and took off resulting in great and colorful sweet bell peppers during harvest at the end of the summer.
This year? Not a great start. I did the same thing as the year before. I saved seeds from some of the mature peppers in the fall. I scooped the seeds out, pulling the seeds off the flesh, and spread them single layer in little cups lined with a paper towel. I let them dry for a week (or two) and then placed them into envelopes for planting just before spring. Of course, I labeled them based on color, and thought, "Cool" I have this handled. But, it was not that easy this year.
In the Pacific NW, the growing season for peppers is pretty short. To help with that, we need to start our seeds indoors typically the end of February or first of March. Last year, I simply planted them in starting pots with sterilized potting soil, and put them under some grow lights. Easy Peasy. This year, I did that again. Out of 24 seeds, I had one sprout up. One! I waited four weeks, to no avail.
I needed to start all over, a month late, no less.
I had read that freezing seeds for two days, prior to starting to germinate them can give them a boost. I also read that germinating pepper plant seeds like warmer temps. The room I had them in was 70F, but I learned that they actually prefer 80F to germinate. So, after two days of freezing, I took about ten seeds of each variety (4) and gently placed them on half a paper towel. The other half folded over the seeds. Then I spritz them throughly with weak chamomile tea. (Weak - as in one cup of regular chamomile tea diluted with three more cups of water. Make certain to use distilled water for this or bottled water that is not chlorinated. Then pour into a spray bottle.) If the towels start to dry out before the seeds have germinated, you can spritz them again.
I put each variety into its own sandwitch ziplock bag and labeled the bag with date and variety name. I sealed up the bag and placed it under a piece of tin foil to attract the heat from the lamp while helping to keep it darker in the bags. So I did that on March 26, and voila, March 30, most of the seeds had germinated. I even ended up throwing some of them away!
The purpose of the Chamomile Tea it is help prevent mold from forming, and for other healthy starting purposes. I used Organic tea since I try to grow organic, as much as possible. So, now that the germination has started, I packed myself 12 little pots with sterilized soil, placed three seeds in each pot and gently sprinkled soil over the top and watered it with the rest of the tea to start the sprouts. Granted, I may only get a few actual plants out of this, but at least I feel like I will have more success this time. I can update with photos after I have them well on their way.
Hoping this helps you out too.
