[nctomatoman]

Whew....one flat of hot peppers are now in individual 4 inch pots. Transplanting gave me a chance to record some germination data. This is for 20-30 seeds in a 1.5 inch cell, 40 different varieties, saved seed from 2003, 2004 or 2005.

2005 saved seed:

Germination percentages:
100% - 4 varieties
90-99% - 4 varieties
80-89% - 6 varieties
70-79% - 5 varieties
60-69% - 1 variety
50-59% - 1 variety
25-49% - 3 varieties
less than 25% - 3 varieties

2004 saved seed:

90-100% - 3 varieties
70-89% - 5 varieties

2003 saved seed:

90-100% - 2 varieties
70-89% - 2 varieties
45% - 1 variety

a few things surprised me - that germination in 2003 seed was fine (though a small sampling), and that even some 2005 saved seed was not great.

Another - I always thought that chinense types (the Habanero family) was lower than others, but most of the 12 Chinense types were greater than 80%, and a few at 100%.

Poorest germinating were Rocoto peppers (Orange Rocoto failed to germinate, Yellow Rocoto gave me one plant from 20 seeds) and Little Nubian (for whatever reason, saved seed from this variety never germinates well). Peach Habanero was a complete failure - I obviously did not pick the peppers at the proper stage of ripeness for viable seed (very tricky color change in that variety).

I also had very few stuck seed coats - the variety most prone appears to be Pretty Purple, though misting the coat and patience led to no loss at all.

So - the result of my efforts is 33 flats of 15-4 inch pots on the floor of my garage - as well as one pot each of the smallest seedlings of each variety as back ups.

Tomorrow - on to the rest of the hot peppers and sweet peppers. Then..eggplant and tomatillo - then, at last! = tomatoes!!!