[DonDuck]

I use heat mats on the pepper seeds. With the exception of the heat mats, my pepper seeds are germinated right beside my tomato plants with all other conditions being identical. My pepper seeds may get a little more water than my tomato seeds. The heat mats cause the pepper seed cells to lose moisture faster through evaporation.


I've found over the years that different pepper varieties germinate at different rates. Some germinate fast and some slow. I always heard that Carolina Reaper is hard to germinate. They germinated quickly for me this year and I got seven plants from seven seeds.


I don't pay much attention to how sterile my germination trays are. I use the same trays year after without washing them. I'm planning on washing them this summer as I pull some old identification stickers off them. I use potting soil but nothing special so long as it doesn't get hard when dry. I usually start the year by purchasing ten, one gallon jugs of distilled water to prevent minerals from building up in the soil as the moisture evaporates. I usually need to buy a couple more jugs of water before plant out. I start watering my seed by adding 1/8th teaspoon of miracle grow fertilizer to the first three gallons of water used. My plants get no more nutrition before plant out. I germinate and grow on a table I built under T8 fluorescent lights starting with the trays about six inches below the lights. My lights are on a timer with sixteen hours on and eight hours off each day. I lower the deck as the plants grow until the deck is about twenty four inches below the lights. When the plants have grown to almost touching the lights, it is usually warm enough outside to put them in the garden. I stopped up potting a few years ago. They do seem to grow faster when up potted, but I don.t need my plants to grow faster.