PEPPER SEEDLINGS CRACKED

Be sure to acclimate them slowly to the outdoors before planting them in their summer-growing spot. Grow a trio of tasty, sweet bell peppers for salads, salsas, stir-frys and more. Keep peppers healthy until it’s time to move them outside. A small rotating fan to keep air moving around seedlings will help prevent damping off. To prevent damping off, a fungal disease that causes new seedlings to die at the soil surface, keep the soil moist but not soggy. Place lights 2 to 4 inches above the seedlings for 16 hours a day, and raise lights as the plants grow.Ī heating mat provides bottom heat to help speed germination, and extra ambient room heat will give pepper seeds a good start. Sometimes a warm sunny location isn’t enough, and seedlings need supplemental lighting from fluorescent lights or special grow lights. Light, heat, and moisture are important ingredients for healthy seedlings. That’s seeding insurance in case a seed or two doesn’t sprout. It’s always a good idea to plant two or three pepper seeds in each cell and then thin the seedlings when they start to grow. Before planting, moisten the planting mixture to the consistency of a wrung-out sponge.įollow packet instructions for spacing seeds. Some gardeners (like me) prefer to use ready-to-plant kits other gardeners prefer to use clean, recycled containers with holes for drainage.Īlways use a sterile, soilless seed mixture. There are plenty of options for indoor seed starting. Sweet peppers are a warm season vegetable, and most gardeners start sweet pepper seeds indoors in the spring and then transplant the seedlings to the garden. That’s usually late May or early June.Ĭount back the number of weeks from transplanting to know when to start seeds. I time my pepper transplanting for when I know the weather will be warm enough for consistent nighttime temperatures of 50☏. Most seed packets recommend starting pepper seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last average frost date.

Some seeds, like those of sweet or chili peppers, need more time to germinate than other vegetable seeds. It’s also especially rewarding to plant, tend, and watch the seeds grow. Starting from seeds may seem daunting to beginning vegetable gardeners, but it’s the best way to get more planting choices, control how plants are grown, and save money. A wet toothpick or chopstick helps pick up pepper seeds to make for easier planting. While the basement was fine for other seeds, pepper seeds (like tomato seeds) need extra heat to help them germinate and start to grow. Once I moved the whole operation to a warm upstairs room and placed the seeds on a table over a heating vent, the seeds sprouted quickly. I eventually realized that the cool air in the basement was causing my pepper problems. I even used a heating mat to help them get going. It wasn’t a lack of light or not enough water. My big mistake wasn’t the soil medium I was using.

PEPPER SEEDLINGS CRACKED

After a failed attempt at starting my pepper plants from seeds, I finally cracked the code.

Pepper seedlings