germination without a propagator...?

[JerseyJimbo]

I have sown a baulk load of various seeds for my allotment in the past few weeks, various tom's, cucumbers, courgettes squashes and pumpkins etc. All have started to germinate well and some are already getting to the stage of requiring planting into bigger pots for hardening off ready for my allotment.

Now this year as i like to try new stuff, i have sown sweet peppers (world beater) hot peppers (chocolate habanero) and aubergines (black beauty) in the same 4 tier plastic indoor green house that i have sown all the other stuff in, the temp in there according to the cheap thermometer has been between 20'c to 26'c, and none of these have germinated, 100% failure ???

Needless to say that this is very disappointing, and doing some reading up i reckoned that the temperature in the polyhouse should of been warm enough, it seems not, so recently i have wrapped the seed trays in clingfilm to raise the temperatures, but still nothing... Now i am toying with the idea of buying a heated propagator to try an force these seed into some sort of reaction, but before i go splurging out my hard earned is there anything i can try?

[selfraising]

Have you got a warm windowsill indoors you could try them on? Mine were all sown indoors in an unheated propagator. When did you sow them?

[JerseyJimbo]

they were sown on the 2nd of this month, the polyhouse is in a south facing window that gets direct sunlight for about 5-6hrs a day.

[selfraising]

Hmmm my peppers took about 10 days so you might want to leave them a few days longer before you go to the expense of the heated prop.

[JerseyJimbo]

i will wait a tad longer, well to next payday anyway before i get one... thanks for the help

[Kittypickle]

Our peppers took a good couple of weeks at least to get going and the Black beauty was a little less but not much.

Something I tried last year which worked well on my pumpkin and sweetcorn was putting a well covered hot water bottle in a picnic coolbag. I used damp tissue in a sandwich box as the seeds were bigger but you use compost.

[Mrs Jackson]

I would think the night-time temperatures are still too low for germinating peppers and aubergines outside at the moment. Chocolate habaneros will almost certainly need somewhere more constantly warm before they germinate, and even then they could well take a month or more to come up. Have you got an airing cupboard you could put them in? Or could you bring them inside at night?

Mrs J

[zazen999]

9 days is nothing for peppers and aubreys; they often take 3-4 weeks to show as they may have germinated but are busy growing roots before popping their heads up.

[sarraceniac]

I would think the night-time temperatures are still too low for germinating peppers and aubergines outside at the moment. Chocolate habaneros will almost certainly need somewhere more constantly warm before they germinate, and even then they could well take a month or more to come up. Have you got an airing cupboard you could put them in? Or could you bring them inside at night?

Mrs J

Just to re-enforce the Choc Habs. thing. Generally the hotter the chilli the more dificult germination is. I had no real problem with Orange habs, but my Chocs took 3+ weeks at a constant 22°C. My (only) Dorset Naga took well over a month at that temp. 1 germination from 10 seeds.

[Two_Sheds]

i have sown ... in the same 4 tier plastic indoor green house ... 20'c to 26'c, and none of these have germinated, 100% failure ?

What is the night time temp?
Peppers need a constant warm temp to germinate, not fluctuations. If I were you, I'd germinate them on a warm windowsill, then put into your placky blowaway when they come up

[JerseyJimbo]

well i was awake at 4am this morning thanks to our local seagulls so i went and had a look at the temp in the polyhouse, 20'c. I have my suspicions that the thermometer may well be tell porkies as i have yet to see it read under 20'c...?

Mrs J, the polyhouse is indoors, its in my kitchen...

Should i of germinated these seeds on kitchen towel then instead of planting them into seed compost? I have some of the aubergine seeds left over and can try that method??

Also when i watered them in after sowing i used quite warm water, i would say it was warmer than tepid but not uncomfortably hot to try and give them a 'kick' was this pointless as well???

[tamsin]

I would agree, don't give up on your peppers yet, they are much slower to germinate.

You can try some backups on kitchen roll for both pepper and aubergine. Pop them on damp kitchen roll, in a sandwich bag, somewhere warm. Soon as they start germinating pot the seed up.