Sprouts!

Everything I've read says that peppers take at least 10-14 days to germinate. Well, looks like I've hit on something with my growing technique, because 57 plants were up on day 7. It's day 10, and I'm up to 65. It's fun to watch the leaves unfurl from the seeds. The little stem elbows pull the seeds up from the dirt and slide their leaves out of it. Now that they've hit air, everyone's off the heating pad and there are two fluorescent lamps playing sunshine for 15 hours a day. Again, I'm guessing on temperature. The thermometer's been spazzy lately. Some things just weren't made to live for 14 years, I guess. It's funny how protective you can feel of tiny little seedlings. I'm always looking to check on their leaves, their soil, and their light. 

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A stem bends up from the dirt and unfolds leaves, its seed on the end

Something very strange has been happening lately. Twice now, I've found a perfectly uprooted seedling lying in the container of another one. The first time, the two were neighbors and there was a telltale hole where the uprooted pepper had been. But the second time, it took me a while to realize where the mystery pepper belonged. Thankfully, I'd made a chart of current germination, so I found the correct empty container. Strangely, the soil was smooth and looked undisturbed. While that's explainable since I watered this morning, it still doesn't explain how the plants are uprooting and moving themselves so tidily. Any ideas?


~Allie

A Little Explaining

All of a sudden, I'm growing chile peppers. The varieties are Gusto Purple, and Bulgarian Carrot, both of which I bought from Territorial Seed Company.* When it comes to actual growing know-how, my only source so far has been thechileman.org. Bad grammar on some stuff, bad punctuation on others. But hey, they grow peppers, don't they? And that's what counts. Aside from confusion over "peat-free seed compost" (um, I think they meant "seed-starter mix?"), I'm off to a good start. 


To be honest, I should have started these babies like a month ago, but that's what "budgeting" is for, I guess. Once I finally ended up with materials. Now they're in trays of dirt, germinating. Well, that's what they're supposed to be doing, anyway. Waiting for seedlings is weirdly stressful, and there's a week and a half left until I see sprouts. Somehow it doesn't seem like covering these small seeds with some dirt and water and popping them on a heating pad will do anything. The fact that there are peppers in supermarkets should be some proof that it works, though. ^_^

Seeds in dirt on a fridge. Impressive. :)

~Allie


*My seeds happen to be some of the non-GMO varieties...