When it comes to germinating seeds for your garden there is no need to overthink things. All you need is your seeds, soil, water, and a warm humid environment for your pepper seeds to sprout. For this quick howto I will be using peat pellets to start the remainder of my pepper seeds for this years garden.
In this howto I will be using peat pellets to do our germination, but you could also use rockwool cubes (great for hydroponics), or plain potting soil, whatever you find most convenient.
The first thing we will want to do is soak our pellets in water for at least 24 hours. This will make sure the pellet is fully expanded and has absorbed as much water as it can. Take your seed packet and pour a few seeds out so we can easily grab them and place them (If you are dealing with extremely spicy pepper seeds you should probably use gloves).
For me I like to place 2 seeds in each peat pellet. This is really up to you, but since not every seed will germinate I like to have a spare in each pellet so it does not get wasted. If you are dealing with extremely old or unreliable seeds you may want to start with even more. Place the seeds in the hole of the peat pellet and then cover them by pressing over some of the peat material over the hole.
Once you have prepared all your pellets place them under a humidity dome and depending on temperatures you may also want a heat mat as peppers will benefit from warm soil temps during germination (You are looking for ~85F (30C)). Around a week later you should start to see your seeds sprouting. If more than one seed sprouts in a pellet you can just cut out whichever one you don't want.
You wont need light during this initial phase, but you will want light on your plants immediately after they sprout or they will start stretching. Good luck on starting your own pepper plants this year. There really isn't much to it seeds really do want to grow!
In this howto I will be using peat pellets to do our germination, but you could also use rockwool cubes (great for hydroponics), or plain potting soil, whatever you find most convenient.
The first thing we will want to do is soak our pellets in water for at least 24 hours. This will make sure the pellet is fully expanded and has absorbed as much water as it can. Take your seed packet and pour a few seeds out so we can easily grab them and place them (If you are dealing with extremely spicy pepper seeds you should probably use gloves).
For me I like to place 2 seeds in each peat pellet. This is really up to you, but since not every seed will germinate I like to have a spare in each pellet so it does not get wasted. If you are dealing with extremely old or unreliable seeds you may want to start with even more. Place the seeds in the hole of the peat pellet and then cover them by pressing over some of the peat material over the hole.
Once you have prepared all your pellets place them under a humidity dome and depending on temperatures you may also want a heat mat as peppers will benefit from warm soil temps during germination (You are looking for ~85F (30C)). Around a week later you should start to see your seeds sprouting. If more than one seed sprouts in a pellet you can just cut out whichever one you don't want.
You wont need light during this initial phase, but you will want light on your plants immediately after they sprout or they will start stretching. Good luck on starting your own pepper plants this year. There really isn't much to it seeds really do want to grow!
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