Quote:
Originally Posted by Fusion_power
With hot peppers, a chicken egg incubator set at 80 to 85 degrees works better. Tomatoes generally do best at 70 to 75 degrees.
DarJones
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Agreed that hot peppers want it hot for best germination, but not having a chicken egg incubator I would start my hot peppers about 3-4 weeks before my cold peppers, and the cold peppers and egplant about two weeks before the tomato seeds.
All the seed trays were placed on top of some lighted bulbs on my plant stand and all the seed trays were covered with large baggies, propped up at one end for air circulation and all seeds started in artificial mix, my choice of the year although I preferred Fafard or Jiffy or Pro-mix.
Never had a problem and germination was fine.
After I moved to where I am now I'd sow the seeds same as above, usually using those 20 row professional seed inserts and then drive them to my commercial friend's farm where he had 28 greenhouses and one was the seed starting one where pipes with circulating hot water were embedded in the concrete so that that concrete was always nice and warm.
Now that was easy, no fuss, thanks to Charlie and then I'd do all my transplanting there as well and the trays with the new transplants were put in greenhouse #17, the one Charlie assigned to me, and the area he gave me was right in front of a huge exhaust fan. I guess he didn't want to put HIS transplants in front of that huge fan, but with the air motion, aka thigmo tropism, my plants were just wonderful.
Now I don't grow any peppers or eggplants or tomatoes from seed. Craig L raises my tomato plants for me in Raleigh and ships them up here, bless him, although this past season he delivered them in person since he and Sue were up this way for a graduation.
Today I meet with a local young lad who is getting into heirloom veggies and fruits seriously, as in commercial, and so starting at about 1 PM for a talkfest I know it's going to be fun, and I've already told him I can give him all the tomato seed he needs, he's been buying it the past two years, and I bet I can get him to raise for me some cold peppers in his greenhouse in return.
