Peppers in Jiffy starter

[Bettacreek]

Well, I planted 12 bell pepper seeds and 12 ornamental pepper seeds (chilly chili I believe), and I'm wondering what else I need to do. I used those peat pellets, moistened them until they were fully "grown", then added a seed to each one. They're in the kitchen, near the door, and it's fairly cold over there. Should I move them to a warmer room? Anything else I need to know/do?

 

[curly_kate]

In my admittedly limited experience starting peppers, I've found that they do much better in a warmer area. Make sure they have plenty of light and stay watered, and you should be good to go.

 

[Ellie]

I find that they need warmth as said, but they don't need light until they are up. You can put them on top of a freezer, water heater, refrigerator (mine is cold, though) or something.

Peppers need bottom warmth, from what I have learned. They also take a little longer to come up, sometimes up to two weeks, though if you warm their little bottoms, lol, they will come up a little faster.

 

[patandchickens]

What Kate and Ellie said. Peppers love, in fact NEED, warmth. Put them in the warmest place you can find, 75+ F is not too warm. 70 is fine once they're growing.

There is some funky thing about when they have 2 or 3 (I forget) true leaves you can lower their night temperature to the mid 50s F for three weeks (or something like that) to produce sturdier plants that blossom slightly earlier. It is not mandatory however.

Do harden off well and wait until the soil and air are WELL warm before planting out -- peppers have no sense of humor at all about cool soil and will sulk for an unreasonable length of time if you rush things.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[kaycei]

I have to second most of what was mentioned about. I'm growing sweet peppers and my husband is growing hot peppers. Ours took about 2 weeks to sprout, using the Jiffy trays in an indoor greenhouse from FleetFarm ($25). Ours gets up to 85 in the day, and I'm guessing 70 at night.

 

[bigredfeather]

Most all seeds germinate between 70-80 degrees. Those warming mats you can buy really help if you don't have a nice warm spot to sprout. I always cover my trays. I cut a piece of plywood and stapled plastic over it. It helps keep the moisture in the tray. Most seeds will sprout in less than 7 days with a mat. Peppers and tomatoes can occasionally take a few extra days.

Heat mats are defietly worth they money IMO. More sprout and usually their all at the same time.