After sowing 20 seeds on the 10th of January I’ve been patiently waiting for the first loop to appear. Here’s what I sowed in my first batch of the year:
- Brasileira Marimbondo x 2
- Naga Jolokia x 3
- Spanish Naga x 2
- Dorset Naga x 2
- Scotch Bonnet Orange x 1
- White Habanero x 3
- Chocolate Habanero x 2
- Habanero Papafina x 2
- Lemon Drop x 2
- Bhut X x 1
All were sown in a regular cellular seed tray with some sieved all purpose compost. The seed tray was placed into a cheap heated propagator in the house.
Just when I was starting to get nervous that nothing was going to germinate, after exactly a week, up popped a Lemon Drop. Closely followed behind was a White Habanero and an Orange Scotch Bonnet.
As discussed previously I’ve been aiming to keep the propagator at about 25 degrees which i’ve just about managed with a little help from some bubble wrap, despite the bitterly cold weather we’ve been having lately. While i’m waiting for germination to occur I keep the vents on the propagator closed to keep the compost from drying out too much.
While i wait for the other seeds to germinate I’ve just put a regular cfl light over the propagator to ensure some half decent light for those seedlings that are already up.
With out the little clip light (from Amazon for £5) I find the seedlings tend to get too leggy far too quickly. Before i put the light up the lemon drop was already leaning over towards the window in search of daylight!
It’s just a regular 11Watt energy saving light bulb in the light fitting – they are ideal for young seedlings as they are cheap to run and don’t produce too much heat. I’ll probably leave the light on for about 16 hours a day to keep the seedlings happy.
Right now it’s off to the shed to finish building off my new grow box…more on that later….