Back in early May I tried starting some pepper seeds, which said 10-20 days
for germination. I often left the starter tray out on my front porch, even
at night. A month later, plenty of tomato plants, but no peppers. So I
decided to start over with new seeds--But I kept watering the first batch,
just in case...

I had read somewhere that peppers needed warm soil to sprout, so from then
on I made sure that they were inside at night, and I put them in the sun
during the day. Most of the seeds, even from the original planting, ended
up sprouting!

So anyway, I guess *I* would tend to play it safe and start with some new
seeds, in case the original ones are shot. But they might just be
patiently waiting for the right conditions.

Good Luck!
--Steve


"Mike Stevenson" wrote in
t:

Ok I've moved the container into the air conditioned room. Hopefully
this will change the progress of these poor things. I've yet to have a
single sprout. It's been like 3 weeks since I started them. Should I
try new seeds?

"Mike Stevenson" wrote in message
t...
Well I'm guessing this is related to heat. The temperatures inside
the
house
during the day are in the mid 80s(F) (well in the un-air conditioned
parts of the house.) My broccoli seeds still have not sprouted. I dug
a few out
of
one of the peat pots and they have simply turned brown, they had not
even busted open. I'm concerned my hopes for a Fall crop of broccoli
may be dashed. I think I am going to try moving the tray they are in
into the bedroom, which is air conditioned down to around 70F.

I'll do some snooping around online as well. I did read that broccoli
(and some kinds of lettuce, particularly leaf types) have trouble
germinating
in
soil/weather that is too warm. But I didn't think my house would be
considered too warm hehe. Being in Zone 6b we might get 2 weeks of
weather in the 90s at the most. Usually its much less than that, so I
figured it wouldn't be a real problem here. But alas....

"AgentFriday" wrote in message
...
Hi Mike,

I wish I had some advice to give you, because that would probably
mean
that
I wasn't having exactly the same problem you are.

Last year I got maybe 25% of the seeds to sprout, which I thought
was pretty lousy. Ha! If only I did that well this year. My
first
planting
was 12 seeds in potting soil... two sprouted, and then when the
temp hit 95+ they died. My second attempt (again, 12 seeds in
potting soil)
yielded
only one sprouter, which is doing rather nicely now. I decided to
see
if
I
had better luck sowing them directly in the ground, which is what
people told me I should do. Well, I planted them almost 3 weeks
ago now, and
not
a one came up.

So I'm here to echo your question. Actually, that's the very
reason I ended stumbling upon this newsgroup. I've been searching
the web for
info.
on cultivating broccoli, but nothing has really told me where I
went
wrong.

good luck,
--Steve



"Mike Stevenson" wrote in
:

I am starting some Broccoli transplants to be put out later in
the Summer for a Fall crop. I have put 4 seeds in each peat flat
to be thinned out later once the small plants have come up. I
started pepper plants in the same type of peat flats in the same
container, and set it in the same location. The temperature
inside my house never gets above the low to mid 80s. I also
started morning glory seedlings in the same way and those just
exploded with growth after only 4 days. The peppers germinated in
about a week. However my broccoli hasn't germinated after 11 days
and I'm getting worried. I have kept them moist and as cool as
possible inside the house, without being TOO cool, somewhere in
the 70 to 85 range during the night and day. I am aware broccoli
does not germinate well in warm temperatures. I am dealing with 4
different varieties of Broccoli, which I got from Burpee this
year. Can anyone offer any additional hints to something I
may be missing?