Dennis Edward said:

I've generally started growing my seeds indoors early for transplanting
outdoors when the weather gets nice enough. That works fine for
everything
except peppers. For those, I get stubbornly empty trays time after time. I
just can't seem to figure out the proper combination of heat, moisture, and
soil to get pepper seedlings. Anyone successfully done this? If so, do you
use potting soil or garden soil? Keep them inside or outside? Heating cable
or pad? Keep the soil wet or damp or allow it to dry? Any pointers
appreciated.

I use peat pellets and bottom heating pad, and sow twice as many pellets
as I want final plants. The pellets are kept in a covered container (I
use trays with lids from a local Thai carryout).

It is imperative to open the lids once the seeds have sprouted (shuffling
the pellets around if neccessary to give the slowpokes and extra chance).
Toothpicks with a small numbered flag (made from bits of address labels)
and a sheet assigning numbers to various varietes keeps everything ID'ed
during shuffles.

I've found that I have particular problems with pepper seeds from one
source, though I really love the company for most other things. Their
seeds just seem to be prone to mold rather than sprout. (Perhaps they
would do better in plastic pots with sterilized potting soil rather than
peat pellets.)

Treated seeds generally have a higher germination rate for me that
untreated seeds. Or maybe it's just that the company with the treated seeds
(Stokes) has superior seeds.


--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)