A few years ago when I was visiting an HEB Central Market (fancy upscale
grocery store in Houston) I bought a hot red pepper that looked
interesting. It was about a Thia pepper about 7 inches long. Looked
more like a fresh cayenne pepper, but even bigger than that. I dried it
and saved it to plant the next spring -- and forgot about it. I found
it in the back of the spice cupboard a week-and-a-half ago and decided I
needed to plant it this year or throw it out. I cracked it open to get
the seeds out, and it was full of gray mold. :-( As I was coughing and
sneezing from the capsicum released in the air, I couldn't tell if the
seeds were OK or not, so I planted all of them in a little cardboard
flat. I was worried whether I needed to use a fungicide or not, but
decided against it. Then I took it to work and set it on the radiator
in my office for some bottom heat. (The radiator just circulates warm
water, not hot.)

Two days later (yes, two!) the first pepper seedling was just poking
thru the soil. The next day, a couple more. I took them home and set
them under my grow lights. It's been just over a week now, and the
little pepper plants look like grass they are coming up so thick.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with so many pepper plants. But
it's a nice problem to have -- especially when there's still snow on the
ground, but it's beginning to look and smell like spring.

This weekend I plant tomato seeds...

Bob