Good evening,

I want to grow chillies from seed this year and the advice that I've got
back is to make sure that they get a good start by heating the soil to 70
degrees, using a heated propagator.

No idea on what make or model to buy - can anyone recommend a manufacturer?
I only want to grow a dozen or so plants so I assume a cheap and cheerful,
small propagator will be sufficient.

Any help gratefully received.

Cheers,

Andrew

ajr wrote:
Good evening,

I want to grow chillies from seed this year and the advice that I've
got back is to make sure that they get a good start by heating the
soil to 70 degrees, using a heated propagator.

No idea on what make or model to buy - can anyone recommend a
manufacturer? I only want to grow a dozen or so plants so I assume a
cheap and cheerful, small propagator will be sufficient.

Any help gratefully received.

If it's only for chillies, it's quite unnecessary: a warm windowsill is
all I've ever used for both seeds and mature plants. I recommend peat
pots to avoid root damage when potting on.

My take on this -- but others may know better -- is that you may bring
your seedlings on too quickly and risk ending up with straggly plants
instead of stocky tough ones. The plants you get need to be suitable for
the conditions in which they'll be finally planted out: spindly ones
won't do well anywhere, but outdoors or in a cold greenhouse they'll be
set back particularly seriously. If you're going to use a heated
greenhouse for the final situation, then that's also the place for the
seeds, in my opinion.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
ajr wrote:
Good evening,

I want to grow chillies from seed this year and the advice that I've
got back is to make sure that they get a good start by heating the
soil to 70 degrees, using a heated propagator.

No idea on what make or model to buy - can anyone recommend a
manufacturer? I only want to grow a dozen or so plants so I assume a
cheap and cheerful, small propagator will be sufficient.

Any help gratefully received.

If it's only for chillies, it's quite unnecessary: a warm windowsill is
all I've ever used for both seeds and mature plants. I recommend peat
pots to avoid root damage when potting on.

My take on this -- but others may know better -- is that you may bring
your seedlings on too quickly and risk ending up with straggly plants
instead of stocky tough ones. The plants you get need to be suitable for
the conditions in which they'll be finally planted out: spindly ones
won't do well anywhere, but outdoors or in a cold greenhouse they'll be
set back particularly seriously. If you're going to use a heated
greenhouse for the final situation, then that's also the place for the
seeds, in my opinion.

--
Mike.



Thanks for the advice Mike.

No idea what to do, so I'm going to plant half the seeds as you've suggested
and the other half using my new heated propogator - I have to justify buying
it somehow!! :-)

Will let you know the results in the summer.

Cheers,

Andrew

On Sat, 4 Feb 2006 21:50:19 -0000, "ajr" wrote:

Good evening,

I want to grow chillies from seed this year and the advice that I've got
back is to make sure that they get a good start by heating the soil to 70
degrees, using a heated propagator.

No idea on what make or model to buy - can anyone recommend a manufacturer?
I only want to grow a dozen or so plants so I assume a cheap and cheerful,
small propagator will be sufficient.

Any help gratefully received.

Cheers,

Andrew
I made my own in the corner of the greenhouse on my allotment by boxing a corner
of the greenhouse with wood spars and bubble film and under the bench
a twin burner parafin stove on the bench water proof trays with
capillary mating 1/4 seed trays a soil themometer and a fleece curtain
down th front. I am steady at 65f and tomato seedlings are now ready
to pot on, Kelsea onions were poted on last week.
Neil