Sprouting Pepper Seeds Experiment

Pepper Seed Packets for the Pepper Sprouting Experiment With soil-started plants being $4 each now and large peppers getting close to $1 each in the store, I am motivated to start my own peppers from seed.  I have had virtually zero luck sprouting pepper plants.  I have tried indoors, outdoors, seedling starter, potting soil, rockwool, covered, uncovered, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  What I have not tried is the "paper towel method" so, today, I decided it was time to give that a shot. This post has A LOT of pictures but here is the gist.  I used eight different pepper seed packets from three different vendors.  The pepper seed packets also range in age from a few seasons old to new packets.  For the soaking of the paper towel, I have three different PH and PPM levels - out of the tap (7.6 PH / 180 PPM), slightly-acidic (6.6 PH, 190 PPM), and slightly-more-acidic (5.6 PH, 200 PPM).  I placed four seeds on a piece of paper towel that had been soaked in their solution.  I then placed each into its own small sandwich baggie.  They are evenly spaced on a 21" by 44" heating mat set at 85 degrees. Here's how I did it.

Materials

Pepper Seed Packets

Sources

What I Did

First, I mixed up the PH solutions.  I used "PH Down" from General Hydroponics.  When using this solution, I always wear safety glasses.  Getting phosphoric acid in your eye would not make for a good day and it will not take much.  To adjust the PH of one cup of water down to 6.6, I only had to use three little drops. Cups of Water for Pepper Sprouting Experiment Second, I folded and cut up and marked the paper towel pieces.  I kept folding the paper towel in half until I would end up with eight rectangle-shaped pieces.  Then I cut along the sides with folded edges as shown in the next few photos. Paper Towel Preparation for Pepper Seed Sprouting #1 Paper Towel Preparation for Pepper Seed Sprouting #2 Paper Towel Preparation for Pepper Seed Sprouting #3 Paper Towel Preparation for Pepper Seed Sprouting #4 Paper Towel Preparation for Pepper Seed Sprouting #5 Paper Towel Preparation for Pepper Seed Sprouting #6 Third, I marked the paper towels and made a list of the pepper seed packets so I could know which seeds are doing well and which are not.  For the paper towels, I placed anywhere between one and eight dots on it using a marker.  I then made a list of the pepper seed packets on a separate piece of paper and corresponded the number of dots with a pepper seed packet. Paper Towels Marked with Dots for Pepper Seed Sprouting Paper Towels Marked with Dots for Pepper Seed Sprouting List of Pepper Seed Packets and Numbers Fourth, I made a set up of three shallow plastic lids - one to hold some solution, one to hold the paper towel while I placed the pepper seeds on it, and one to hold the folded paper towels and pepper seeds before I put them into the plastic sandwich baggies.  I poured a little bit of the solution into the first lid (left), pulled it out of the solution after it was soaked and placed it on the second lid (center).  I placed four seeds in the top half, folded over the paper towel, and then placed it on the last lid (right). Pepper Seed Packets for the Pepper Sprouting Experiment Three Shallow Lids Holding Pepper Seed Sprouting Towels Fifth, I placed each folded paper towel with the pepper seeds in it into a small sandwich baggie.  I marked them with their PH number and I placed those sandwich baggies on a seedling starter heat mat set to 85 degrees. Pepper Seeds in Sandwich Baggies for Sprouting Sixth, I covered them up with an old towel to keep the heat trapped from the seedling starter mat. Covered Pepper Seeds on Seedling Heat Mat for Pepper Sprouting

Updates

I plan on checking the pepper seeds each day in the evening.  I will keep this page up-to-date with comments and pictures.

2 Comments

  1. mariovella

    Can’t wait to see the results

  2. Pingback: Sprouting Pepper Seeds Experiment : Conclusion – myhydrolab.com

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