The Crafty Cultivator

Just a quick note before we jump into this update… It might be a wordy one. I’m writing this over a many many days so I have a decent update on all the peppers I have started.

You know how in my first pepper post, I was a little worried about my saved cayenne seed… and that I might hedge my bets and sow some of the seed from the seed packet in-case my own seed didn’t germinate??? Well!…On March 4, 7 days after I put them in the wet paper towel, I had 3 seeds push out and germinate. I never did use the seed packet to hedge my bets. I’m just so proud of my little seeds! They beat out all the other pepper seeds.

I didn’t quite have enough room in my kitchen window area for them to be in their own individual containers, so I’ve just put them into peat pellets to get them into something they can start life in. I will have to pot these up before they go outside, but the peat pellets will at least give them a decent start.

Habanero – I sowed these in January knowing that they may not germinate. I didn’t do anything special for them, they were just sown in peat pellets along with some other herbs and put in my kitchen window. They were just a wait and see what happens kind of situation.  With it being SOOOOO COLD for all of February, the kitchen window area was much colder than usual, especially at night.  So once my paper-towel peppers started to germinate, I decided to move the un-germinated habaneros to my heating pad. Within 24 hours of being on heat (and in a ziplock-bag to keep the humidity up), they have started to germinate! That was March 5. So the wait to see what happens with the habaneros continues.

On March 5, I also put some ‘Cabernet’ Bell Pepper seeds on paper towel to hopefully germinate, as I am not seeing much change in my ‘California Wonder’ Bell Pepper seeds. I’m not giving up on them just yet, but I do want to have some bell pepper plants this year, and I do not want to buy the starts from the garden centre (but I will if I have to)

Just a quick note about the ‘Cabernet’ pepper, since it wasn’t included in the original pepper post:

• It is an F1, which means it is a hybrid, and I won’t be saving seed from it.
• From McKenzie Seeds “Culinary Selections”
• Another old pack of seeds from 2014, so I’m not expecting fantastic germination. I’ve used whatever I had left in the packet.
• 76 Days
• Description from the seed packet: “Elongated bell shape measuring 15cm by 10cm (6″x4″). Turns from a green to red sweet pepper. Use fresh in salsa and salads. Great from stuffing or pickling”

By March 7, the ‘Medusa’ Peppers, and more of the Early Jalapeno’s had germinated, and I have 4 peat pellets of the Medusa,  and a total of 4 Jalapenos. I’ve also got 7 peat pellets of the Cayenne and I think I’ll stop myself before I end up with 20 of them.

I’m finalising this first pepper update on March 27, and as it stands:

• None of the ‘California Wonder’ bell peppers germinated, or showed any sign of life, so I moved them to the garbage for more space for other things.
• I also gave up on the Cabernet peppers I talked about above. They were more promising than the other Bell Peppers, but at this point, I’m going to focus my energy on the things that are growing and I’ll buy some bell pepper starts… and some fresh seed for next year.
• I have 7 peat pellets with the germinated cayennes, with 4 of them growing fantastic and working on their true leaves. The other 3 are a little slower, But my minimum goal was 4 plants, so I’m right on track for my plans.
• The Jalapenos have been growing the best. I have 4 of them working on their true leaves. Almost all of the seeds germinated, and I could have had quite a few of these, But I’m space poor, so I stopped myself at 4 plants.
• The habaneros are also working on their true leaves.
• The Marconi peppers are just starting to sprout up as well. I have 5 peat pellets of them, and I hope they all survive. 2 have Sprouted, and the other 3 are hit or miss, and I’ll give them a little longer to figure out if they want to live.
• I have 4 of the peat pellets of the Medusa, with 3 of them fully sprouted. Hopefully all 4 make it. They are more of a novelty, but I’m glad they are doing well.