It all started with my Mother's Day present (UK Mother's Day is 6th March)
My son Nathan knows how passionate I am about growing things and how I love chillies so after a lot of research he bought me some fabulous seeds as a present.
Among those he bought are the ones in this picture. Apparently these are incredibly rare chillies and at one stage there were only two bushes left (by buying them you make a contribution to conservation). If anyone is interested in reading more look up https://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark-item/chiltepin-pepper
So needless to say I wanted to make sure I gave them the absolute best start in life and hopefully encourage them to germinate
My son Nathan knows how passionate I am about growing things and how I love chillies so after a lot of research he bought me some fabulous seeds as a present.
Among those he bought are the ones in this picture. Apparently these are incredibly rare chillies and at one stage there were only two bushes left (by buying them you make a contribution to conservation). If anyone is interested in reading more look up https://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark-item/chiltepin-pepper
So needless to say I wanted to make sure I gave them the absolute best start in life and hopefully encourage them to germinate
I had already sown my chillies a good few weeks ago and they are coming up well but because these are so special I decided to take extra care and "condition" the seeds before sowing. I thought I would share the process here as it is a way of making germination more likely and if you haven't sown grown chillies from seed before you may want try doing it!
First you need to take a small piece of clean muslin or porous cloth. You don't want something which will leach dye into the water but if you had an old piece of cotton sheet or something that would do.
Make a little bag as shown and place the seeds inside and tie tightly with thread or wool. If you are only doing one seed the colour doesn't matter but if you are doing more than one (and I was) then choose different colours and write the corresponding colour onto the seed packet. Then take a clean thermos flask and run the hot tap until it is the sort of temperature you would wash dishes at (i.e. hot but not scalding). Push the little bags of seeds into the thermos and fill with water. Seal and leave overnight
First you need to take a small piece of clean muslin or porous cloth. You don't want something which will leach dye into the water but if you had an old piece of cotton sheet or something that would do.
Make a little bag as shown and place the seeds inside and tie tightly with thread or wool. If you are only doing one seed the colour doesn't matter but if you are doing more than one (and I was) then choose different colours and write the corresponding colour onto the seed packet. Then take a clean thermos flask and run the hot tap until it is the sort of temperature you would wash dishes at (i.e. hot but not scalding). Push the little bags of seeds into the thermos and fill with water. Seal and leave overnight
The next day you are ready to sow - I am a great believer in recycling so these little trays you see here are ones I bought cranberries in a couple of years ago. I used a soldering iron to melt drainage holes in the bottom but you could set the trays on a piece of wood and simply tap a nail into the trays in several places to make holes. The trays have lids with holes already in them so I use them in effect as a mini propagator
Place seed compost into the trays and tamp down lightly with a piece of wood so that the surface is firm. If you have a pile of loose compost, when you water you will just wash the seeds sown into the middle of it as if it were quicksand
Place seed compost into the trays and tamp down lightly with a piece of wood so that the surface is firm. If you have a pile of loose compost, when you water you will just wash the seeds sown into the middle of it as if it were quicksand
Then carefully open the bag of seeds (I put a clean saucer on my bench before I do as the last thing I want to do is lose them!
Use a little pair of tweezers - or in this case I use a couple of steel dibbers and lift the seeds one by one and place on the surface of the compost
Use a little pair of tweezers - or in this case I use a couple of steel dibbers and lift the seeds one by one and place on the surface of the compost
I then use the same piece of wood I tamp the compost down with to gently go along the tray and press the seeds down so that they are in contact with the compost. Then I cover them with a thin layer of vermiculite and place the lid on or you could cover them with clingfilm. I then put them into a tray of water as you can see below and wait until the compost has taken up the water before I place the tray into the heated propagator.
If you don't have a heated propagator you can just bring them into a warm room - in this case I have three trays on the bench in my utility room as I am running out of room in the propagator and prioritised the Yellow chiltepin seeds!
If you have a sunny windowsill you could place the trays on that but you need to remember to take them off at night as close to the window the temperature will plummet
If you don't have a heated propagator you can just bring them into a warm room - in this case I have three trays on the bench in my utility room as I am running out of room in the propagator and prioritised the Yellow chiltepin seeds!
If you have a sunny windowsill you could place the trays on that but you need to remember to take them off at night as close to the window the temperature will plummet
Hopefully within a few weeks they will have germinated and look like these - I will keep you posted!
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