I bought several pepper varieties of seed packets from my local nursery. The pretty pictures on the front made me think they’re high quality cause…pretty!!
But now, 3 weeks on the damn heat mat and I don’t have a single effing pepper plant. NOT. 👏ONE. 👏
How on 8 pound 6 ounce Baby Jesus’s green earth could I have 3 seed packets with NO GERMINATION?
I’m assuming I watered them too much, too little, or just right. Or maybe gave them too much, too little, or just enough light. Hellfire, maybe I looked at them wrong.
3 weeks of cooking should have been enough we’re thinking? I just need to accept this dog ain’t gonna hunt right?
Plant some seeds. It’ll be fun! You’ll save so much money. No one talks about the sanity you lose!!
by HottieMcHotHot
36 Comments
The hotter the pepper the longer to germinate. I like [this video](https://youtu.be/6IZGAx1t-x0?si=Pu1A-PqQipHFk-RF) for reference.
I had a prolific collosal jalepeno plan two years ago. It started slow, but oh man, when that thing got going I was giving out bags of 15-20 at a time. Literally was eating 2-3 a day by myself (started every day with everything bagel, cream cheese, and thin sliced jalepeno, maybe some red onion if I had one – so friggan delicious). Good luck, they were delicious!
Light shouldn’t be an issue as peppers do not require it to germinate.
The pack does say 8-25 days to emerge. I wouldn’t worry yet. But you can always try starting more just in case
I make sure my pepper seeds are covered with a layer of soil that way they stay evenly moist. If the seeds were old they may take longer to sprout. My jalapenos were the first to sprout at about 2 weeks in. But I have had peppers take up to a month to sprout. Never grown this variety but if the top layer is drying out every time you water maybe water it twice a day? I watered mine 3 times a day because my t5 lights get warm plus the heat mat. Hope that helps
I had 100% germination from 3 different varieties, 6 plants each from Botanical Interest this week. Sprouts popped in 6-10 days. Heat mat, warm room, bottom 2/3 of plant tray potting soil, top with seed starting mix.
What kind of soil did you use and what was the room temperature?
I mean obviously it’s you at this point (not meaning that to sound rude 🤣) but over 3 packets. They’re a good company as well. I’d assume you’re sowing them too deeply.
Drop the seeds on the surface of the media, cover over lightly, press down on the surface gently so everything is in contact with each other. Water lightly and don’t let things fully dry out. Other than that, temperature and lightning. Can’t help you there as I can just do them outside.
It’s impossible to judge from just the info you provided.
Luckily, many nurseries that carry veggie plants will have jalapeno pepper plants you can buy to transplant. Or you can order transplants online. It’s really the more exotic ones that need to be grown from seed.
Or the seeds could all be duds, but that seems unlikely for 3 separate packets.
With seeds, the most common problem is too little or too much moisture. Too much moisture can rot out the seed. Too little and it either doesn’t get the signal to germinate or dries out and dies as it tries.
Good luck!
i used bell pepper seeds from some peppers i got t the grocery store, they popped up in about 7-10 days
https://preview.redd.it/xgji9ocy20ve1.jpeg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6de2603af5dad58aab2a81481638f6da47592ccd
My peppers seeds has been in the soil for over a month and still nothing. I’ve heard hot peppers do take a lot time to germinate. So I don’t know if they are still happening or do I assume nothing is going to happen and I should start again.
pepper plants are sloooow growers. i feel your pain
Peppers take forever to germinate and get going. Once they do, they’ll take awhile to get past the tiny seedling stage to the bigger seedling stage, then once they’re planted they’ll take off once it warms up. I have a ton of trouble with my peppers every day and usually end up buying seedlings after giving up. Most of mine are just now coming up, I have a small handful of plants that are a decent size. In other words, I’m probably buying a bunch of pepper seedlings as well.
Welcome to peppers lol. I still have some peppers I planted in early march that haven’t come up.
But I know they will. Last year I kept replanting them because I thought they were bad, but all that happened was that I got tons of peppers I had no room for lol.
In recent years I’ve had much better success buying live plants from local nurseries. Gives them a bit of business, saves me a ton of work. And last year I found a place that had some good superhot hybrids. So my two cents is, hey if you need to buy plants, give it a shot and shop multiple plant stores for the best ones. p.s. there’s still time to restart seeds if you choose to; consider a different variety if you do.
My germination rate from Botanical Interest seeds was near 100% – only one white marigold didn’t germinate. Last year I was a new gardener and did a lot wrong, but it was great learning. And as everyone has said, peppers take a long time. I think your peppers will sprout and in a few months you’ll be lamenting your bumper crop of jalapeños!
I started peppers this year and they all took a solid 3+ weeks to sprout.
I grew this variety last year and the year before, both times from seeds. Same company. They germinated within about 10 days.
That sucks!
I have grown several of this company’s peppers this year, including Megatron. They sprouted quite fast, so I agree that maybe you’re sowing them a bit deep?
I get the frustration though. Try again.
Peppers are super slow to germinate. I have my own tradition that usually I sow mine on New Year’s Day, very first seeds of the year, 1-2 months before I even think about getting anything else going, because they take so long to do anything!
Peppers can take a while to germinate. A general rule is hot peppers = longer to germ.
There is a trick I have had good success with. You can cut the “nose” off the pepper seeds, this basically leaves a crack in the seed “shell” so that it gets saturated with water much easier.
I cut the nose, soak the seeds in water for a few hours (put a couple drops of peroxide in the water). Then I put them on a wet paper towel in a plastic bag. Then within 2 days usually most of the seeds will sprout. Put on top of soil, cover lightly with soil, and mist it once daily until it starts growing leaves, slowly mist less and start actually watering the cells at that point. In my experience, misting keeps the top more moist where the seeds actually are rather than the bottom of the cell where it can stay too wet
Yes I’ll be buying jalepenos as well lol.
I always pre-soak my pepper seeds, and they still take a looong time to sprout, but I usually get near 100% germination across many different producers. Place the seeds in a wet paper towel then seal in a ziplock bag for 48-60 hours. Then pop them in damp soil, 1cm deep, on a heat mat under 16-8 lights. I wait until they get to be at least 6 inches tall before transplanting which takes another 2-3 months. All told, I start the seeds indoors in January and usually get them outside and hardened beginning of May.
I see you’re using a heat mat, what’s the ambient temperature in your room? Peppers sprout at around 80f. I almost lost a whole crop before because the room was 80 and the heat mat brought everything up to close to 100. Once I tured the mat off I ended up with a bunch sprouting after a few weeks.
I germinate all of my pepper seeds by placing them in damp paper towels in zip lock bags. I keep them in a room that stays around 72-75 degrees. I check them every couple days and they generally germinate in less than a week. I have a near 100% germination rate doing this. Once I start to see a root forming, I bury the seed very shallowly in a cup of dirt, and the seedling emerges within a couple days.
It too mine about 4 weeks🥹
Just here to say that my peppers are SO STUBBORN about germinating. Took easily three weeks to get Madame Jeannettes to even peek their heads out of the soil.
Keep them evenly damp and warm and … keep waiting. They’ll show up eventually!!
I went 0 for 0 with my 10 pepper varieties as well. I just gave up. Tried two different methods and nothing germinated.
I have some peppers from them. Some sprouted when they were supposed to. Some of them legit JUST sprouted this week. they’ve been in the trays for at least a month and a half now, I think. Give them time.
Peppers, espcially hot peppers, take fuck all time to germinate. I’ve had some take 2 months before. Seriously.
What temp are you running your mats? How deep did you plant the seeds? How damp is the soil?
MEGATRON
I’ve had peppers that take more than 3 weeks to germinate. You might be about to have a shit load of peppers.
lmao I feel this post in my soul. I got a mini greenhouse, lights, heat mat. I researched. Started them in various ways to which would work best. I tried growing 11 different types of peppers (and multiples of each pepper), and I had one single seedling emerge from the dirt.
I bought six varieties of ‘Hatch’ chiles from Sandia Seed Co. out of Colorado. I expected long germination times and it took an average of 4 weeks, but the germination rate was close to only 50% average across the varieties, so I am a bit disappointed.
I kept the seed start soil very moist through bottom watering in 1020 trays using 3” pots and 1.5” pots. I kept them on the heating pad until I guessed that all that sprouted would sprout, then turned off the heat (there were a few late-comers anyway).
I also planted some old Poblano seeds of which 25% germinated, and 2 types of Jalapeños (Burpees), of which one tray didn’t get enough water (I learned the hard way about water depth with a new brand of 1” pots).
IIRC I tried Botanical Interest seeds a few years ago and I wasn’t impressed. I need to look at my old notebooks.
Chiles aren’t easy.
Stick a meat thermometer in the top 1/2″of the soil. I’ve had it where the room was so cold that the heat mat couldn’t keep up. Pepper seeds can take a LONG time to germinate even in good conditions, but they certainly do not like cold temps.
https://preview.redd.it/tmk4mp5kh0ve1.jpeg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b699b0bff68d8a4abe3322dd73ba7c7d3853319
I bought those same exact seeds earlier this year. I had good success with them and the plants I kept are now thriving. When I first plant them I water them and then put the humidity lid on until they sprout. I don’t water them again until they’ve sprouted and the lid comes off and even then it’s bottom watering.
It took nearly 5 weeks last year for my pepper seeds to pop. Give it a little longer. I do agree with reducing the heat on the heat mat.