Bhut Jolokia have sprouted!

I thought the bhut jolokia (aka ghost pepper) seeds would take a while to pop up. But, here they are, after a fairly short 14 days. One just beginning to surface, a few hours later I saw another (not pictured).

I've only planted 4 seeds so far, so 2 left, maybe they will sprout, maybe they won't.

I'm a bit worried I won't be able to provide enough light, I thought they'd take well into January before they germinated. Oh well - we'll see!

Challenging conventional wisdom: Sowing Depth for Chilli Seeds

I like to challenge the accepted truths on the internet. Let's face it, if nobody challenges them, how do we know they're right?
Usually I'm wrong, and the "conventional wisdom" is right. But so what? Occasionally I find something to be a myth, and that's why I do this.

So, this post is about sowing depth. The internet says:

- "2 to 3mm"
- "don't sow too deeply"
- "three times the diameter of the seed"
- "5mm deep"

These have all come from either reputable seed suppliers, or influential blogs. Now that's a range between vague and bizarre. Three times the diameter of the seed, for some seeds that could be over a centimetre, which is a lot deeper than 2 to 3 mm!

I suspect that this vast range of accepted sowing depths is due to one simple reason: It doesn't really matter. If you think about it, a chilli seed is a pretty big thing in the seed world compared to lettuce or radish. Some can be almost as large as apple pips. So they probably have enough energy to pop up from well over a centimeter under the soil.

And let's consider nature. Who eats chillis in the wild? The animals who can't taste the heat [pretty much humans are the only ones who get a kick from eating things we're not supposed to!]. Birds can't taste capsaicin, so there's your number one seed distributor right there. What do birds do? Well, they don't bury the seeds at three times the diameter, unless of course you're talking about in "guanu". Blech.

In a related test, all of these seeds were simply scattered on the soil, not buried at any depth, and produced a 100% germination rate. Note you can see more of the root (the white furry bit) but otherwise they're thriving!

So, I believe if I test this over a range between:
- dropping them on the soil uncovered and
- burying them 1.5inches underground
I would expect all of them to grow. But if I had to guess which would fail, my money is that the deeper ones would be less reliable, or at least, weaker when they hit the surface.

So let's test it.

Thanks to my super chilli plant of 2013, I have a LOT of identical and reliable seeds at my disposal. These things sprout if you look at them the wrong way. Germination time is around 4 days too, so this should make a fairly short experiment, a week should do it!

Obviously this is entirely unscientific, and not intended to be a controlled experiment. It's just an attempt to get some answers, given the vast range of advice out there.


Let the experiment begin

Left to Right: 1) Dropped on top of soil, 2) Buried 0.5cm, 3) Buried 1/2 inch, 4) Buried 1.5 inch

So now we kick back and wait for them to germinate.

Update 1:

As you can see, three have popped up pretty quickly. The fourth one is the deepest, the 1.5 inch (I've rotated the tray, it's the reverse of the photos above.)

What's interesting is that in spite of the differences in sowing depth, all the seedlings are pretty much the same height above the soil at the same time. I can't explain this, but that's science for you!

I predict we'll see the fourth one in the next day or two anyway.

Update 2:

All plants were transplanted to pots simultaneously and were all fine. It seems that sowing depth has little or no effect on chilli plants.

Bear in mind that while I tried to conduct this experiment in a controlled and fair manner, it was not scientific or statistically significant.

Caveat:

I have learned that there may be one reason to sow seeds deeper, although it's hearsay at this point. If you've ever had a large number of seeds suffer from a condition known in the growing community as "helmet head", you'll know that while it often resolves, sometimes a seedling can die. It's a problem where the seedling gets its first leaves stuck inside the original seed pod. If it can't get these out, it can't photosynthesize or grow and it will die. 

I've heard that burying seeds reduces the chance of this happening. However, personally Ive found it not to happen often at all, maybe only one seedling in 50, perhaps because I grow in a high humidity environment of a heated propagator which softens the seed pods.

Chilli Seeds With Thiram Seed Treatment...

I was planting my seeds, and noticed one packet with a strange message on the end.

Naturally I'm a big fan of googling anything I don't understand, so I have.

Thiram Seed Treatment is a process of coating seeds in a powder which acts as a fungicide. It's done with good intent from a seed processor's point of view, as it both increases the chance of germination on seeds, and also it reduces the chance of "damping off" or other seedling related rots.

However, it turns out, it's a fairly toxic chemical. Most fungicides are, so that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Obviously I had a few questions, so I'll save you the research and show you what I found. Note that this is my interpretation of the facts that are available on the internet. They may not be 100% correct.

1) Is it going to harm my health if I eat fruit from seeds treated with this?

No. It's a common seed treatment, and it's used commercially. You've probably eaten a lot of plants treated with this in your life. Probably more than you could count. The common thinking is that the chemical breaks down fast in soil (halves every 15 days) so even by harvest time if you ate the seed and soil instead of the fruits, there wouldn't be much left.

2) Is it harmful to touch/handle

Well, this is a bit more sticky. Yes is the short answer. However, my understanding is that due to the coating process and the concentration of the chemicals, by the time you get the handful of seeds to plant, there's not much there for you to eat.

The people who work in the coating plants, or agricultural levels of seed handling, however, are at serious risk if they don't wear protective clothing.

It's also worth noting that inhaling the stuff is far more harmful than eating it, and one source states it's worse still to have it in contact with your skin. Of course, none of this is a good idea if you're able to avoid contact, but certainly it's a bad idea to get into a habit of sniffing the seed packet.

Obviously you should wash your hands after handling, but you should ALWAYS wash your hands after handling chilli seeds!

3) Should I buy seeds that are treaded with Thiram?

Up to you. My personal opinion is no. Simply because chilli seeds are reliable germinators anyway, if stored and grown in the right conditions. And we're not growing seeds commercially, so who cares if a couple don't germinate out of your packet of 20 seeds?
It's a case of overkill if you ask me.

Plus, the whole point of growing stuff at home, is that you ultimately are doing it your way, and my way is to grow without chemicals.

However, if I have a massive problem with damping off at any point, I might change my tune.

More information? I found these links helpful
http://idigmygarden.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6687
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiram
http://www.agrian.com/pdfs/42-S_Thiram_Fungicide_(06182007_Version_21)_MSDS.pdf

Sprouts - End of December update

Well it looks like my estimates of which seeds would germinate first were correct! The "fast" tray is now full of seedlings!

From left to right, leftmost is the waitrose "super" thai green chilli, the "throw seeds on top of the soil experiment" (more on that later...). Middle is two cherry bombs and a hint of an apache. Rightmost is bought super chilli seeds.



The fastest of them all was my waitrose chilli from last year which were planted a good three days after everything else. Up second, Cherry bomb, which technically germinated first but was also planted first, so didn't.

Apache is the slowest, with only a hint of germination, and the official "super chilli" bought seeds have only one sprout too so far.






Meanwhile in the slow tray....

....nothing. :)

Another Propagator, and some lighting

I was in homebase on boxing day, and there was a 20% sale, so I bought a propagator, and some desk lamps.




The propagator - it's a Stewart Essentials 52cm non variable model. I must say, I prefer the Sankey one I bought the other week, that one has a lid that's a lot stronger, and it also came with seed trays and capillary matting. But, nevermind, it's a big beast and it will hold 20 small pots, so I am pretty happy with that.

I will be planting stuff in there as soon as I can get the matting.

I already have the LED bulbs for the desk lamps, they're REON 4 Watt 3000K GU10 bulbs, and they kick out 290 lumen each. I don't plan to use them for the plants long term, and they're on a "sunny windowsill" when the sun actually shines, so it's just a bit of extra light to try to compensate for how early it is. I bought them for product photography, but right now I need some extra lighting for these seedlings, so why not?

The lamps are awesome though, you can twist them to any angle. They only cost about £10 each after the bank holiday reduction. I'd have probably bought more if they had any!

Sprouts!

These are my kind of sprouts at Christmas. Not those disgusting green balls of doom that haunt your dinner plate, no, I prefer these:

 

This is one of my Cherry Bomb seeds that I planted in the heated propagator, I only planted two of these so far, you can just see the other seed just poking out on the right hand side of the photo (the white blob!)

Two out of two germinated, only planted on 15/12 and the photo is a day old, so that's 6 days from planting to seedling, you can see now why I like Cherry Bomb so much!

Now just need all the other seeds to sprout, although I am not holding my breath for the bhut jolokia! :o)

Enjoy your Christmases!

Sowing seeds straight from chilli pods

I wondered whether chilli seeds needed drying out or leaving for a while before sowing, in order to ensure that they germinate properly.

So I tried sowing them straight from the pod.

The simple answer is no, they don't need drying out. Yes you can plant them straight from the pod immediately. I had excellent results with almost 100 percent germination rates in my trials.

I would hazard that you could cut a pod in half,  plant it,  and it would still germinate fine,  although I think it might rot and stink,  and of course it's better to space the seeds out in the usual fashion ;-)

Why Grow Chillies?

While I'm eagerly waiting for the germination of my recently planted seeds, I've got some time spare to explain why I bother doing it. A lot of people do ask, so I'll write a post.

So, why bother? I've never grown anything else. What's so special about chillies?

1 - Easy

It's as easy to grow chillies as it is to grow any other houseplant. Perhaps easier. They're incredibly tolerant plants, you can overwater them, underwater them, chop them back to a stump, and they'll still give you chillies. Even if you grow them to being rootbound, and never feed them, you'll still get some chillies [although not as many!].
So, yes, I do it because it's easy, or I guess, because it has a high chance of success.

2 - A little goes a long way

Sure, you can grow tomatoes or lettuce, but you could be slaving all year to get enough for a couple of salads. With chillies, you can grow enough to "survive on". I generally no longer need to buy chillies.

3 - Saving money

If you do normally buy chillies from supermarkets then you're probably aware that a pack of 5 can cost you up to £2 here in the UK. A single plant can give you fifty times that, over a season, so there is real money to be saved.
For example, this year, I bought an apache plant fully grown from a florist for £2, it had about 20 ripe chillies ready to pick, and I've had around another 30+ since.

4 - A change

I'm sure if you're reading this, you're probably fed up of scotch bonnets and jalapenos. Sure, they're good chillies, but the range in supermarkets of available chillies (outside of London at least) is terrible. I've only ever seen scotch bonnets, habaneros, jalapenos, random "red" unknown chillies and the staple thin "birdseye". And that's over a year, not on one trip!

5 - Superior

I try not to be snobby about chillies, so I won't say that they're always superior when you grow them, but it does seem like there's a half life, after which certain tastes and smells erode away. A freshly picked chilli often still tastes "floral". Supermarket ones don't. Freshly picked ones smell great.
I had a "hot wax" from a supermarket last year (Rare find!) and it tasted of nothing. I grew one, and it tasted fruity and hot!
The main reason for the superiority complex though, is because you're generally always picking them straight off the plant, so they're not being stored or refrigerated.

6 - Fun

Yes, I actually do enjoy it too.


Enough reasons?

Tip: Don't use water based pens to write your plant labels

Always use either a pencil, or more preferably, a permanent marker (eg. a CD marker) to write on plant labels.

Even if the ink dries - haha - well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a plant label I wrote, in English, in a "rollerball" normal ink pen. 24 hours in a propagator with the humidity....

Doesn't make much sense now, does it?

Still Flowering: 2 of my Chilli Plants are flowering in December!

Most of what you read on the web about the chilli growing season is for people in the hotter parts of the USA growing them outside.

Here in the UK, we can't grow them outside at all really (tried...failed!). Most people I think end up growing them in the house, often a conservatory, where it's warmer.

This can come up with some results that are somewhat contradictory to the mainstream advice on chilli growing!

For example, flowers in December...

Take it with a slight pinch of salt though, most of these flowers are falling off because it gets a little chilly and there's no real sun to speak of in December so I guess the lack of daylight is not helping. But, I thought it worth mentioning...

Heated Propagator: Planting Chilli Seeds Early For 2014

So here's mid December,  and although some of last year's chillies are confused and still flowering, it's time to plant the earliest batch of 2014 crop!

Last year I was very late to the game, not planting anything until around May, so this year I hope for a lot better results!

I've got myself a heated propagator from amazon uk, £21 for a 38cm and it's 8 watt. Since it will be on a 15 degrees Celsius windowsill, I think it should be powerful enough to keep the soil around 25 degrees.

Sankey 100 - 8 Watt Propagator

The propagator comes with 2 trays.

..and capillary matting at the bottom. So just add soil and it's ready to go. 

Planting

I'll be careful to plant chillies that I think will germinate together so that I can move the trays out and put in new ones, instead of having to prick them out.

Tray 1- slow germination:

Orange habanero, numex pinata, bhut jolokia

Tray 2- fast germination:

Thai super chilli, cherry bomb, apache, and some seeds from my "super chilli" that I bought as a plant last year.

All done, now time to sit back and wait to see if anything pops up!

Are you planting your chillies yet?