On the first of March 2022, I started 13 bell peppers in an empty cardboard egg container. The seeds were a mix of bell peppers and the results were meant to be an assortment of red, green and yellow bell peppers.
I gave a bit of water to the seeds every second day.
However, nothing seemed to be happening. Maybe the seeds were bad… By March 17, 2022 I decided to call it quits and begin again.
The next day I was going to start a new batch.
March 18, 2022
With this restart, I decided to do things a little differently than before. For example, this time I did not put too much dirt on the seed. I barely covered them.
I also only planted 9 bell peppers instead of thirteen. In the other 4 spots I planted seeds for a small hot pepper (see red square in the picture below) plant. I’m not sure what this kind is called.
My uncle gave me the seeds and he didn’t remember the name. I ate some before in a pasta dish and they were great, so I wanted some for my garden too.
Why not!
March 23, 2022
Like with the first batch, I watered the seeds every two days.
Nothing was sprouting though, however, for some reason I had a good feeling…
March 29, 2022
On the 27th of March I first noticed some tiny green dot push out of the dirt. I was optimistic.
Two days later it was clear that a few of the bell peppers and at least one of the hot peppers were coming up.
April 1, 2022
And so, it seems like both the bell peppers and the hot peppers are coming out. I’m not going to celebrate right now, I’ll wait a bit longer until I see them getting stronger but I am hopeful.
It seems to be working and it might be because I did a few things differently this time around.
Clear plastic dome
What exactly did I do differently?
Well, for one, I actively moved them to the sunniest part of the house each day. That made sure they were always warm. I also placed a plastic dome above the tray. This helped keep their little environment humid and warm.
I think that last part was what changed things. Winters a cold here, and we heat our house with a natural gas furnace – which makes the air in the house quite dry.
Once I placed the dome on, I didn’t even need to water as much. In fact, I barely ever do.
Conclusion
I’m obviously not an expert but I did learn that it takes about 9 days for pepper seeds to germinate and sprout. And I now understand that they seem to do better in warm and humid conditions.
Adding that plastic dome was the key.
By the way, that plastic cover is the top half of a larger container that usually holds pastries from the local bakery. I didn’t need to buy anything special.
I am learning and having fun at the same time. Maybe in a few years I’ll actually have useful skills under my belt.
Anyway, I may provide an update later on in the season (about these peppers) but that’s all I have for you today.
I hope this information is useful to someone somewhere.
Thanks for reading!