The chillies have been chitting in their heated propagator. After their tea bath they were carefully strained then snuggled into the chitting pods (takeaway container + capillary matting). Finally they were placed into the heated propagator on the 17th January.
In the propagator the temperature stays above 25 degrees (even on the coldest of – 5 nights so far) and reaches the sweaty heights of 35 degrees +. The pods are stacked with the Chinense types at the bottom, nearer the heated base, and the Annuum varieties on top, not quite so warm.
Without a thermostat it is impossible to keep the temp constant but it seems that most of the varieties have responded well. Here are the results so far…
| Chilli (A=Annuum, Ch=Chinense) | Date started chitting (after a soak overnight in some tea) | Date of first germination |
| Jalapeno (A) | 17.01.19 | 19.01.19 |
| Serrano (A) | 17.01.19 | 20.01.19 |
| Aleppo (A) | 17.01.19 | 21.01.19 |
| Cow Horn (A) | 17.01.19 | 21.01.19 |
| Cherry Bomb (A) | 17.01.19 | 21.01.19 |
| Golden Greek Peperoncini (A) | 17.01.19 | 21.01.19 |
| Sweet Banana (A) | 17.01.19 | 22.01.19 |
| Scotch Bonnet (Ch) | 17.01.19 | 22.01.19 |
| Espelette (A) | 17.01.19 | 22.01.19 |
| Madame Jeanette (Ch) | 17.01.19 | 22.01.19 |
| Trinidad Perfume (A) | 17.01.19 | 22.01.19 |
| Padron (A) | 17.01.19 | 22.01.19 |
| Habanero Primero Red (Ch) | 17.01.19 | 22.01.19 |
| Guajilo (A) | 17.01.19 | 25.01,19 |
| Mustard Habanero (Ch) | 17.01.19 | Yet to germinate |
| Orange Habanero (Ch) | 17.01.19 | Yet to germinate |
Not bad results for 8 days after starting.
You may notice that a couple of previously mentioned chilli types (Poblano and 7 Pot Bubblegum) are missing from the first list. They have not yet turned up in the post. A refund will be requested. And, the very observant amongst you will have seen the addition of Serrano. These came free from one company. Lovely.
The seeds that germinated in the first few days are now in need of planting in their very first pot. These are newspaper pots filled with nutrient poor seed compost. We don’t want these tiny seedlings growing too quickly as daylight hours are still short and too much food will produce leggy seedlings. Hmmm, note to selves: do we need to think about a lamp?
Off to buy some seed compost and make 100 million more paper pots.
Birdhouse Chillies 