Germination Progress

Interestingly I've had a fair few germinated seeds, but they all seem to be at the edges of the propagator. This seems to suggest that the prop is running a little hot, and the cooler outer edges are better.

To compensate for this I've set up a spare timer on the prop - 15 mins on and 30 mins off repeated throughout the day. This will give the heat a little boost without the risk of cooking the seeds. Hopefully this will help.

So far the following are up:

Bido Tacana (2/3) 1/1 and 6/1
Butch T (2/3) 4/1 and 6/1
Bunte Michung (2/6) 3/1 and 5/1
Trinidad Perfume (2/3) 31/12 and 3/1
7 Pot Barrackpore (2/3) 2/1 and 5/1
7 Pot Primo (1/3) 7/1
Black Naga (1/3) 4/1

(2/3) means 2 out of the 3 sown have germinated, the figures following are the dates they come up, e.g. 6/1 = 6th January. 

No shows yet on the other varieties (it's only been two weeks, so plenty of time yet).

There are also subsurface hoops visible tonight for one Prairie Fire and one Wahaca Serrano. I only count the plant once the hoop has broken the plane at the top of the cube, so maybe these will be up tomorrow. 

First one up

31-12-12

First signs of life from one of the Trinidad Perfumes, and a hint of life from one of the Bido Tacanas.

It's been a long week to get any germination and I suspect that the prop may be running a little warm, so I've turned the heating off for now. We shall see what the next few weeks bring.

Sowing

24-12-12 the seeds have been soaked for 24 hours and are planted out in the propagator. I've had the prop on for 24 hours to raise the heat levels ready.

I've sown two seeds in some of the Rootriot cubes - the serrano, prairie fire, bunte mischung and CAP 253-C have two seeds each in a domino pattern. This reflects the age of the seeds and/or likelihood or germination issues.

Seeds in Soak

Propagator prepared

Everything sown and labelled

2013 season starts

23-12-12 and the seeds for the season are put into soak for 24 hours. This year I've picked a few varieties from semillas.de along with some other bits and pieces.

Nothing really remarkable, but a good mix never-the-less.

I've over-wintered four plants, but I suspect two haven't survived. The mini rocotto and CGN 21500 are the survivors, the Naga Morich and Marouga Yellow appear to be the casualties.

Varieties for this year:

• Prairie Fire
• Pimenta De Neyde
• Criolla Sella
• Inca Red Drop
• 7 Pot Primo
• Santa Rosa Blanco
• Ecuadorian Brown
• Serrano (from Wahaca restaurant, Kensington)
• Cap 253-C
• Bunte Mischung*
• Fatalii
• Bido Tacana
• Trinidad Scorpion Butch T
• Black Naga
• Trinidad Perfume
• 7 Pot Barrackpore

* Bunte Mischung - this is a freebie mystery mix from semillas.de - I prefer this name to mystery plants, so am using with name for now.