Attempt #5000 worked!

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

OK, so it wasn't 5000 attempts, but it was certainly 100. I almost gave up on these guys but I gave it one more shot and it paid off.

I was given some peppers by a friend of mine and they really impressed me. Good sweet flavor, and damn spicy, which is about all you can expect from a pepper. I am not sure what kind they were. The friend did not know and I did not see any pics of the adult plant. Anyways, it piqued my interest and I tried to germinate some seeds. I failed. I tried again. Failure, again. I tried and tried and tried.... And each and every time I failed.

So, I'm happy to report that after six months of failed attempts one of the seeds finally sprouted. For this germination attempt I took the seeds from one of the peppers and using 120 grit sandpaper I abriased each near the basal end of the seed. I then soaked them in water for about 24 hours and removed the floaters. Of the ones that sank I took 9 and followed my normal germination method of putting them on a wet paper town in a tupperwareish container on a heat mat.

At that point I basically told myself "just let them sit on that mat indefinitely and see what happens". Well.... It took a month (!!!!) of chillin' on the heat mat, but one of those seeds finally popped a root out. I immediately put it to damp dirt under a dome. Here's hoping for the best!

A ripe pepper of this variety. @HotPepperQueen , look like anything you know of?

 

[journey11]

Wow, it's so tiny! I will be curious to hear the name of it. Some type of chili pepper maybe?

 

[ninnymary]

I have always heard that starting peppers takes a long time. I planted seeds for the first time and they came up in a week! That was just putting in a six-pack and on top of my fridge. In fact, I forgot about them and remembered them a week later! Thankfully they weren't completely dried. So I watered them and then forgot them again! Now I just take them out every day to enjoy our warm weather. They are those darn peppers s h i s h i t o peppers that my husband loves.

Mary

 

[CanadianLori]

I have been growing hot peppers for about 12 years and I have never had one sprout quickly. Anywhere from 7 to 21 days.

Congratulations you did fantastic! !!

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

I have been growing hot peppers for about 12 years and I have never had one sprout quickly. Anywhere from 7 to 21 days.

Congratulations you did fantastic! !!

Thanks! I've germinated a few varieties of peppers in my time, of which I guess I was lucky because they always sprouted in a week or so. Never this long.

Wow, it's so tiny! I will be curious to hear the name of it. Some type of chili pepper maybe?

Some type for sure. I'm waiting to see the adult plant to be able to give it a proper ID.

I have always heard that starting peppers takes a long time. I planted seeds for the first time and they came up in a week! That was just putting in a six-pack and on top of my fridge. In fact, I forgot about them and remembered them a week later! Thankfully they weren't completely dried. So I watered them and then forgot them again! Now I just take them out every day to enjoy our warm weather. They are those darn peppers s h i s h i t o peppers that my husband loves.

Mary

I try to not put any plant in an out of the way space lest I forget it like that. I've never heard of the Shi****o pepper before. A quick search leaves me to believe they're pretty popular though

 

[ninnymary]

Some restaurants have them as a tapa on their menu. Their cousin the patron are also pretty popular.

Mary

 

[digitS']

My seed starting is like Mary's, on top of the fridge. It helps that I'm tall and can see up there easily. Checking can get pretty important when they will lay down and crawl, looking for better light so quickly after emerging.

I'll share an idea I came across recently. I just might do it since, I think I can locate an aquarium heater in the basement. A tank or just a bucket of water for those is us without a heat mat. Seed on a wet paper towel in a zip lock bag. Don't we all have an aquarium in the basement?

I had a terrible time with old jalapeno seed last year!

Congratulations on your plant, Sprig'. It should have all the proper genes you are hoping for. Probably just immature seed that you had to work with.

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

I use bottom heat and they come up fast. Certain types seem to take longer as in the hotter varieties.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Could be a type of bird pepper. There's also a very good chance of it being one of the less-often cultivated species. Any sort of fuzz on the leaves? When you do get an adult plant you'll have a better idea of what they are. Very cool!

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

My seed starting is like Mary's, on top of the fridge. It helps that I'm tall and can see up there easily. ...

Congratulations on your plant, Sprig'. It should have all the proper genes you are hoping for. Probably just immature seed that you had to work with.

Steve

I remember when I was lifeguarding and one of my team mates, who stood about 5'2", looks at one of my other team mates and asks "can you see on top of the fridge?". He paused, looked at the fridge, got a look on his face that let it be known it never occurred to him that some other people can't and he answers "yeah". The first person then just says "wow... I can't even imagine"

No clue on the reason I had such a hard time with this one, but I'm just happy it finally broke seed.

I use bottom heat and they come up fast. Certain types seem to take longer as in the hotter varieties.

I haven't really delved into the hotter ones -- Vietnamese Black Dragon / Black Cobra / Goatsweed (call it what you will) has been my go-to -- so it certainly could be that this little guy is normal to take that long and is picky as hell to sprout.

Could be a type of bird pepper. There's also a very good chance of it being one of the less-often cultivated species. Any sort of fuzz on the leaves? When you do get an adult plant you'll have a better idea of what they are. Very cool!

No clue on the leaves, but hopefully I'll have more info in a month or two.