23rd March - My little Army's on the move

Well its two weeks since i planted the first batch on this years seeds, one tray of mainly Annuums (Purple Prince, Masquarade, Fish etc) and another tray of Chinense, Pubescens and some wild species. As expected nearly all of the annum varieties germinated within the first 7 days and after two weeks I have had nearly 100% germination. Indeed all 20 annuum varieties planted have germinated.

The chinense species inparticular require slightly higher germination temperatures and normally take a little longer to germinate. Pubescens seeds with their distintive black colour have slightly thicker seed walls and these also tend to require a little more time . However the old 'electric blanket trick' has once again worked its magic and 26 or the 32 or so varieties planted have at least 1 out of 3 seeds poking through. These include 10 out of 16 Trinidad Scorpions and one out of two 7 pod seeds. I'll be taking extra precautions to make sure the slugs don't nibble these little gems.

A full list of the 50 or so varieties I have selected to grow this year (so far) can be found here.

The only ones Im waiting on are chinense species Aji Chombo (0 out of 3), Potka Booni Morich (0 out or 6), Ivorian Pimente and Super Pube (PI 595622), a pubescens, although my 'Hyper Pube' and 'Ultra Pube' have germinated fine. Three wild species Capsicum Eximium, CGN19198 (Capsicum Sp) and Capscum Lanceolatum have yet to rear their heads also. Not only are seeds of the wild species very difficult to get hold off, in my experience they tend to be very difficult to germinate. In previous years some have taken up to 6 weeks to germinate. I like a challenge!