The 2023 Pepper Season Has Begun
The off-season seemed to be lasting for eternity until suddenly, we were only a handful of days away from sowing seeds for the 2023 pepper season. The last week or so seemed to fly by as anticipation for this past weekend grew exponentially. And, now, here we are – all of the seeds are in dirt and doing their best to germinate.
Each season, I pretty much use the same formulate for the material that goes into my seed starting mix. It’s typically the Jiffy brand product mixed with a smaller ration of potting soil and a good bit of perlite for aeration. I’m not too concerned about nutrients at this stage as the plants will eventually be watered with a low concentration of hydroponic supplements as they develop. Last year, I used a bit of bone meal and blood meal at this time within my mix, but don’t believe I really saw much of a change in the plants so they were omitted for this season.
Once the mixture was complete, I pre-filled all of the three inch pots a couple of days prior to adding the seeds. I did this last year with the idea of getting the soil warmed on heating mats before sowing the seeds. Looking back on last year’s germination rates, it looks like this helped speed up the process ever so slightly. That works for me.
I also stuck with a variation of a method for adding the seeds that I saw on Jim Duffy’s Youtube channel. The seeds are set in depressions in the seed starting mix and then covered with a light layer of the vermiculite. Everything is then soaked fully with a Chamomile tea dilution. The aim is to assist the seeds in shedding their outer coating. This has worked well for me the past couple of seasons and will more than likely continue in years to come.
So, now we just sit tight and let the seeds do their thing.