[mumofstig]

The lengthening days may start them off again, so give them a while longer before you give up on them.

The sweet pepper on my bedroom window shelf hasn't done anything yet either, but it is still alive

[shokkyy]

PS I sowed my sweet peppers and aubergines a week later, but in the meantime the compost bag had frozen. I thought nothing ventured, broke it up in my hands and sowed anyway, I figured I could always start some more off if it didn't work. I had 100% germination even on half frozen compost

[ally]

my husband brought a heated proporgator some john innes seeding compost sowed 60 chilli seeds (yes i typed 60) 5 weeks ago and we have had 0% germination!!!!  what went wrong???   
I do have some more seeds and am going to see if i can germinate them on some moist tissue in one of those plastic egg boxes .... i am sure i read that method on a thread but i cant find it now...

if anyone has any thoughts on why we had 0% germination that would be great ... i'm at a total lost!!!

[digalotty]

i would try a different packet you may of had a duff one ,    thats if they were all from a single pack

[ally]

i would try a different packet you may of had a duff one ,    thats if they were all from a single pack

nope ten different packets!!!  just noticed that we do have one ..... so not giving up and dumping the lot yet!!!

[mattwragg94]

as we said a few days ago, some can take a few days to germinate, whereas others can take upto a month.

[JayG]

If anyone has any thoughts on why we had 0% germination that would be great ... i'm at a total lost!!!

Too dry is a possibility, but too wet is more likely, and if the lid was on and condensation was obscuring the view inside it's just possible that they may have germinated and immediately damped off and disappeared before you even saw them.

Try again, giving a good watering after sowing and then keeping the compost just moist thereafter.

[ally]

Try again, giving a good watering after sowing and then keeping the compost just moist thereafter.

i think the problem might be a bit of both .... the pods round the edge are always nice and moist but the ones that sit in the middle of the proporgator seem to get really dry very quickly.  i have just read the instructions to the proporgator and my oh seems to of missed the step of putting sand in the bottom ....... could this explain why the pods in the middle are dry within a day of watering?  its all very strange we do one Aji Limon though so lets hope it survives.



edit to clarify quote

[JayG]

Is the sand to spread the heat from the element? (don't have one myself.)

Could be some of your seeds were too wet, some too dry, and some/all potentially too hot!! 

[Lawrence]

Is the sand to spread the heat from the element? (don't have one myself.)

Could be some of your seeds were too wet, some too dry, and some/all potentially too hot!! 

I would tend to agree, if at any time after germination the soil dries out then the seed will die, and for a lot of varieties a temperature of over 95F will result in no germination at all.
Best temperature for germination is 80F to 85F.
Try putting a thermometer inside to check. and if you have a thermostat make some adjustments.

[Griffete]

This is my first time using a heated propagator...my question is do you need to water them everyday or every other day or every 3 days ? sorry for the stupid questions i know you say keep them moist but what is the average watering times ?  

[mattwragg94]

just keep checking them everyday making sure to keep the compost damp

[Yorkie]

There are no stupid questions on here Griffete 

You can almost bet that every time you think that, someone else is secretly pleased that you've asked it, and that another person doesn't know the answer!

[Griffete]

Thanks Guys 

[ally]

I think i will start again with the whole thing at the weekend (can live in hope that I've not killed all 59 seeds for a few more days!!!!)

is it worth chitting the seeds i have left to ensure that they are all not duff?!?  so dissappointed i have tried and tried to grow chilli's for the past 2 years and all i have is one twlight!!!