Greg Mortensen wrote: "A solution of 2 g l-1 of potassium nitrate was > successful in eliminating dormancy of C. annuum seeds." I'm a bit unclear > what the superscript "-1" is. I read that line as "2 grams per liter"; is > that right? > Yes. That means about 1/2 to one teaspoon per quart of distilled water (don't use tap water). It works on starting any pepper seeds, and gets them to sprout about twice as fast. It is a germinating procedure from the Federal Seed Act for breaking dormancy in pepper seeds. Also, alternating the soil temp. from 80-85 deg. f. and then nights at 60-70 degrees F. helps also---it's good to get an accurate soil thermometer to do that. I just got a call last week where a pepper grower was using a chicken egg incubator to keep the daytime soil temps in the 80 deg. range very nicely---bought it from his local feed store for about $40 and is 2 ft. x 2 ft. Sincerely, Craig Dremann