[CH] FWD: Seeds planted for 2000
Michael Bowers (bowers@elsie.ucdavis.edu)
Wed, 19 Jan 2000 13:16:04 PST
From: "Kasprowicz, Ray" <RKasprow@microage.com>
Subject: Seeds planted for 2000
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 12:16:37 -0700
Whew ... I finally got my seeds selected and planted for this year. What a job,
with over 100 to choose from it took a lot of time and effort to narrow it down
to 12. Being in an apartment has it's limitations and 100 plants on the balcony
may cause a little problem with the management (not to mention the wife).
I tried something new this year to get the seeds germinated. On the advice of
our local hydroponics "specialist" I tried "rock wool" for the planting medium
instead of the normal peat pots. For those of you that don't know, rock wool is
spun from fiberglass and it comes in symmetrical 1 & 1/2 inch blocks. Man does
that stuff retain water not to mention sucking it up like a sponge. From all
appearances, it won't dry out very easy and with it's fibrous content, it is an
excellent source for those young roots to grab hold of.
Each "pot" got 5 seeds of which we're tested for "floaters and sinkers" per
Dave DeWitt and Paul Bosland. One thing about the floating seeds though, how
long do I allow them to sit in the water filled container until I determine if
they are viable. Some sink immediately while others take a little coaxing to
get them to drop. The book is a little vague on how long you should give the
process until the floaters are discarded. Some took a second to drop while
others took many minutes. It leaves me wondering if the ones that took a little
longer just took on water and sank OR if it needed a little more time than the
others. Different seeds may have a higher oxygen content than others right.
I bought a small Rubbermaid clear plastic container with a rounded raised
bottom for my "green house" with a snapping lid. The top is not clear but when
it comes time to get some light, I'll just throw clear plastic wrap on the top.
For $4.00 it made more sense than buying some flimsy little greenhouse type
plastic container at the nursery.
With the rock wool pots inside, I filled the bottom with enough water to start
condensation but not to raise above the raised bottom. With an arch, excess
water will run right down into the sides. I am hoping that this will raise the
humidity in the chamber, helping the plants once they sprout. I don't think
that the colored top will make much of a difference until the seeds start to
sprout.
To bring up the temperature inside my little greenhouse I've placed in on top
of my cable TV converter box. My trusty digital thermometer has it's probe
sitting inside and reports a steady 90 degree temperature day in and day out.
The cable box gets hot enough to start the condensation and keeping it at 90
degrees should accelerate the germination (I hope). To the best of my
knowledge, this seems to be an ideal setting for the germination, any thoughts.
One concern though. While picking up a "Caribbean Hot" over the weekend, I told
the lady at the nursery that I had the greenhouse sitting on the cable box next
to the TV and she cautioned me that all the positive and negative ions moving
around the TV will kill the plants. She assured me that NOTHING would grow or
germinate in those conditions. Now some please tell me if there is any merit to
this or is she crazy? I did it last year under similar conditions and only 1
peat pot of 6 actually sprouted. It could have been that the seeds were crap
and wouldn't have done much of anything either way but it leaves me thinking
now. Can the magnetic "cloud" around the TV actually cause harm to the
germination process AND retard the growth of the seedlings if they make it past
the ion storm?
The one that did sprout last year is doing healthy and growing like a mofo
today. The seeds were sent by a nice lady (her name escapes me at the moment)
who teaches Lao/Thai refugees. The peppers are Laotian or Hmong in origin,
little tiny bullets that are about as spicy as a Chiltepin. It almost looks
like a thin Piquin. The plant is small and so far pretty prolific. In Arizona,
it has over wintered quite well with little or no noticeable change.
Thoughts, comments, suggestions? Has anyone tried any of these unorthodox
plans?
One last thing, does anyone know of a nursery in Phoenix that sells
UNORDINARY peppers?