My chilli seedlings are becoming more of a presence in their place on the heated propagator, and the broad beans are pushing their heads through the cold soil in their tray on the greenhouse bench. It is quite difficult to maintain the right moisture levels at this time when seeds have germinated but are only just developing their seed leaves. I have given the chilli seedlings partial exposure to the air so they don't suffer from damping off, which is a fungus that kills developing seedlings in a damp environment.
Now I have to be careful not to let them dry out. With a heated propagator this can happen quite quickly. I uncovered them for their photo, but normally they have 1/2 sized propagator lids balanced on them. These particular trays are slightly smaller than 1/4 sized, so there are gaps where they meet the lids. This allows just enough air in for the stage in their development when they are just unfurling their leaves, and there are still more seeds to germinate. Another way is to balance the lids on the seed labels one side, which allows a lot more air in. I think they're about ready for this now.
I'm not too happy with the germination rate of the Ring of Fire and Chilly Willy chillis, but the mystery big red chillis that grew last year from medium sized F1 yellow ones had 100% germination, and the chillis that change from green through black to red have 90%. I checked to see if some varieties may need constant temperatures of more than 19 degrees, which is what the propagator provides. I found an informative website about growing chillis: www.thechilliking.com.
The chilli king says the optimum temperature for germination is 23-30 degrees, ideally the temperature should not fluctuate, and some varieties do need more heat than others. I think I'll try bringing them into the house next time.
I wonder if my planting them at totally the wrong phase of the moon had anything to do with it. The best time for anything that is grown for fruit and not root is a couple of days before new moon to a couple of days before full. I sowed the jalapeno chillis, which you can just see at the edge of the image, at new moon, and they took about seven days to germinate. At the moment it looks like a 75% germination rate, but it's still possible I might get a couple more coming through. I want to try more controlled and accurately recorded experiments with moon times to see if the moon does actually affect germination.
Broad beans don't need extra heat to germinate, in fact you can sow them directly outside this time of year, but I like to give mine a bit of protection and a good start in the greenhouse, away from starving vermin. They look very healthy, although there does seem to be a bit of a brown tinge on the new leaves, so I hope I haven't overwatered them.
I'm trying to root the carrot tops, so that they will grow good foliage and I can harvest seed from them. I've placed them on gravel so the underneath, where the roots will sprout, is in contact with water but there is depth and air for the roots to grow. If the plant is just totally submerged in water it is likely to just rot.
One variety is purple with the colour going quite a way into the core, so it's quite unusual, and the other is a white variety. The white ones are already growing new green tops, but the place where the green growth will sprout on the purple ones seems to be glowing and pulsing to me, so I'm hopeful they will sprout too. If it works it will be seed for next year, so I'm ordering some rainbow carrot seed for this year. I want a real rainbow of growing things in my long allotment, as I feel it does have a rainbow-like quality, as you can see from the blog banner!
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