Transcription
Welcome to episode 2 of From Seed to Sauce, a beginner's guide to growing chilli peppers. Today, we're going to be talking about the first 30 days of your chilli's growth.
Once your seedlings start germinating, you need to get some light over them. If you have a window in your house that gets light for more than eight hours of the day, then you can put your seedlings there. Otherwise, you need to think about artificial light. I'll cover this topic off in the next episode.
Once the majority of your seeds have germinated, if you have vents on the lid of your propagation tray, then you want to open them up. This will allow some air in and help reduce the chance of the seedlings damping off. You can switch off the heat at this stage too, if you can maintain around 20 degrees Celsius where you're growing.
The first leaves you see when the chilli seed germinates are called cotyledons. The next set of leaves are the first true leaves. Once you see those appear, you want to remove the lid of your propagation tray and consider getting a small fan to move air around your plants. This will not only help with damping off but will also help your plants become stronger. It's really important to get the lid off your propagation tray as soon as possible.
Now, the problem you're going to have is some of your seeds may not have germinated yet, and you want to maintain that humidity. One trick you can try is use the little shot glasses that we use to soak our seeds and cover over the seed cell, and this will maintain the humidity. Now, I haven't had a lot of success with this, but I did have one or two seedlings come through afterwards by using this method.
At this stage, you still do not need any fertilizer. The compost you're using has plenty of nutrients for your young plants. Watering should still be done primarily from the bottom, and you want to allow the plants to dry out a little between waterings. Depending on the temperature and humidity where you're growing, this could be once every two to five days.
Once 30 days has passed, you need to start thinking about potting up your seedlings. Don't rush this step. I'll be doing an episode about potting up in the series with a lot more detail, but fundamentally, you are balancing the growth of your plant above and below the soil. Ideally, you want your chilli seedlings' root system to look like this before potting up. The root base should still be a little spongy, but the soil shouldn't be falling off the root system. If the root system feels very firm, then you may have waited a little too long before potting up.
You can use the same compost for potting up that you used to start your seeds. I add a little perlite and vermiculite in mine, but this isn't as important at this stage as it will be later on. A trick to help with potting up is to let your soil dry a little before. This will help make this evening a lot easier to remove from the seed tray.
Once you've potted up, put your plants back where they were before, under lights or on a sunny windowsill, and make sure you have a small fan moving the air about. For the first watering, you can water from the top to help the roots bed down in the new pot, but after that, you want to water like you did before, from the bottom. You want your soil to dry out a little between waterings. Your plant will let you know when it's ready to be watered again by drooping a little. This strategy of letting your soil dry between watering will encourage very strong root growth, and it is very important for the development of your plant.
Don't worry if you don't see any growth for the first few days after potting up. You may even see some leaves drop off. This is perfectly normal. The plant is adjusting to its new environment. Very soon, you will see a lot of new growth, and your chilli plants will begin to thrive.
Good luck with your chilli plants, and let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below, and I will do my best to answer as many as I can. Until the next episode, thank you so much for watching, and stay spicy.