Sunday 4 March 2012

Fire!

"We have Lift Off"! The first of my chilli seeds have germinated. They are ones of the variety "Fuego F1"


The seedlings are in little 3" pots, in a plastic propagator on the windowsill of our spare bedroom - directly above the radiator. (Notice the pieces of old carpet-tile protecting the paintwork).


The first of these seeds germinated 8 days after sowing, which I think is pretty good considering they had no artificial heat apart from the central heating radiator (daytime only!)

Here are some photos of the newborn babies...








By the way, the light brown object by the base of the bigger of the two seedlings is not the seed-casing; it's actually a tiny pebble in the compost, which the seedling is shoving aside.

My concern for the next couple of weeks will be that I may not be able to provide them with enough light to prevent them going leggy. On days when I'm at home I often find myself transferring the propagators to the other side of the house at lunchtime, so that I can maximise their opportunity to get direct sunlight.

19 comments:

  1. Well done Mark! I haven't planted my peppers yet. I need to do it like today!

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  2. It is so lovely to see them coming up out of the soil, like a magic trick.

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  3. Looking good so far. My peppers are doing quite well in the greenhouse. I am really hoping I get peppers from them this year.

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  4. Very sweet photos of your new nursery!

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  5. Cute Babies. Babies do take more attention until they are well-established. You will be picking early peppers this year.

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  6. I remember when my chilli seeds first germinated. You should see the size of the one surviving chilli plant now! The rest didn't survive because of my neglect and you sound like a very caring vegetable parent. I thought it was just me who referred to my vegetables as babies...

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  7. Plants amaze me in their ability to manipulate objects otherwise seemingly unmovable. Lifting sidewalks, breaking apart stonework etc.

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  8. I love photos of seedlings popping out of the earth. It is just amazing to know that in a few months time, the plants will be both huge and bountiful!

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  9. Congratulations Mark...how exciting! You sound like a very caring first time parent. LOL
    Good luck with the light. By the way the photos are brilliant. :D

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  10. Impressive macro photography my friend. How cool to get to see what seeds look like popping out of the earth.

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  11. I love close-up photos of seedlings this detailed -- I can see tiny hairs on them! Our peppers just started coming up, too. Yay!

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  12. Germinating seeds are great aren't they? Did your chilli plants you put in the garage survive?

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  13. And sow it begins.... (couldn't resist)

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  14. What a joy... Congratulations! And only 8 days? I'm inspired. I have a big window cill in our south facing dining room/conservatory with central heating (some old carpet tiles somewhere too). Just need to get me some seeds from somewhere.... A.

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  15. It's always exciting seeing those first seedlings of the year appear, and it never ceased to amaze me how a tiny seed grows and eventually produces food.

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  16. You've been macroing again haven't you?

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  17. "lift off" is always fantastic! btw, i do the noontime shuffle, too!

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  18. It never ceases to amaze us when our seeds spring into action. Such a lovely time of year.

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