Topic: Sowing seeds still a problem

[floraldi]

I have been sowing seeds for years but this year seem to have a lot of failures even with the ones in an expensive electric tray.  It has occured to me this week that some seeds should just not be covered with a polythene bag or other cover.  I have given up on some and then found that when I watered them and put them uncovered in a sunny place I see signs of germination.  There were some tomatoes that had very small seed (they have the word Olive in their name) and it didn't occur to me to cover the seed much but inside the packet there are detailed instructions saying to cover them with half a mm of compost. So, on my fourth try I now have two good seedlings. Sorry to ramble but I am mad about my seed sowing.

[dtw]

Potting on has had major losses for me, they just wilt as soon as I do.  :(

[Robert_Brenchley]

Let them reach a decent size, handle them as gently as possible, by the leaves only, and water them in well. Keep them warm at this time of year. I'll be planting mine this weekend, and I won't pot them on till it's warm enough to put them into cold frames.

[flowerofshona2007]

Keeping everything really clean and not watering from above might solve your damping off problem, you can also add chestnut compound to the water.
Chillies can be awkward to get to germinate, i find they need to be quite damp !

[manicscousers]

as soon as mine have germinated, I move them on to a cooler windowsill and keep them on the dry side, only watering from the bottom and sparingly at that  ;D

[silverbirch]

I sow all my seed in to 3" pots, and put the whole lot inside a sandwich bag which goes on a windowsill over a radiator.  I reckon the compost should be moist enough to give condensation on the inside of the bag, but no water laying in the bottom.

Once they germinate, I open the bag to get them use to drier air for a day in the house, then move them to the greenhouse.  I prick out as soon as possible,  preferably before the root has started sideshooting.  I try to only water from the bottom until the plants are a decent size.

[flowerofshona2007]

The best watering aid i have is a wash bottle !! you can put water just where you want it !!!

[bupster]

What's a wash bottle?

[floraldi]

I think a wash bottle must be what we call a squeezy bottle i.e. as in dishwashing. Is that right?  Anyway, thank you all. There are some good suggestions here.  I was talking about sowing not repotting by the way. The ones that have actually germinated are on the fancy window sill in the lounge - who cares :o  I keep looking at them and have noticed some look a bit dry. I had already decided to water from the bottom so will do that with care.  Now, I even have two of the small tomatos that apparently look like olives at the beginning.  But it is disheartening when there is no germination at all. Also, I am impatient which does not help.  When potting on by the way I always handle by the leaves, gently, and usually have no problem with that.

All this for the love of my son who has had some bad times but who loves chillis and home grown tomatoes.  Love is everything!

[Robert_Brenchley]

To germinate chillies, keep them really warm and moist. I stand the pot on top of the water heater, and they come up in a few days.

[flowerofshona2007]

This is a wash botle  ;D

[loopyloulou]

2 yrs running ive had no problems germinating chillies, they need to be very warm i think, i bagged them in the 1st yr and left them in the conservatory which gets cold at night but obv v warm in the day even in this weather, so long as theres sun (its otherwise unheated) this yr forgot the bags and theyve still come up no problems but it is a lot warmer in there than the rest of the house when i open it up, i also keep them moist, didnt realise they were tricky, oops, lol, but they deffo like the conservatory as we had plenty of chillies tho they deffo need plenty of room for the roots when they get bigger :D good luck! also toms seem fine this yr, fingers crossed with those and the other types of peppers... so far so good...