You won't need the light until seedlings begin to break ground so I'd just stick the germination cell packs in a plastic bag out of direct sunlight but in the warmest spot(up to 90F) in your house to speed germination while keeping seeds moist.

At the first sign of seedlings emerging you can conduct your grow light vs. sunlight experiment.

If you have litmus paper check your growing media pH. I'd venture that it is too acidic for peppers although they may start out OK. Most peats are failly acidic and perlite is inert so it won't alter the acidic peat.

I think you'll find that the grow lights work much better for a number of reasons. first you can't undo cloudy days. Second, If the lights are kept just above vegetation the plants will not be reaching toward it as in a window and the light will be more consistant. Third, you can lengthen days by just letting lights on longer, usually 16 hr.

i have put the seeds that i am going to grow under the lights in coffee filters in the same medium atop of my radiator until most of them sprout, and put then back into the cells. should i add anything to the medium like superthrive or something? or some sort of compost like coffee grounds?

What soil do you recommend that you can pick up in your local home improvement store ? I have used Miracle grow in the past but I have heard that this is a bad choice for peppers.

mark

Here is a link that might be useful: my Chile Blog

I have used the Miracle Gro seed starter for the past couple seasons with little problem. I have also used Promix and see no difference in the seedlings produced from either medium. When transplanting to their permanent pots, I mix about 20% peat moss, 20% compost, 20% sand and about 40% garden soil. To this I throw a liberal layer of firepit ash onto the mixture and mix it all very well. This mixture seems to work fine for my needs. When fertilizing I use fish fert. and spray the foliage regularly with seaweed emulsion.

Animoosh