Hello Bob,
I'm no expert, but Jiffy pellets are a great way to get seeds started.

1. It sounds like your pellets are very wet. I would take the tops off and let them dry for a little while. Once the seedlings come up, they prefer drier air. Jiffy's are so easy to use, you don't have to do much with them. I just water by putting a bit of water in the tray and letting the pellets absorb what they need. Don't leave them soaking in water.

2. Once the seedlings come up you will want to gradually give them more light or they will begin to stretch. A window is good, but be careful about putting them in full sun. If you leave the top on a tray outside, you will roast the seedlings. When you have roots growing outside the pellet it's time to transplant.

3. If you move to a smaller container before their final home, you can protect the fragile seedlings until they adjust to the outdoors. I only garden in containers, it may be different if you are planting in the ground. With small cups/pots as an intermediate step, they have time to adjust, and you have more time to select the strongest plants for prime locations.

Some other Jiffy notes:
-I've tried taking the netting off Jiffy's before planting and I don't think it made any difference.
-Rockwool, Rapid Rooters, Coco Coir pellets are nice too, but haven't shown to be any better than Jiffy's in my experience.
-Jiffy's don't need too much special care, I've let them get pretty dry without ill effect. Completely dry is another story.
Good luck!

My biggest tip (actually zanderspice already mentioned it)
DO NOT LEAVE THESE WITH THE LID ON IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT! It turns into an oven!!

I would recommend putting the pellets in cups of soil or something before putting them directly in the garden. That way you could set them outside for longer and longer periods of time to adjust them to full sun and wind and such before the go to the garden. (If you use disposable cups, make sure you have adaquate holes punched in the bottom so water doesnt accumulate.)

OK, thanks for the replies so far, but my question now is, what do I do when some of the sprouts are tall and touching the roof of the jiffy lid, and others haven't spouted at all? Should I remove the lids and place in the sun on a window sill? Or leave the lid on until they all spout?

I transplant those that have sprouted to another tray and put those under fluorescents--not window.

Don't leave any plants with their tops touching the roof. I'd transplant like fiedlermeister and get them into the light. If that doesn't work for you, take the lid off and get them into bright light...windowsill or flourescents. Put them within an inch or two of the flourescents...stack stuff up to set them on if necesssary.

If you keep the lid on, the sprouted ones will get bent over or they will die. If they don't get good light, they will get tall and gangly with weak stems.

If they are in the Jiffy pellets I'm imagining, you can get by without potting up for a bit if you take the pellets with the growing plants out and set them together on a tray and move into light. I've left them like that for quite awhile...not the best plan but it keeps em going when life is too busy for potting plants.

Your unsprouted ones can stay in the covered tray. But realize, it is possible not all of them will grow....no matter how long you wait.

Sounds like you will have a good variety of peppers this year. And I bet they will be in the ground long before mine!

Thanks again, sounds like a plan

IF it is WARM enough up in Ga. now. Put them outside. With the top on! They won't 'cook', it isnt hot enough up there, they didnt cook here in Ft.Lauderdale. I use the peat pellets for my tomatos. I have some tomatos up...some are 2ins tall...some are not up yet. They are sprouting all over the place out in the sun and warmth ,with the top on. I JUST removed it today. The tomatos are to tall! It is a BIG tray of 60 pellets. I have 10 varieties growing. Some are short,some are tall,some are not up.

As for water...go by weight. Just water from the top with a small watering can to control the flow,so you dont flood them. If the tray feel light,and the peat pellets look dry all over,water them. OR if the plants wilt!!!

Peppers I think need the warmth of the sun to get them to sprout. The top of your dryer gave them warmth for the roots only, so you only have a few plants, sun will get you many sprouts, before the seeds start to rot. Aren't they tall and lanky now?? Give them sun of some type, or a bright light.

Once you have roots popping out the sides of the pellets, you should plant them into the ground or pots. Where ever you intend on growing them. They dont like to be moved and moved and moved. 1 time is enough. Just pop them into the ground,no need to remove any of the peat pellet.

Sounds like you are on the way to a nice pepper garden.
Dont worry about the ones that are not up yet. IF you can put it outside, do it now. If you cant, put it on a window sill with morning direct sun WITH the top on, it wont 'cook' on a window sill. It wont even 'cook' the plants outside at this time of year, especially in morning sun...till noon. I left the top on mine down here until the biggest tomatos hit the cover, in full sun all day! It isnt airtight.

BUT it does raise the temp. in the container. THAT makes them sprout much faster! If you are uncomfortable leaving it on. Take it off. But the warmer it is...the faster they will sprout,and more you will get! As long as it is warm up there..maybe in the 50's and up? you will get lots of plants if you can put them outside. They need sun. My 2 cents.

Hope this helps you out some. As long as you have SOME peppers up...and CAN put it outside. Do it..with or without the top. And you will get many more in a few days to a few weeks. Depending on the variety. FEED Them!

Hi Bob,

You might want to remove the netting around the pellet (if your pellets have it) before transplanting. It could make a difference, as shown below.

Just my opinion. Have a great growing season!

{{gwi:1157384}}

{{gwi:1157385}}

{{gwi:1157386}}

Wow, thanks for the feedback everyone. What I have done is I took all of the pellets that sprouted and put them all in one tray , took the roof off and placed them in a sunny window sill. So far so good, they really took off and are reaching for that sunlight. The others, in the other tray, still have the roof on and on the dryer. most of the ones that didnt sprout yet are poblano's, maybe they take longer?
the prev post about removing the peat netting is kind of scary, the dirctions state that roots will grow right through it, but apparently they can cause issues. Is the netting easy to remove? Thanks again, Bob

Ok, so now my seedlings have almost all sprouted. Most of my peat pellets have 2 or 3 seedlings. Question,, at what point should I cut back the weaker seedlings for the stronger ones, and how do i know which one to keep? Should
I go with the tallest?
-also, I never got any answers to my last question in the previous post, do any of you take the netting off of the pellet when you transplant, and if so, is it a difficult process? thanks/bob

I often do NOT keep the tallest. If it is too tall and weak stemmed and another is stout and growing well, the tall one goes. But unless some look obviously bad it doesn't matter alot which one stays....as long as you only leave one. I usually try to get them clipped back to one plant about the time the first true leaves come on, sometimes even when only the seed leaves are showing.

I've taken the netting off some Jiffy pellets. It's easy. Just tear a bit at the top and then it easily pulls off....or at least it did for me. I did it because I get tired of finding the remains in the garden months or even a year later. It does not seem to decompose. I've not run into problems with the roots not being able to get through the mesh. Probably with some soils and some moisture levels it would be different. Maybe it depends on how large the transplant is, also. I have left several in a tray together a bit too long and had roots grow out of the pellets and interlock with each other. It ended up being a big mat of tomato plants. A little pulling and they separated and the transplanted 'maters grew fine.

Well, thanks so much for all of the advice. It's getting warmer and its almost time, I can't wait!! Last question, I'm about the cut out some of the sprouts to leave one in each pellet, do I simly clip it off at the soil/pellet top, or is there more to it than that?

Thanks a bunch,, I sure hope I labled everything correctly, if not, I may have some surprises in store come bloom time!

Hi all pepper growing lovers,

I have 23 varities of peppers (not to mention my bell peppers-red green and yellow) that I seeded last weekend. Yes it is late, however, I think with the warmer weather here in central Florida they will do fine. I am looking forward to having a couple of raised beds full of beautiful peppers later this year and lots of new hot sauce recipes to experiment with.

My question is the proper soil and fertilizer. Could anyone give me specific brands that would be best for in the ground planting (raised beds with fabric to hold the sand down and weeds out). I currently use MG Organic mix for my flowers and veggies. And spray once a week with liquid MG.

Looking forward to your ideas!!

Thanks for reading!

Kim

Trying to get this post near the top, any tips on how to "clip" out seedlings to leave only one in each pellet?
am I correct in that I just cut the others off at the soil/pellet base?

Yup, just snip them off with a scissors as close to the "soil" as possible. Be careful. It may sound dumb, but it is easy to clip the one you want to keep if you aren't concentrating. Don't ask how I know this :)

I usually remove the extras after I've seen the seed leaves unfold nicely and the first true leaves are just visible. The timing isn't crucial, just don't let them get too big and crowded. Two plants in one pellet is not good. And trying to move the extras to another pot doesn't work very well either.

Ok, so I've clipped out all but one sprout in each pellet. I've just noticed that roots are starting to come out of the netting so time to transplant?? Well I'm not ready to put them in the ground yet, so guess I need to go to small cups w/ holes in the bottom, right? I plan on removing the netting and planting in potting soil in the cup, and then slowly but surely getting the outside a little at a time. any other tips? anything I could add to promote growth during this phase? Thanks for all of your help throughout this process. Can't wait!!

I've performed a mini experiment. Jiffy vs. Potting Soil. I just wanted to see what the seeds would do in identical situations.

So, the experiment was to plant 6 seeds, 2 in Jiffy and 4 in soil (because, I accidentally grabbed 2 Jiffy's from the shed and was too lazy/busy at that point to get another one). I put both Jiffy's and some soil in the same Jiffy dome. No extra heat. Just vedged the dome in between some other Pepper plants in my rack.

The result was pretty much identical. It makes no difference if you use Jiffy or just potting soil. All 6 have germinated, but one of them is really slow. The other 5 shows the same development

Here is a link that might be useful: