In my opinion temp is most important with germanating hot pepper seeds. Soaking in water first might help a bit but keeping the soil at 80F and time will produce results. Theres no magic, just start early enough and give yourself time.

It seems like there's a lot of conflicting information surrounding germination aids like tea soaks... while it would be nice to get pepper seeds to germinate more quickly, I'm less inclined to risk damaging the seeds than just waiting a little while longer for them to come up on their own.

This is my first year, and I didn't do anything special with my seeds. I received the pods 12-8-08, cut the seeds out, and left them to dry on a paper towel on the kitchen table. At the end of January, I took the best looking seeds and dropped them into a cup of water. I tossed the ones that floated; then, I put the seeds on the damp paper towel into a zip-lock, and left in the bottom of the 'fridge for a few days. Then I set the bag on top of my 'fridge, just barely open. Within days I had a little white root emerging from most of the seeds. I'd say that more than 60 seeds germinated. I didn't sterilize anything, either.

Josh

Couple different things here, I think: (1) soaking, (2) in tea (specifically), and (3) refrigeration prior to sowing...

Soaking: I think this is mainly to soften up the seed shell, so you have less problems with it falling off after it sprouts.

Tea: My understanding is that tea wards off potential fungal issues (want to say that Chamomile is best?)

Refrigeration: Not sure, but guessing that a "cool period" is meant to simulate "dormancy", after which the seed feels more compelled to grow.

I've always direct sewn the seeds into seed starting trays with seed starting medium packed firmly (this helps minimize issues with the seed shell by having enough friction on the shell as the leaves are pushing out of the ground) You don't want it too hard but not to loose either. Most times I use a standard 72 cell tray that comes with the dome and bottom tray.

-I pack my cells firmly with starting mix
-Add water to the bottom tray
-Set the cells in so the water wicks up
-Lightly mist the surface with water
-Sew my seeds
-Place the tray on a pharmacy heat mat
-Punch some holes in the plastic dome for vent.
-Place the dome on the tray
-Stick a thermometer in the soil to monitor temp
-Keep the soil moist but wet
-Keep the temp around 80-90. 85 is ideal.
-Keep an eye on condensation don't let water stand
-Wait.

I usually get my first sprouts in 5-6 days. I never have used any soaking, or bag methods. The key is developing a system that works for you. There are so many different ways that work. As long as you get healthy plants you did it right.

i use those heating mats they work wonders in germinating hot pepper seeds had some bhuts come up in 11 days with thos pads i leave them on even after they come up seems to speed there growth also you might have to water (from the bottom) a little more often due to the heat drying out your soiless mix but those heating mats are gold to me

Started my first batch of seeds last thurs evening and I"ve kept the domes on but from time to time I dump the condensation out and monitored the dryness, so far it's just been to spray the cells that are driest with a water spray bottle. Two of my three mats have automatic shut off after a certain amount of time so I have them on a timer to automatically turn them on for 60 min then off for 15 and so on. Otherwise after the first 60 min they'd shut off and stay off. I had Bhut's last year and the previous year and about the same time frame they were some of the last to come up but they came up pretty quick. In the last 3 years I've gotten my first sprout a mere 5 days after planting my seeds. After that I get a couple a day and then I get a mass of sprouts. Since I started them in the late evening around 8/9 I don't count Thurs, so they are on day two. I'm planning my second batch of seeds First batch included the ones with the longest maturity dates. This next batch will be the ones with fewer days to maturity. I used three 72 cell trays that I will reuse to start the next batch. The seedlings will be transplanted to eight 48 cell trays to grow until time to plant out doors.