I personally don't soak my pepper seeds but I've read that lots of people do. I just plant them in the potting mix and set them over a heating pad. Doesn't really answer your question but it does give a different perspective/approach.

Rodney

I have been experimenting with soaking and I think it make a little difference in germinating time. Eventually seeds will absorbs needed moisture and should sprout.

Seysonn

Just to do show the effect off soaking, Tomorrow I will sow some pre soaked and some dry seeds (tomatoes) and I will report back the results .

Seysonn

They should be just fine.

I have had some that I forgot about for 4 days. I planted, and all sprouted.

I tend to do 24 hour soak time. Overnight does not work for my schedule as I work the early bird shift. I do not care to have to get up at 2 am to plant. I wait till 3 pm when I get home to do that.

Ok. Just a mini experiment on soaking effect.

I had no pepper to germinate any more but I had 24 tomatoes.
Here is what I did:

==I soaked 16 of them for 8-10 hours , then sowed them today.
== I sowed 8 just dry out of the packs.
Now they are on the same heat pad.

In about a week I will report the results , right here.

So until then .

Seysonn

Personal subjective experience, but I have better germinating results when I presoak for about 8-12 hours.

You're going to report back to us about soaking PEPPER seeds with your experiment with TOMATO seeds???

Thanks! That ought to be conclusive.

Yeah. It is not 100% conclusive. But the intent is knowing the effect of soaking. Tomato and pepper seeds are not that much different. So at least we can say that if it made a difference with tomatoes then it is very likely to have similar effect on peppers.
As I said, I am done with peppers so I did not want to waste pepper seeds.
You can, if you want, go ahead and do that. The field is wide open for experiment.

Seysonn

"Tomato and pepper seeds are not that much different."

Totally disagree. Just because they're both nightshades doesn't mean the SEEDS are comparable.

You are, of course entitled to your opinion.

I tend to do a seed soak when I can. It helps to weed out the bad ones. (If it is floating after the soak time I do not waste my time planting it.) It keeps me from waiting so long for a dud seed.

Yes, Nate . That is another advantage.

But when I ferment my own (tomato) seeds, the bad one float and I pour those . Keep doing until a bunch of heavy ones settle at the bottom of glass fast. But if you don't ferment (just wash/rinse), the chances are that you will end up with a lot of bad seeds.

Seysonn

I have heard that the floaters are junk, but have planted them anyway in past years. A good amount of my 30 seeds in a pack will end up floating each year. Still got 90% germination of all seeds.

BACK WITH REPORT ON MY MINI UNSCIENTIFIC REPORT>

As I mentioned, I did this with my last batch of tomato seeds.

Methodology:
I had 18 varieties to sow.
1) I soaked 12 of them overnight (~ 12 hours ) in lukewarm water with about 10% peroxide

2) the remaining 6 was not soaked.

On 3/1/15 @ 12 noon I sowed all 18 in plastic seed starting cells and placed the tray on heat pad., maintaining a temperature of about 95F just under the cells.

On 3/4/15 @ 12 noon 60% of all 18 showed life. By 8 pm 100% germination was evident;

CONCLUSION:

Soaking make NO difference. I am pretty sure in my mind that the same will hold true for pepper seeds.

Why Soaking did not make a difference? My understanding is:

In a relatively fine starting soil with good surface contact and kept moist, there had been ample time for the seeds shell to absorb needed moisture and pass it on to the core, (along with the temperature). Since pepper seeds take even longer time to wake up/ germinate, they will have even more than enough time to get soaked in the soil.

No matter how soft the seed shell is before sowing, it will take some minimum amount of time to wake up/germinate.which is directly related to the temperature, to a given seed.

Seeds (peppers, tomatoes) stay in the soil in moist garden soil for months and won't germinate, like in our wet, no freezing PNW conditions. Then when the temperature reached to a certain level (in July) then germination takes place.

So for a good viable seed, there are temperature-moisture requirements. Moisture is being a prerequisite .

You can do your own test with pepper seeds, if you like. But I don't see a need for that. For myself I have no need to do that.

Seysonn