Got my first online seed order from Sherwood's Seeds on Etsy! I got:
- "Thunder Mountain" (long Cayenne-type pepper from Guizhou China which I believe it is what is called "Dafang wrinkled pepper" or "chicken claw chili"), and
- "Szechuan pepper" (which believe is a popular chili from Sichuan called "Erjingtiao", a somewhat mild but flavorful pepper).
- I also have Thai chili seeds saved from chilis that I grew and dried last year and guajillo seeds taken from dried guajillos bought that I bought at a market.
This is my first time growing chilis from seeds! I've grown store-bought chilis and herb plants quite a bit, but I specifically wanted to grow some Dafang and Erjitiao as I've gotten into Chinese cooking.
I did a deep dive watching Youtube videos on sprouting/germinating chili seeds as well as info from this subreddit.
I ended up soaking that my seeds for about 14 hours in very strongly brewed black tea. I've read conflicting opinions and experiments on whether or not soaking chili seeds is worth while, but decided "why not" and as a big tea enthusiast(nerd) I liked the idea of giving my seeds a tea bath. I used the crumbs/dust out of the bottom of a big 500g bag of Yunnan assamica black tea (high in tannins) that I finished recently and brewed it almost as dark as coffee.
I planted the seeds about 1/4" deep in a seed tray using tweezers. The tray is sitting on top of chopsticks on a heat mat. Soil temp is about 85F in spots near the middle of the tray and 75F in corner spots. I already bought an LED shop light (5500 lumen 50 watt 5000K from Walmart) for when they sprout.
Here's hoping I get some seedlings! I don't have space for 70 chili plants outside, so many will be going to friends/family/coworkers assuming that they sprout and I don't kill them.
by redpandaflying93