I’ll hold my hand up among those growers who have been beaten by difficult seeds. I don’t own a propagator or a heated seed mat and yes that could be why a few of my earlier attempts failed. The method I use here at the cottage to get slow germinators and cranky, sleepy seeds to grow is a lot less technical then you would think. Please excuse the images in this post, they aren’t my normal style and taken hurriedly with my phone.
Yip, it starts with an empty takeaway container, a sheet of Kitchen roll folded in half and seeds.
I place the folded sheet of kitchen roll on the inside of the container lid and dampen the kitchen roll with some lukewarm water. I sprinkle on the seeds and close the container over the top of them.
I label the container in the top left corner and then pop it on a sunny windowsill over a radiator. Because the system is closed the seeds are kept warm and humid and usually open within a few days. You have to be quick to get the seeds into some potting soil once they waken though or their roots work through the paper.
These are some Purple Tiger Chilli seeds that wouldn’t germinate any other way.
If this is the case then spray the paper with water and it should disintegrate or if you can cut it around the seed and pop the whole thing in a module tray with compost. You need to be very careful not to disturb the root system but I have used this method from everything from rosemary seeds, delphiniums, chillies (to speed up their long germination cycle) and anything that has caused me trouble in the past or has a long germination time. More often than not it is successful and I have never had a complete failure.
I hope this helps and thanks for the question Emma!
Wishing you the best for all your garden/growing plans this season. don’t forget to tag with #growcraftlove so I can follow along too.
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