Peppers that produce hardy seedlings?

[Cathy A]

I started some jalapeno peppers a week or two ago in the dark, on soil in a closed container with a lot of humidity.

The plants sprouted quicker than I expected, growing tall and leggy in the dark. By the time that I removed the lids and put them under lights, they were too tall and thin to recover, and they have been slowly dying.

This isn't the first time I've tried starting peppers from seed and failed. I have tried starting a number of varieties of pepper seeds in different ways, with extremely low success rates. They are too cold, too hot, too dry, too wet, in the dark too long.. you name it.

Methods that work 95% of the time on tomatoes for me barely work at all on peppers. They are incredibly fussy compared with anything else that I grow.

Yes, I know there techniques that work, but that's not what I'm asking here.

Does anyone know of an effort to breed peppers (hot, not sweet) that are more hardy in the seedlings stage, and easier and more reliable to start under less-than-ideal conditions?

Home growers in short-season climates who must start their peppers indoors in late winter would really benefit from a pepper that reliably starts from seed.

[reed]

Seems to me peppers just like it a bit warmer than tomatoes. I start them exactly like tomatoes in unheated cold frames, I just put the peppers in two or three weeks later.

[Cathy A]

Reed, you start peppers from seed in unheated cold frames? What's the outside temperature at the time you do this?

[reed]

Reed, you start peppers from seed in unheated cold frames? What's the outside temperature at the time you do this?

With tomatoes I put them in the cold frame while temperatures below freezing is still likely. With peppers I wait until temps that low is very unlikely. Basically, I guess when it's time to set out the tomatoes, it's time to plant the peppers. By that time large pepper plants are available for sale, maybe even in bloom but overall, they don't produce any better than my little transplants.

Peppers are weird, I think. They like it hot to sprout but they produce best after it cools down in the fall. Some keep on going even after some frosts. 

[Adrian]

The t° is not the most big problem but the most part of the peppers like a very draining soil.Probably more draining that the tomatos.

The dark in not necessary.
I cover a plastic bag on a plastic tray toward a windows and on a heater the night.
The soil can be draining for improve the heat and accumulation and avoid pythium.
You can selected the seeds of the mosts vigorous for your climate.

[Kadence Luneman]

Hmm interesting. I'm starting Anaheim and Big Jim for hot peppers. I'm not into really hot, just spicy enough and I'm hoping these will fit. My first time with hot peppers.

They're all together in the same trays and pot size as the rest of my starts and under the same light. No heat mat. I have a laser pointer thermometer and the soil in the pots has been reading from 66-72°F. I'm keeping the room warmer than I usually would but it's not any change because the heat goes more to this room anyways, I just usually have the vent more closed.

This is only my second time starting peppers. And last year I didn't get the peppers in the ground 🤦 so I can't say how they did after the first couple weeks. They started fine as I recall and that was in a cooler room that has a chronically chilly floor. Didn't cover the trays at all or do any heat mats etc.

[Cathy A]

Maybe the heat is drying out my plants and killing them before they have a chance to develop thicker stalks for transplanting.

[Adrian]

One of the most big problem with the pepper is for me a very high sensibility at pythium during the germination.
We probably can selected a rootenary system more vigorous.