peppers not germinating

[Royboy]

Hi,

I have sown a number of pepper seeds in 4" pots on 17th April, put in an electric propogator, but nothing is showing. I have had a little dig and seeds seem dormant. I use Westland organic veg. compost, the seed variety are Johnsons pepper(sweet) patio red.

Q. Is it too late to re-try with a different variety and if so--which? or should I buy seedlings from the garden centre? I sowed Courgettes also and they are flying through.

Other stuff eg carrotts, parsnips,salad leaves, leeks, savoys, beetroot are coming on well in my plastic cold frame and plastic mini greenhouse, Pak choi, onion sets are coming on nicely outside in a raised bed.

[DavidT]

2 things, how deep did you sow them and have you kept the compost moist? If sown too deep, or the compost has been allowed to dry out seed can have trouble germinating.

[Reweed]

Some chilli seeds take up to 20 days plus to come up.

You should bosh some more in, might get a few peppers before it gets too cold, really depends on how long they take to fruit.

Failing that, buy a couple of small pepper plants from a GC in a few weeks.

[jackb]

If you have any extra seeds you might try germinating them in a moist coffee filter. (they will not stick to it) Check it every few days until the radicle begins to develop, and then use tweezers to plant it. Pepper seeds do take some time to develop though.

[Royboy]

I have bought a couple of seedling from a nursery, placed on windowsill, and re-sown some of the left over originals in peat pots with compost and manure mixed and put on elec. prop'r.

Thanks for advise