Seedling update..

Greetz..

Been a few days since the seedlings popped up and figured I should give an update, esp. since I've had some really nice results with the propagator and new growing light setup. So far, everything has popped up and is doing well, with the exception of the Habanero peppers. The Jalapeno's have all sprouted, with 100% germination with last years seeds (the same ones I FAILED to grow at all last year!)  and are doing *far* better than they ever were last year. In fact, do you remember this photo from last year?:

Last years Jalapeno attempt..

That was about as big as that little bugger ever got before it keeled over and died. Well, with all my newfangled technology, I've beaten mother nature soundly! My Jalapeno's are lookin' like this right now:

This years Jalapeno attempt..

Better than that, even, are my Roma tomato tests.. as of the 12th of this month, I had this result..

And they were lookin' so healthy today on the 14th, I decided to transplant 6 of 'em into their own six pak container so hey could continue on with the last leg of the experiment. Thus, I had this going on just moments ago:

Roma's, puttin' on their big boy pants!

I was using that letter opener thingy you see there just barely on the right side of this pic to pop the seedlings from the propagator unit in the back, and planted their roots as deep as I could get them into the six pak container. I and buried the stems up as much as I could with this potting mix I had that came with some severely low amount of nutrients.. so low that it was as if there was nothing in there at all. I have decided to go with a diluted fish emulsion for fertilizer, which I subsequently soaked these little guys in just after they were set into their pots. As a side note, these came out of the propagator MUCH easier than I thought they would..  thought for sure I would have lost a leaf or two pulling them out for transplanting, but nary a one was lost. It all went quite well, actually. Now, to see if they live!

Surprisingly, when I had the little guys all in their 6 pak container, I was sorta wondering what I was going to do with 'em as far as watering and light needs and such, figuring I'd have to water them by hand now that they were out of the propagator, but lo and behold, the six pak's fit *perfectly* on the capillary mat that they were on already.. how perfect is this?!

Closeup of the Roma's in their new home, on the
capillary mat, next to their baby brothers still in the propagator..

Decided to boost the other seedling tray up off the mat with some chopsticks
to dry out the peat a bit.. seemed a little too moist to me at the time.

Tune in in a few days to see what became of these little guys after the transplant. Will they live, or wil they die? And hey, if they live.. *then* what do I do with 'em.. that's really all I had planned to do with this experiment, as I was just trying to see how this new equipment was going to work out. Do I have the heart to just toss these guys out into the snow when this test is over? Sheesh.. so cruel! It's far to early to be raising seedlings though. Might keep the basil, but that would be about it.. 

Oh, nearly forgot about the Habaneros! Damn things haven't come out of the ground at *all* so far. Not even a peep. It's been 11 days.. the package gives 1-15 days to germinate. I guess we still got some time.. As always, I'll keep ya posted. 

Later!