Hi, so I thought I'd share the problems I've run into so far(besides bhut germination problems I have)!=) This year is my first year attempting to grow peppers from seeds(actually tomatoes too, but it's the hot pepper forum!=P)! I'll try to post pictures(bad phone quality... sorry!=/), so hope they turn out ok!=)

My situation: So I'm just a student who lives in my parents house, and all I have to myself is my very crammed and messy room, so that's where my seedlings live! But luckily I have a south-facing window! When it gets warmer, my mom allows me to put a few containers on our little LITTLE deck, and although we have a small garden, she won't allow me to plant anything in the flower beds... So, you guessed it! I container garden only!=) (unless they are tulips, irises, etc...) Heating mats are too expensive to buy and run for me, and same goes for cfl's. Plus my family would be worried about me burning the house down from leaving those on, so all I can rely on is the weather, my window, and the top of the water heater unit for seed germination!=)

So basically, the night of March 19, I started these seeds in paper towel:

-3 white habs

-4 explosive embers

-4 sweet pickles

-3 bhuts(that I won't talk about here)

3-4 days later, all the explosive embers germinated, and 5-6 days later, all the sweet pickles germinated. I thought once germination occurs, heat would not be so important anymore, so I potted them in soil and put it by my window sill(it's still cold here), and boy was I wrong. I waited and waited 1 day... 2 days... Nothing... So I dug them up only to find that they looked the same as when I had potted them(just a tad bit browner...=X), so I transferred them to egg cartons with soil in a plastic box, and put them back on the water heater. By this time, 1 white hab had germinated too, so I planted along with the others. This method worked much better, so I learned, don't remove seedlings from heat until they sprout and shed their seed coats!=)

I've read many stories about people having problems with seed coats getting stuck, and I was no exception...=( The worst case was with my 1 lone white hab(the rest have germinated, but haven't/are just not popping out of the soil)... It was a case of the cotyledons being completely stuck! After it started coiling round and round, I realized it was going nowhere on it's own... It wasn't one of those "wiggle it off after moistening" cases, so I whipped ot my nail clippers and a small pair of sewing scissors, an slowly moistened, clipped, wiggled, and repeated over and over till the deed was done! Amazingly, I managed to not clip the cotyledons! It looked awfully sad afterward, but yet I felt so awesome, like I'd done a successful cardiac surgery or something!XD It's still slow-growing and small right now but here's what it looks like currently:

So, on to my sweet pickles! One succumbed to mold I believe...=( Two had their seed coats stuck halfway! One had a successful coat removal, while the other not so much...=P I accidentally ripped of half a leaf, which died back down, and half the other leaf got strangled by the coat before I removed it...=X So it basically has been living with half a leaf, that's in a weird position. The past few days, that half a leaf has been growing slowly, and today, I noticed the other leaf has started plumping up slightly!=D Don't know if it'll survive, but here they are now:

The last pickle pepper, well, it's in the same boat as 1 of my explosive embers... Basically, they emerged, but with weird damaged leaves that never opened, and so they basically look like sticks... I don't currently have any hopes that they'll make it, but we'll see...(The explosive ember seems so have a little more hope) Just will let them die down naturally. Here they are:

My last 3 explosive embers, well, their emergence went the most smoothly!=) Came out all on their own! Here was the first one: {{gwi:1167457}}

And these are the next two to pop out:

Okay! Sorry for the long, wordy, poor picture quality post!=) Just wanted to share my first experiences germinating peppers, especially with such limited equipment, since I know it's not feasible for many people to purchase and run lights or heating mats, like me for example! Although I have nothing much to show, unlike many of the other awesome growers on this site, just wanted to share with anyone who'd be interested, and especially with any other newbies like myself!=) I'm just basically trying to grow whatever my small, cold window can support!=) But... tonight's temperatures are gonna get to freezing again, which mean my plants are gonna get cold by my window, meaning even slower growth...=( But on the bright side, that might help prevent leggy growth too right?;P