1) lightly cover seed soil temp 80F taking 8-14 days to germinate & 16-20 weeks to produce fruit 2) growing on temp above 65F nights 3) common garden soil with a pH 6.0-6.5 4) do NOT over fertilize 5) there is another forum dealing with pepers that may have other advise

You'll probably hate me too. I've had great success starting and growing Jolokias. Your container size, half barrels, is fine. I grow mine in 5 gallon pots. I understand that soil/growing medium can help achieve optimum results but I'm lazy. I do just fine using ProMix BX which is mostly peat. Not sure where you heard they don't like peat? As for fertilizer, farmer friends turned me onto a commercial 20-8-20 mix. It's primarily used in forestry but it works really well for peppers. FWIW, Bill

Chris, I will take pic and have son try to load it as I do not know how! I got my plants from Cross Country in April, kept them in garage under floros until May 3rd me thinks. All organic, with lots of goodies. I start the plants in a 1 gallon until rootbound, then transplant into 5,8,12,14,16 gallon container depending on the variety and factors. The plants squirm for a week, then explode with vigorous growth - blooming as well as green growth. The chili's started to pop out the end of May. I'm having a party today, and am hoping a few brave souls will try some of my wares of destruction heheheheheh. The same plants in my garden, which has great soil and compost and nutrients, are not even 1/4 as far along as my container plants. You can really push peppers with organics, no leaf burn or stress, just fast massive growth and abundant fruitage!! Good luck. TiMoTeO

skypepper wrote: "They have a more round almost Habanero-ish shape. I have pictures, but I am unsure how to get them on here." Skypepper - The following is a thread I wrote on how to post your pictures here in your posts. If you're on a PC the commands will work, I'm not sure what the MAC commands would be. I'm sure people will want to see your pictures. Greg Southern Nevada I thought that I'd post a quick little tutorial on how to embed your pictures in your posts on the forums here at GW. I wish it could be a sticky note but that's not possible. I feel that it's almost imperative to post pictures to assist in describing whatever problem you may be having with your plants. Everyday you read where someone writes something to the effect: "The leaves on my squash are turning brown, what could be the problem?" A picture would help those who are "trying to help you" identify what the problem could be. Everyone today has a digital camera that they use to take snaps of their families - vacations - etc. To view them you most often download them to your computer so you already have half the battle won. To get them to the point of putting them here on GW is as follows: First they must be uploaded to a photo hosting site. I use Photobucket as it's extremely simple and is free so I'll use them as an example. Once you sign-up and become a member you need to upload the pictures you want to post in to Photobucket. Create an album and assign it whatever name you want to call it, say "Garden." You'll see a button in the center of the screen called "Upload Images And Videos." Click on that button and a small window will open that has the contents of your computer in it. You want to go to wherever you keep your pictures and select the ones you want to post in GW. Then hit the "Open" button and the pictures will begin to upload to your album in Photobucket. Once they're there it's easy to put them in your post. Just go to the picture you want and hold your cursor over it. This will open a drop-down window below your picture that has various codes: Email & IM Direct Link HTML Code IMG Code Highlight the HTML Code, press and hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard while you press the letter C. This cuts the HTML code that you need to put your picture in your post. Now go to the message you want to post in GW. Put your cursor in your message body where you want to place the picture. Now you want to Paste the HTML Code in your message. To do this you press and hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard and then hit the letter V. This will place the code in your message body. To check and see your picture push the "Preview Message" button and there it is. So now you know how to post pictures in your posts on GW. If you're having a problem with your plants and want some help, go out and snap a picture or two. This will greatly help others who wish to help you and make sure that you're getting the most accurate help.