At first I tried many methods including the burrito method which all ended up with the black stems. I began my experiment with store bought roses purchased at the local flower shop. I've had awesome success with other hardwood cuttings with Dip n' Grow, so I figured it would work with roses. I proceeded to look up methods online, I followed the instructions in the Dip n' Grow insert with all of them resulting in black stems. One thing I did notice was that with one experimental method using water with an air stone bubbling (oxygenating) the water the stems would begin to callous and they began to show new growth at the budding sites, but after a while the stems would turn black and die. At that point I'd tried different pH's, nutrient solutions and growing mediums. After several dozens of roses and a lot of wasted money on roses, I eventually got fed up. So on my last attempt I realized that the blackness on the stems was actually an infection of the stem. So I thought to myself "How can I eliminate the infection factor?". I tried one more totally experimental method using and uninfected portion of the main stem that exhibited new growth from one of the stems that was infected in the lower area and finally, SUCCESS!! Here is my original method that I used to propagate the first plant: You will need the following: 1. Coir (coco peat) 2. Microwave safe bowl 3. Microwave Oven 4 Clear Container with a lid, (many Chinese restaurants use them for soups) 5. Dip n' Grow Rooting hormone 6. Cotton swabs Step 1: Add your Coir to the microwavable bowl add enough water to have the coir in a liquefied state Microwave for 20 minutes to sterilize the Coir and kill any fungal spores or bacteria it may have in it. Step 2: Strain the Coir using a piece of cheesecloth or other fabric that has been washed in chlorine bleach being certain to squeeze as much of the water out as possible. Step 3: Wash the soup container with bleach then thoroughly rinse. Fill soup container half way with your damp coir packing it down. Step 4: Take a cotton swab and dip it into pure Dip n' Grow then dip your swab in water as to slightly dilute the Dip n' Grow in the swab. and use the swab to cover the areas of the cutting where it has been cut, being careful not to put the rooting hormone on any part of the cutting that will be exposed to light. Step 5: Put the Hormone treated area into the coir being sure it is not exposed to light, then cap the container. Step 6 Put your cutting under some form of artificial light, compact fluorescent bulbs work well (at least 25 Watts). In the above steps you've created a sterile environment for your cutting to take root. In about a week or two check for callusing, when you see the callousing then add a small amount(a few drops) of very mild, high phosphorus fertilizer (promotes root growth) around the area where the callousing exists, so it can easily gain access to the fertilizer . Look at the bottom of the container periodically for signs of rooting In another 1-2 weeks you should see roots growing against the bottom of the container. This is the point where you can gradually expose the leaves to the environment because once root formation has begun you no longer have to fear infection Note: if you notice any fungus growing anywhere in the container, it is better to expose the cutting to dry air which will kill the fungus and let the cutting have chance at growth.

The Burrito Method requires hard wood, dormant cuttings, after winter when they have sufficient stored nutrients to hold them over while they are leafless, wrapped in damp paper in the dark. The "Advanced Burrito" has nothing to do with wrapping, therefore is a misnomer. I coined the "Burrito Method" in an effort to give folks a mental image of what I meant. Advanced Burrito is simply a softwood cutting, actively growing, but a single bud one, instead of longer, multiple bud lengths. "Leaf Bud Cuttings" would be a much more appropriate term to use for it. If one were to attempt to used the Burrito Method with actively growing, leaf bud cuttings, they are pretty much guaranteed to fail. Too many people tried it at the wrong time of year, with the wrong type of material, under the wrong range of temperatures and repeatedly reported total failure. It takes a long time for a dormant, leafless cutting to root when processed and used as softwood cutting. Softwood cuttings fail when all foliage is removed and they are wrapped in dark, damp, cool wrapping because they don't contain a sufficient store of nutrients to permit them to develop, and, since there are no leaves and they are in the dark, they can't create their own resources. Each method is appropriate for different types of material, at different times of the year. Both can be used by virtually anyone, just at opposite ends of the calendar and with opposite types of cuttings.

Personally, I restart seeds after about two weeks or so. I will still keep the originals to see if they finally pop, but I don't want to get too far behind in case they never do sprout. It has been my experience that most all peppers (with a few exceptions) will sprout within two weeks if they are going to at all. Like I said, there are a few exceptions but even most super hots will pop within two weeks if they are under proper conditions. Heat and moisture are the two biggies. Too little or too much is not good. 70 to 85 for soil heat and constant moisture without being soggy is good. If you grew several other varieties of peppers and they sprouted fine, then I would consider it a problem with the seed. If you had wide spread failures to sprout, then I would look more at your setup. My 7 Pot Brain Strain-Yellow seeds that I got from the trade actually were the first to sprout for me. They were going strong at 6 days. The photo below shows my early sprouts. Notice the ones that sprouted first were near the center of the heat mat that I had them on. That probably had something to do with it. I expect it was just a bit warmer there than on the outside cells. If you click on the photo it should open in a bigger size so you can see it easier.

Update here.. ive got dozens of different pods goin on but heres a few with the brain strain its going ok just been told by the company i bought them off that its normal as tine changes the pods will grow different year to year but the genes stay the same just like growing children...ill save the seeds from these pods and see if that theory is true nexf season and heres a mourga uv that had a accident mid uk season very small pods but doing ok