75-85 is needed for germination but once germinated the heat pad, along with the cover, is normally removed. As mentioned in several other discussions here continued heat makes the soil too hot for young tender roots and can cook them. Once germinated plants prefer much cooler temps for growing on - avg. of 55-65 degrees is ideal as it produces stocky, sturdy plants with root systems that can support the top growth rather than long lanky plants with small root balls. Dave

are you sure that is a 10 gallon container? it is small enough to sit on a plate so im guessing it is a 1 gallon container.

50 bhut jolokia seeds arrive in the mail.Armed with a seedling heating pad and a small hothouse as well as a desire to burn my lips off,I plant the seeds in a seedling starter kit I bought at K-mart.During planting, a spot under my eye feels like it has batterey acid on it.I must have rubbed some capsacin on it.I think these seeds are the real deal! Feb 20 08 After 15 days in a small hothouse only 4 seeds have sprouted and I wonder if I got bunk seeds.My visions of a crop of the red hot peppers are not gone.After more research I discover that all chiles are slow to germinate.The tempature of the hothouse is kept beetween 70 and 90 deg.Fer. March 20 08 Now about 40 of the bhut jolokia seeds have sprouted to the height of 2-3".I learn of the process called 'hardening off'.Plants grown in greenhouses develop large thin walled cells.This makes the plant weak to outdoor elements.So out they go during the day in at night to acclimate them slowly to the elements.I kill 10 plants during the process. April 19 08 Down to 30 bhut jolokia plants to the height of 7",I figure I have enough to sell and list them on e-bay selling none.Continued research reveals that these red hot pepper plants are not for my zone(7).So I keep them in a small outdoor hothouse,hoping to create the climate of India in northern CA. May 08 to date. Without discoraging anyone from growing these fiery pods I share the following. Mid May brought a 'cold snap' to Northern ca.The tempature in the greenhouse fell to 45 deg.I lost another 10 plants. Thinking I would give them a boost I crushed up 10-10-10 slow release fertelizer and damaged another 10. I'm down to about 15 plants and 5 "trophy plants"(8" plants with deep green growth). So good luck to all and any feed-back is welcome! Here is a link that might be useful: Bhut Jolokia Garden

Welcome, A 400W HID light should adequately cover a 4x4 foot area. I would look for a convertible ballast and start with a MH light and switch to HPS for flowering and pod production. If you haven't done so yet, you should check out the hydroponics forum here on GW as well. As for growing outside (I'm a couple of hundred K west of you in Ottawa), I started my Bhut seeds Jan. 5 and moved them up to 5 gallon pots under a 400W MH and moved them outside early June. They're doing well and I should have a decent harvest by end of our season. Best of luck, Bill