Hello Marcie

Sorry to hear about your losses :(

To determine cause of death, i believe we "the pepper detectives" will need to ask you some questions to try to narrow down the suspected killers. It seems that soil was not the killer or killers if three different types were used.

1. How big were these sprouts at time of transplant?
2. How were these sprouts transfered from baggie to soil?
3. How much water was introduced to the soil at time of transplant?
4. How often were the transplants watered?
5. What kind of lighting were the plants given?
6. What kind of temperatures were the plants exposed to?
7. Were any fertilizers applied?
8. Did the sprouts appear healthy at time of transplant?
9. Was any sign of mold/fungus present?

10. How long after the sprouts were introduced to transplant medium did the deaths occur?

Im sure the other detectives will have more questions for you. These 10 questions should be a good start though. Please feel free to include any information of the sequence of events of this horrible tragedy that may be helpful to make a determination of cause of death.

Jimmy

Could be many things, but the first one that pops into my head is damping-off disease. If it was damping off, then you would see the stems of the young transplants turn brown and wither near the soil line. It can happen very fast, overnight really. Damping off is caused by a fungus and can be treated with a fungicide if you catch it very early, otherwise try prevention like not having moist warm conditions that the fungus thrives in. Just a guess though.

Much easier and safer to treat damping off with an occasional spritz of topical strength hydrogen peroxide. It won't hurt the sprout at all, and it can even help aerate the top layer of soil a little more as the H2O2 degrades into H2O and O2.

Soil staying too moist would be my guess.

Josh

Sorry to hear that you lost some seedlings.

I would stay away from sand in the soil holds water, also would stay away from dirt from under the tree for seedlings, and seed mixes can be hit or miss. Some have on this forum posted mixes you can use for well draining soil.

Make sure the plants get circulating air, always helps if indoors.

My mix I used for starting my Bhuts aka Ghost seeds. I used MG Orchid mix for 12 seeds and used MG organic potting soil for about another 12 seeds and better success rate with Orchid mix.

Also number one killer is overwatering.

Hope this helps

Thank you all for your input and I am going to venture that it must of been damping off, next time I will use Orchid soil and see what happens. By the way the seeds were started indoors and the transplanting too. my baggie was placed on the top of the stove by the time clock for heat for I read that this type of pepper does not like cold temps or drafts as is trying to sprout. so next time it will go outside in my little seed starter cubi hole, I built a sprouting chamber by adding a couple of windows to an existing wall the sides and the top as well as the front are all glass. I used a patio door-window for the top a 36x 60 something for the sides and the front is a stationary window and a glass screendoor. if I say so myself it looks pretty neat so that is my sprouting chamber.

marcie:
Sounds like you got things going on. Just in time go get a new batch ready for next summer. Good luck and feel free to post a picture of that sprouting chamber. It sounds kinda neat.
Bruce

The single biggest cause of failure when growing solanums like pepper, tomato, and eggplant is damping off. It is almost always a case of "loved them so much you killed them". All solanums benefit from brief periods without water. The way to grow them is to water well when needed and let them wilt just a little bit in between. This does two critical things. It reduces the ability of soil fungi to grow, and it encourages the plant to grow a larger root system. While this may not sound like so much, tomatoes that are periodically deprived of water as seedlings produce significantly higher crops. This is known as "imprinting" because it triggers the plant to focus all energy on growing a bigger root system before it enters the reproductive phase.

DarJones