veggies taking a long time to germinate. something wrong?

it's been over two weeks and only one tomato has sprouted out of like 12 seeds and none of my habanero or jalapeno peppers. they are in the window sill in peat pots. outside, it's been over a week and no sign of the okra, cucumbers, squash, or turnips. however i am excited about a little green poking through the dirt in the radishes and sunflowers. any advice?

Are the indoor ones covered to keep moisture in the peat and to make the trapped air humid?

What are temperatures like indoors and outdoors? Any cucumber or squash/melons benefit from either soaking in water for a couple of days before planting or letting them soak in between layers of moist/wet paper towels put into a container (to trap moisture) until the root starts to peek out of the seed, then plant 1/2" deep and water well until seedling emerges.

edited to fix typo. :)

This message was edited Mar 28, 2010 2:32 AM

temp has been mild lately, in the 70's. no cover on the pots, will do today. The squash and cucumbers are already in the ground. even if they take a while longer, they should still germinate right?

Sometimes I think it's the "watched pot never boils" syndrome going on. I know that I thought that about my squash seeds that I planted in-ground. I thought I must have gotten some old seeds or something....and then '~wa~la.... they seemed to all sprout up at once.

Yeah, they may just need a bit more time. Just keep them watered and hopefully the seeds aren't too deep, that could be a problem too.

I'm having this problem with my rosemary seeds. I've heard that the germination rate is less than stellar, but I thought I'd give it a go anyways. I planted about 15 seeds 2 weeks ago. they're in smalls pots I made from tp rolls - I'm cheap :) - and I have them covered and nicely humid and warm. But no signs of life yet. I realize that rosemary seeds are known to be difficult to start from seed, but I'd be happy with just 1 or 2 successful seedlings out of the 15! Has anybody actually been successful with growing rosemary? Any suggestions? I'm willing to go buy a plant from the nursery if this doesn't pan out, but that's last resort...

Some of my tomatoes sprouted in just three days. They are under lights, so the air around them during the day is nice and warm. I don't cover the pots because I think the excess humidity can cause "damping off" - however, I do place the pots in pans of shallow water. There is a lot of perlite in my planting mix.

Rosemary takes 3 or 4 weeks to germinate in good times, I believe.

skooltcher - are your tomato seeds up yet? I agree with k3n - if they are set too deep, they might not come up.

I put my seeds on top of damp soil in a 3oz Solo cup and sprinkle a thin layer of vermiculite over them. They are usually up within a week.

I never had success with peppers until I bought a seedling heat mat. Now they come up in just a few days. Some seeds need heat to sprout.

I used a heat mat this year and got almost 100% germination in 3 days.

Although I don't use a heat mat, I think the lights from the shelves below do the same thing. I put herbs on the bottom shelf so they can be a little cooler.

Lights can make quite a difference, especially if you use those clear plastic domes that keep air from circulating.

One of the great thing about thermostatically controlled mats, though, is that the thermostats can tell you the temperature. It's possible to start tomatoes and peppers in a 55F basement or garage and know that the temperature with the lights on is, say, 78F and with the lights off is, perhaps, 66F.

I second (or third or fourth) the heat mat. Peppers need soil temps of 80-85 degrees to germinate quickly and tomatoes like 70-80 degrees. In my experience, peppers take longer to germinate than tomatoes.

And covering them is good - helps hold the heat in.

After the seedlings emerge, take them off the heat to prevent legginess.

Good luck!