Heated Propagator

There are many ways of germinating your chilli seeds but i find that a cheap heated propagator tends to work best.

There are loads of different ones on the market ranging from £8 up to £100’s, they come in all different shapes and sizes and with lots of different functions. I tend to prefer the simpler ones as they are cheap and there is less to go wrong with them.

I currently have 2 different propagators, A home made one that consists of a standard window sill greenhouse that was £2 and a heat mat i had left over from keeping reptiles. I’ve been using it for a couple of years with lots of success.

The second is an 8 watt 38cm B+Q heated propagator that ive not used yet but its much the same as my home made one.

I find the easiest way to get the seeds going is to seperate the propagator up using a seed tray filled with compost then place 1 seed in each section, this makes it easier to prick out the seedlings and transfer them to their next pot as the roots don’t tend to get tangled. If you are careful when pricking out you can also use the seed trays again.

Below are a couple of pics, one of my home made prop without its lid on, and the other is of the B+Q one. As you can see the heatmat doesn’t quite fit on the window sill (oops)

Also to prevent the chillis going leggy and leaning too much , i rotate the propagator reqularly.

Home made heated propagator