09/12/2022
The success of any Pepper plant is highly dependent on the variety of seeds or seedlings used in production. Before going into production, I would recommend that you buy certified seeds from an agro-vet or specialists in pepper farming.
The best seeds, no matter the variety that you decide to grow, are seeds that are labelled “F1 hybrid seed”. F1 Hybrid seeds mean that the seeds are first-generation seeds that have been successfully cross-pollinated to produce one genetically uniform variety of crops. F1 literally means Filian 1 or the “first children”, . The main advantage of F1 seeds are that they are disease resistant and “much easier” to grow. Some of the cons of F1 seeds is that they are expensive and there is an issue about saving the bio-diversity of indigenous seeds to save seed diversity, as well as the loss of flavour compared to heritage or traditional varieties since hybrid varieties are bred for disease control, uniformity, reliability and storage or shelf life.
Once you have selected the variety of peppers you want to grow and you have bought your F1 seeds, germinating those seeds needs expertise so that you get the highest germination and survival rate, considering how expensive those seeds are. It is recommended that you employ propagators to assist you with the germination process. Propagators are paid per well-germinated seedlings. So it is in their best interests, not only for their reputation but also to get paid, they have to germinate healthy seedlings. Propagation takes about 6 weeks for the seedlings to be strong enough to transport them to the farm and transplant shock after planting. The other benefit of getting the seeds propagated by professionals is that in the 6 weeks before you get your seedlings, you will have enough time to prepare your farm for planting.
We'd talk about land preparation later. The picture below are fresh habaneros of different colors.
