Hi, It was the "...several were caught in the seed." that I would like to comment on first. Sometimes a stuck seed coat can be helped. First day I notice there is a problem I apply a gob of spit several times. If no improvement noticed on day two, I then snip off a little of seed top with a very sharp pair of scissors or nail clippers to expose some of the leaf to light. Sometimes that works. http://www.fototime.com/A75CFD3E83056AB/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/1DDDFC9CEFE0E0C/standard.jpg I think poor germination % should definitely be reported. On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 7:45 AM, margaret lauterbach <melauter@earthlink.net> wrote: > I'm transplanting chile plants with four true leaves, and discovered that > the Heritage seeds (NM Heritage 6-4 and NM Heritage Big Jims) had poor > germination and of those that did germinate, several were caught in the > seed. I've been told that's indicative of old seeds, but since these are > newly resurrected varieties, I don't see how they could be old. A friend > said she had poor germination of those varieties too. Have others had this > problem? Should we notify the Chile Pepper Institute? Thanks, Margaret L > >