Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have some lettuce, tomatoes, and bell peppers that I have planted in my indoor AP system. The lettuce seeds germinated at about day 2, but I am still waiting on the pepper and tomatoes.

What is an expected germination time for those plants? The way I have "planted" the seeds is to wrap them in paper towels and then immerse the tips in the grow medium so that the towels stay moist. My setup is in the basement of my house, and I live in the mountains in Canada. So it's about 20C in the day, and 15C at night. My grow lights are mounted to the ceiling...does light proximity matter?

Anyways, I have heard that plants grow faster in AP systems, but it has been 4 days since I planted them and. I thought the tomatoes and peppers would have germinated by now.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Tomatoes will take 7 days or more and peppers longer and would be better planted in punnets or pots on a heat mat

I gave up on some tomatoes and 4 weeks later they poped up.

Two weeks later one pepper came up but it morphed into a tomato.

Its all about temperature. Try putting the toms and peppers on top of your water heater if you don't have a heat mat.

Light proximity does matter. Depending on the type of grow light the proper placement is usually with 2 feet from the tops of the plants sometimes much closer.

Also, don't try and compare germination rates to lettuce. Lettuce germinates if you just look at it funny. Other seeds take a little more time.