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Nasturtium
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Posted by
Will07 5 (
My Page) on
Tue, Mar 26, 13 at 23:53
| This is my first time growing nasturtiums from seed. I started them back in early Feb. and they are about 8" tall. I only planted 3 seeds and all three have come up nicely, though one plant for some reason is much smaller than the other two. My question is how many flowers does one plant typically produce? I wanted to grow them for use in salads or use to make other foods with. Would 3 plants be sufficient? Even if I can only get a couple good 'crops' out of them they will have paid off! By the way, if it makes any difference they are of the gleaming hybrid variety. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Nasturtium
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| It rather depends how well they grow under your conditions. Gleam hybrids are a semi-trailing Nasturtium. They can get quite long, ie several feet, and root along the vines if they are happy. In my climate they produce flowers continuously until frost and self sow. Orange is the most vigorous colour so I tend to remove quite a few of those and try to steer them towards the mahogany, red and yellow tendency. When you make a salad only add the flowers just before serving because they bruise easily and go soggy in the dressing. You can eat the leaves too but they taste different from the flowers - more peppery and less sweet. I am wondering if yours have enough light since 8 inches is rather tall for a seedling. Any chance of a picture? |
RE: Nasturtium
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| Nasturtiums are one of the few things that I usually direct seed outdoors. I am surprised that at almost 2 months old they are only 8". My experience is they are fast growers. Flora is right that once they start blooming they are continuous. I'd suggest that you sow a few more seeds when you move them outside (which is probably pretty soon in zone 5?) If you are planning on harvesting from them regularly you may want more than 3 of them. I prefer the leaves over the flowers in salads myself, but tend to harvest only from the growing tips where they are more tender. Like most annuals, if you pinch them back, they bush out, so you get more growing tips. |
RE: Nasturtium
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| Our property is very sunny, rocky and hilly, and Nasturtiums seem to love finding coolness under the rocks, and heat and sun above. They do self seed, and the colors are amazing! I let them co-mingle with vinca, and the blue is striking against the yellows oranges and reds. We have many more than 3 plants, and I do love the bitter green leaves in salads! I may do some pinching. Thanks for that tip! Suzi |
RE: Nasturtium
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| Took this pic this morning. They get plenty of sun, they are in a huge south window which gets sun all day long. I started them in peat pellets if that makes a difference? Also the package says they only get up to 16'', I wanted to get a variety that didn't get too big. |
RE: Nasturtium
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| WIllo7 - as I suspected those plants are sadly etiolated. They are not naturally upright plants but sprawlers. I think they are suffering from being started a bit too early indoors. As mandolls suggests it would be a good idea to get them hardened off asap and outside as soon as your weather allows. Plus sow some more in situ. |
RE: Nasturtium
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| Not sure where in zone 5 you are, but I start nasturtiums 4-1 to avoid them getting leggy. With the way this spring is going, that may even be too early. May 5-10 is when I can only begin to harden them off which is when I will sow some directly outside. tj |
RE: Nasturtium
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| I get the impression that will is planning on growing them inside. |
RE: Nasturtium
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| I'm planning on growing them outside. As I said it was my first time growing them and I started most of my seeds at the same time. I didn't care if they failed but now that they are so big I don't want to lose them! As one of the above posts says I probably won't be able to plant them outside until may because of the weather. And I plan on growing them in a large pot. |
RE: Nasturtium
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| You don't say if you are using artificial light or not. If not...If your windows are UV blockers, put them immediately in as much sun inside as you can. If not UV blocking, ease them into the sun. In either case, keep direct sun off the pots. If you do use artificial lights, keep them on for 14 hours, minimally, or even 16 hours. tj |
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