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davemichigan

Leaving Seedlings for 3 Weeks! (pics)

davemichigan
12 years ago

I have started some adenium obesum seeds. Unfortunately I have to leave town for 3 weeks starting on Feb. 2. Is there any way I can keep them alive without asking others to take care of them? I can find some people to help, but they are not experienced in gardening, especially not in handling seedlings.

I grow them in vermiculite only and in a plastic container. Here is how they look today:

{{gwi:213245}}

I am thinking about enclosing them completely when I leave so the container would act like a terrarium, like this:

{{gwi:213247}}

Do you think that will work? Is damping off going to be a problem? How about sprinkling them with some cinammon powder before I leave?

Any help/suggestion would be appreciated! Normally I wouldn't care so much if it is like marigold, but these are adenium seeds that I received from an exchange.

Comments (8)

  • digdirt2
    12 years ago

    For 3 days maybe but for 3 weeks? No way. They will need care and supervision from a live person. Can you take them with you?

    Not only would growth and the need to transplant pose problems but yes, so would damp-off even if you put holes in the lid.

    Dave

  • bikerdoc5968 Z6 SE MI
    12 years ago

    Davemichigan, where in SE MI are you? I'm in West Bloomfield. My A. obesum pods opened about 3 weeks ago and I started some seed. To keep them moist, I covered them in my greenhouse and within days they were dead from damping off. Since I have a ton of seed, I'm going to wait til April or May to try again with my seed. I know many will not germinate because of age but with as many seed as I have, I gotta believe some will come up. While I'm hesitant to offer assistance, because I wouldn't want to mistreat your babies, if I can help out, email me at LASSERH@HOTMAIL.COM

  • davemichigan
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    The reason I am considering terrarium setting is because I read that you don't have to water much with a terrarium. It forms its own universe. I also read the adenium is a slow grower. In fact, so far it has been slow.

    And the reason I started them early was because the person who gave me these seeds said the pod was open in November last year, so I didn't want to wait. And the trip was unforeseen at the time I started them.

    Digdirt, I can't take them with me because I am going overseas.

    Bikerdoc, I am in Canton. I got 7 germinations out of the last 7 seeds that the person shared, so yours should be fine.

  • Moonpeople
    12 years ago

    This will sound wild, but I had to leave once for almost a month. My concern was the Sun being out of position where I had my seedlings near the kitchen window. After researching the rotation of the Earth, for that period, I ended up using the kitchen window. There they'd get about an hour a day of good light, but not hot or too brilliant.
    I took a small dia drill bit, and put a few very small holes in the bottom of my plastic dish, covered the dish with plastic top but not fastened down. I then inserted a small piece of 'wicking' that I acquired at Home Depot into the side of the dish.

    After that, I placed the dish on top of a folded kitchen towel, and turned the faucet on to do a drop about once a minute and put the wick underneath at the corner of the container... and where the drop of water would hit near it.

    Gone 3 weeks, and returned, (I was concerned that the faucet would stop dripping, but it didn't) and my seedlings were singing in chorus and had grown over an inch, and in
    perfect condition! And the kitchen towel? It was only damp enough to keep the wick moist which worked fine.

    It was surprising, and wild, but it worked. A few seedlings though, were suffering a little, but they promised not to tell anybody if I never did that again! lol

  • monet_g
    12 years ago

    I was going to suggest wicking, too. However, you could just use a tub of water and not leave the faucet to drip. Test it out before you leave. I think you'll be surprised at how well it works.

  • davemichigan
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Moon people, thanks for the "wild" idea. I will consider that or something similar. I thought about using wick before but worried that wicking and vermiculite only might be too wet, but this dripping idea might work for me too.

  • davemichigan
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    monet_g, sorry, your reply came probably the same time as I was typing my reply to Moonpeople, so I didn't see yours earlier.

    Thanks for your suggestion. I have used wicking method for my African Violets, but they are mature plants. I was/am a little concerned about the vermiculite getting too wet, but as you said, I should try it out before the last day....

  • davemichigan
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Reporting on what have happened since last post:

    On 2/1, I decided to enclosed the seedling in a terrarium-like environment. Then I left town on 2/2. Here is how the "terrarium" looks before I left.

    {{gwi:213249}}

    I just came back from overseas a couple of hours ago. This is how the thing looked like when I came back:

    {{gwi:213251}}

    And here is how the inside looked/looks:

    {{gwi:213255}}

    All seedlings survived my 3 weeks of absence!