Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
pugetsoundgardener

Um, I have sprouts? Now what?

As a newbie, I'm not sure whether to be excited or worried. I checked this morning, and my onions, day lilies, and lavender have sprouted. I wouldn't be as worried if the onions and day lilies weren't in the first containers I sowed, which were spinach containers with very little headroom. It never occurred to me they'd sprout this soon. Our last frost date isn't for quite a while.

So...

1) Should I take off the lid of the sprouted containers and give them some sort of plastic bag topper that has more headroom?

2) Is it too soon to start widening the holes in the tops? It's barely February.

3) Should I plant these guys out into separate covered pots and let them grow in those until they're a bit bigger? I just got a load of used pots in. The sprouts are so tiny, i'm worried they'll get lost in the garden, trampled by my crazy pup, or eaten by something.

At least I can stop worrying that they won't sprout! I've traded seeds with a few people who said winter sowing didn't work for them, and they were making me paranoid...

The lavender is in the double tall container and should be fine. The day lilies and onions are in short containers. They have maybe 1" of headroom.

Comments (6)

  • morz8 - Washington Coast
    9 years ago

    If you had just a little more headroom, I'd say don't worry and you could just toss an old table cloth over the containers if we should get a freeze like last February. (somehow I think we won't, but you never know).

    Without the headroom, if you do have to open and see its predicted to get cold, you may have lost the no-fuss aspect of winter sowing. What I do in that case is move them into my garage overnight - garden shed or carport works too. Just someplace that gives them a few degrees of protection. I had a box of meconopsis spend a couple of night in the back of my SUV a few years ago ;)

    This is where the tiered, wire, wheeled carts at Freddies come in handy (bathroom or laundry organization aisles). I've got a gorilla wagon I've put to use too....in and out, in and out ;) Not into the house and warm, but into someplace with some unheated protection.

    But watch the forecasts for your area, right at freezing isn't really a problem, a bit below can be.

  • pugetsoundgardener
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks so much morz8! It's nice to hear from someone in the same area. This is my first year here, and it's definitely a different climate.

    It suddenly occurrs to me that I can lop the flat top off and replace it with a spare bottom, like I did on the double height one. It's a bit awkward and badly fitting, but it's definitely headroom which would solve a lot of my problems.

    So since the onions, day lilies and lavender have sprouted, does that mean I should slowly start widening the ventilation holes to harden them off? Or is it way too early? I feel like I should trust the seeds to know the right timing, but I'd hate to lose so many plants.

  • morz8 - Washington Coast
    9 years ago

    So, here's my confession then that you may not have seen, but in our climate, I don't use lids. I top with grit (chick grit) and leave them open to the weather from the beginning. The way I learned decades ago from an English gardening article ;)

    But yours have germinated with lids, and probably kick started by our warm up of a week ago - you don't want to surprise them with brand new conditions. I think you are safe in widening your ventilation holes a little, you do want some air movement around your germinated seedlings. I wouldn't do it all at once since they've not been used to cold winds so far.

    I don't have a snuffley pup investigating my pots either:). I do have to cover rows of containers sometimes with lengths of chicken wire to keep sparrows and chipmunks out.

  • missymoo23_(z9a_Tx)
    9 years ago

    My lavender, salvia, Rudbeckia, coneflowers, gallairdia all sprouted more than 6 weeks ago. (I planted in November) I thought I was going to be in big trouble.

    But, they've all just sat there and have only put out a tiny number of new leaves....they are still only 1/4" tall. I guess don't worry?? I think this must be part of the magic....sprout, grow roots, slowly put on new growth until temps are high....????

    This is my first real year....

  • pugetsoundgardener
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks guys! It's my first year too, so I'm completely clueless. I think I'll swap the tops for spare bottoms to give them headroom and separate them into pots if they get too big. And otherwise I just won't worry.

    Morz8 - now I'm tempted to try some uncovered pots next year and see what happens! My worry would be the snuffly puppy and the bird buffet. When I seeded my lawn the birds invited all their friends and lunched out for days. The poor lawn was bare around the edges. It's nice being rural but every once in a while the wildlife are really annoying. :)

  • pugetsoundgardener
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    My baby onions. They were bumping the top already so I made them a new domed roof today from the bottom of a spare spinach container. They're growing fast!

Sponsored
Hoppy Design & Build
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars9 Reviews
Northern VA Award-Winning Deck ,Patio, & Landscape Design Build Firm