Growing from Seed
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6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Jtmo, I'm not familiar with the LED lights available at Costco, so can't speculate much about their effectiveness. There are "tricks" to make LED lights put out a wider spectrum of light. If you really want to delve into the pros, cons, and caveats of LED lights for plants, I'd recommend checking out some of the many related threads on GardenWeb's Growing under Lights Forum.
I've sown a lot of seeds in my life but I NEVER sterilize my sowing compost. If you sterilize it you kill the good bacteria that are in your compost. Putting grit on top of your sowings make sense, especially if it something that takes a long time to germinate (Trillium etc.).
We need a closer higher details look to know for sure.
I failed at growing sunflower last year because all of them got heavily attacked by leaf miners that eat between the leaves, causing the leaves to be black like that. You can find little the worms between the leaves and pop them.
Last year and also this year I sowed seeds of deciduous Azaleas (mostly species like schlippenbachii, arborescens, quinquefolium and albrechtii).
I use professional ericaceous compost to which I add some sharp sand for good drainage. On top of this I put some peat moss on which I sow the seeds. I put a plastic cover on the pot to prevent drying out. Germination follows in 2 to 3 weeks time.
First year growth of most species is usually modest. In the second year I put the seedlings in individual small pots. Water adequately but be careful not to overwater because this can lead to phytophtera root rot.
Germinating seeds of Rhododendron [Azalea] albrechtii
1 year old seedlings of Azalea schlippenbachii
Over the last 25 years, I have ordered more seeds from Twilley than anywhere else. I only order from elsewhere when Twilley doesn't have a variety that I want. When Twilley has the variety I want, they almost always have the lowest price.
Twilley offers free shipping in the US. Yay.
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Willhite Seed is another seed vendor with amazing price vs seed count. Low handling fees. Link to reviews.
That's a shame - does it help to know something like this happens to all of us at one time or another.
My first guess would be a cutworm, although I suppose a slug or snail could have weakened it feeding on the base. No bait or fix is going to be 100% effective, I think very helpful would be the best we could hope for. And Sluggo isn't going to take care of a cut worm - my understanding is that the product Sluggo Plus will.
The first time I ever saw a rabbit in my garden was the first year I grew sunflowers. I came to learn rabbits are very fond of sunflower stems, which isn't helpful if the flowers were the goal ;)
Rabbits and hares are very fond of chewing stems so that the stems fall down and no longer block their view.
Regarding the above sunflower, I would be more inclined to think that it has met its end at the teeth of a cutworm rather than at the jaws of a slug. A very lazy cutworm.
Instead of using snailbait, I'd be inclined to use a physical barrier around future seedlings. The cutworms will only chew through them while they are tenderish, though I don't know what the cut-off point is.
Plant those stems deep! Never had an issue doing it. Peppers? Absolutely plant them deep. I grow over a hundred peppers a season, all of the stems sunk. I cannot see any reason why a person would NOT plant deep when transplanting stemmed plants. For those saying sinking stems causes damp off or root rot, they have other things going on, like overwatering and incorrect soil!
I buried the peppers up to the cotyledons, they were leggy and falling over. Seems to have worked well, they actually sent out roots and are nice and stable now. But they were strong enough at that point not to worry about damping off, in absence of gross overwatering.
It is definitely not legally advisable without extensive knowledge. You could by putting yourself into a situation like Mrs. O'Leary's cow. I considered it but then I quickly realized I'd need to be both an expert on laws regarding such sales and an agribusiness expert for every jurisdiction I shipped plants or seeds to. Of course I reject such a part without the expertise.
But plant the echinacea for the future! It's a great perennial.
The coneflowers will be for next year and ever after ;)