6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

I am pretty sure that eggplant sprout is a Brassica. Not sure how I could have gotten a brassica seed in the soil by accident. It must be a weed. :(

Eggplants sprouting today! 1 week, not too bad. I have them on a shelf over a radiator. No sign of life yet from the peppers.

Thank you for your advice. Off the mat and closer light it is! I live in Oregon, zone 8. This is my first attempt and there's certainly a lot to learn! I'll keep trying, tho! Thanks again!1

They are showing pairs of leaves at the top so soon there will be somewhere to pinch.

Yeah, Mother Nature doesn't grow her plants in containers. :) But even if her rains falls from the top the actual watering of the plant takes place from the bottom as that's where the roots are.

Dave

Well jeez. Of course plants take up water with their roots, Mother Nature doesn't grow in containers, and we have drip trays! What I was getting at is....in their native environment, plants are exposed to water from above ALL THE TIME. Top watering doesn't kill plants, we humans do :)

Good info from Trev - another transplanting is needed for those plants as they are very likely already getting root bound in those cells. And based on the info you posted about dates it would at least another month from now before you could safely transplants the tomatoes and another 6 weeks for the peppers - depending on the weather of course.

Otherwise they are looking good - just crowded.

Dave

Thank you for the feedback. I have never had seedlings this healthy before so this is a whole new learning curve for me lol. So I will likely pot up again either tomorrow or by mid week next week. Do you think Solo cups would be large enough to sustain them until transplant time or do I need to get something a little larger? I am trying to get them less crowded, work in progress :)

Also, I have a cold frame built. It is made of wood and has a glass screen door as the top. Is this something that could be reasonably used for my tomatoes to be placed in say about March 30 until I can transplant them into the garden? The only other time I used the cold frame was in 2012 when I had large seedlings, but that was an expectionally warm year for us and frost just wasn't a concern that year (just the hailstorms...). BTW, I would only put them in the cold frame once they have been hardened off adequately.

If this is not a good option, I can still keep them inside but the hours of lighting would probably have to be reduced to about 8-9 hours a day instead of 12 because I would have more flats to rotate under my lights. I only have 2 light sets that are 4' long, but placed together to be wide enough to cover the whole flat. I've never had this problem, which is why I don't have more lights. That will be something I invest in next year though lol.

About my planting dates: those were frost dates I was able to find. I did notice I planted my tomatoes on April 26 last year though. According to the NC planting guide issued by the NC agriculture people they say tomatoes and peppers can be planted between 4/15-5/10 in eastern NC which is where I live. The only problem with that is I know it covers a large area with greatly varying frost dates. So I am thinking now to plant my tomatoes after 4/20 and peppers after 5/1. I think just for fun though I am going to pick 2-4 varieties I don't mind possibly losing and plant them out in the garden by 4/1 just to see what happens. I don't mind experimenting a little :)

Once again, thank you for your advice and recommendations! I truly appreciate it.

Dawn - zone 7B or 8 not sure, in eastern NC

My sowed pots are set under lights immediately (unless the seeds need darkness). I don't use domes, but plastic wrap my 4" containers. When I see germination, I may wait a day or two to get more plants up, but that is about as long as I wait. I have never had an issue with damping off doing it in this way. BUT, I also only water once after sowing the seeds and putting the plastic on, and the seedlings won't see water for some time!

You are right Dave pros don't use the plastic humidity lids. I've watched them at my favorite greenhouse. They either put them on a conveyer belt under a mister or they put them in a propagating chamber. Since we home gardeners have neither of those machines we use the plastic domes to retain the moisture needed for plants to germinate.

I find I get better germination with the lids. I leave my humidity lids on until most have germinated. It is only a day or 2 from the first sprout until most of them sprout. An extra day or 2 is not going to promote damp off if you don't make your soil too wet to begin with. This works for me but there are as many ways of doing things as there are gardeners so experiment and find the way that works best for you.

I do it in clusters - groups about 1/2 the size of the cell it is going into if that makes sense. If you let it root-mat well first you can just cut it into small square/plugs for transplanting.

Thanks--I'll give this a shot too.

Thanks Dave - you're absolutely correct - that's why I go by the temperature of the probe I have placed in the soil, not by the ambient temperature. That really gets at the heart of my question, too - I'm looking for something to keep my seedlings warm because they sit in a flood table and I can't keep seed mats directly beneath them.

The reason I have them in a flood table is so I can timer-water them, as I travel for work all week, every week. I also find more benefit and convenience to bottom-watering for sensitive herbs like oregano.

In my mind, that leaves me with two options - heat the air enough to heat the soil, or find some waterproof sort of heat mat that can keep the soil heated in a flood table. My tent contains both a thermostat for measuring the ambient air temperature and a soil probe with a thermostat on it, so I can always tell the temperature of each.

I'm hoping that the creative minds of this forum may have some ideas that might help.

I have (aquarium) thermometers at soil surface. Seeds are only lightly covered with soil. I keep lights on all 24 hrs. During germination I kept domes on the seed trays which were standing on a 1 inch thick plywood shelf, one shelf above the other with the lower light warming the shelf above. It worked great over the last 4 years.

I'd wait. Much higher chance of success when you are home taking care of them. You have plenty of time to work with.

I'll wait, thanks for the advice!

What would you recommend for seedling containers, for plants which dislike their roots to be disturbed?

Pot of your choice...just gently pop the plant out of it, root mass and soil, don't disturb roots...all is well.

Hi Dave,

Since the problem started as soon as the plants emerged I think call rule out nutrients or root rot, heat however may be the problem. I've fed them since the primary leave emerged with Maxigro diluted according ti the directions. I'm not totally for certain yet but I think cutting back the duration of the lighting is making a difference. As always I will soon be putting a fan on them to help stimulate the stem resiliency.

Thanks very much for your help.

I too find it unusual for it to be lighting. Heat, maybe. Put your hand under the lights, are you feeling heat? Get some fans going to help with that. 8 hours is not very long to have lights on the plant, you should be aiming for more hours than that. Additionally, I checked out the link you provided. The system comes with T5 bulbs, which will run a little warmer than T8's but would no way burn seedlings. I really don't see a light problem causing your issues, I agree with digdirt2 above, either overwatering/drainage issues and/or fert issues. Maybe too much fertilizer is compounded by a wet medium. Any way to post a pic?

Yeah me too, getting Dixondale onions and leeks first week of April. We lost about 50% of the snow cover in the last few days.

I remember eggplants growing a lot faster than peppers, but Johnny's and other sources says 8-10 weeks before transplanting. Should I start them at the same time as the peppers? (maybe this weekend)

I planted my broccoli seeds today . Hope I get to plant them out a bit earlier than the ground let me last year. Will start the tomato seeds 2 weeks from today.

I will agree with most of the advice, but reinforce the caveat that any projection is just that and not anywhere close to a hard and fast rule. I live in Northwest Arkansas and so am a bit cooler than Tulsa but a bit warmer than most of Missouri. The entire central part of this country is so highly variable from week to week this time of year that averages just aren't all that useful. In 2011 I had tomatoes in the ground April 1 because March had been dry and very warm, I was glad I did because that summer was brutal and all that grew well was okra and eggplant even with drip irrigation. Last year I didn't put them in the ground until mid May and even that may have been too early, okra and eggplant never really produced all summer. I had watermelon that I planted as seed May 15 get going and then just stall late in the month as temps dropped at the END of May. This year I plan to use low tunnels with Agribon and plant out the end of April, but that plan is just a plan...might not even need it but might need to keep it on until Memorial Day...who knows.

So , do like the other suggest and play it by ear. Hope for the best but plan for the worst and staggered planting never hurt any home grower.

Planting Tomatoes mid May and Peppers end of May is a pretty good plan regardless of your exact last frost date, which is really a crapshoot. Peppers and Eggplants should not go out until nighttime temps are stable, staying above 55. Tomatoes are a little hardier. No way to predict the weather 8+ weeks in advance. End of May is pretty safe for most (in the average US weather conditions) Planting 2 weeks after last frost is a bare minimum that is sure to hurt heat loving plants.