6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
First, I have to ask why starting over? What did you do before and why didn't it work?
Second, have you read through all the FAQs here? They are linked near the top of the forum page and are pretty much step by step.
Third, all the things on your list wouldn't be started at the same time and several of them are normally direct seeded, not started indoors - lettuce, corn, cucumber, both melons, peas. Although Butter Lettuce is a head lettuce so you can start it indoors if you wish.
What specific "plant bulb"? What bulbs for the shop light? It will be real hard to fit all of those plants under one light.
What size cups and how do you plan to use them? Small 3 oz work ok for germination.
Also, to prevent thinning and transplanting, could I plant 1 seed per peat cell to delay transferring?
Why avoid? Thinning is easy to do with snip scissors and some things - tomatoes and peppers - need to be transplanted at least once just to trigger feeder root development. All the others will benefit from a transplant.
Need more info please.
Dave
PS: Skip the foil bowls. Not sure what you planned to use them for - water or germination - but anything plastic is better if using them for shallow germination. Got any yogurt cups or butter dishes? Anything with soil in it needs holes punched in them.
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed FAQs
I'd suggest you post this in the annuals or cut flower forum.
I am in a very different weather zone than you, but my take on it is that snap dragons and zinnia will be mostly over by mid August, unless you start them in the late spring. Lisianthus can take 4-6 months to bloom from seed, so they may not be ready if you havent started them yet. (mine bloomed in September/October the last two years.)
Galardia and sunflowers should be about right for mid Aug. You should look into Dahlias, they are in their prime in mid-late August. There are quite a few different sizes and bloom formations in whites and yellows.
Thanks Dave,
I'll remove the cover. I'm one of those sorts who tends to baby things... God only knows how many orchids have died at my hand... I swear I really do try.
The seedlings didn't seem to damp off, I've done that to so many plants in the past that I feel it looked different. They shriveled up - and these were green ones. A few came back when I watered them. They are currently in seed starting mix. This is the new set up. When I was transplanting I was actually very pleased with the roots I saw in spite of the gnats and my helicopter gardening. They were lush and strong, and longer than the greenery by double (which I read was good, since roots should develop first, and greenery after...? Is that why they seem to grow to slow to me? hmm)
I'm going to do everything in my power to water the transplants only as needed.
Jasmine,
I noticed that the lamp reflector in your picture is round. Can you tell us more about the light you are using? In other words, is that an old-style incandescent? A cfl? Something else? One bulb? Many?
A saying I've seen many places is that "You are not a gardener until you have killed something." Congratulations, you are now a real gardener.
If you want to try something that doesn't require additional light, read up on WinterSowing. There's a forum here, with detailed FAQ's. Wintersown seeds are planted in covered containers outdoors and don't sprout until the weather is consistently warm enough. I start many plants that way, but I grow indoors under lights too. Most wintersown plants in my zone wait until April or even May to sprout. I get desperate to see green well before then. So every year I start seeds for something that needs long months of indoor care, so I have something to nurture / torture through the long winter. ;-)
I second the use of mosquito control products for fungus gnats. I keep a metal tea ball in a watering can. The tea ball holds a few of the mosquito "bits" or a quarter of a "dunk" and keeps the crumbs from clogging the spout. I replace the dunk periodically. I keep the watering can filled and use that to water anything that needs a drink, all winter.
I ask about the light because I suspect you haven't got enough light on your seedlings. I don't think that western window is going to be enough either. I've killed many seedlings thinking that winter sunlight filtered through window glass would be enough. With what you've invested in seeds, potting mix, trays, and time, it makes sense to get proper lights. You'll also want a timer and a power strip. Look for a timer that accepts a three-prong plug. Plug the timer into the wall, the power strip into the timer and the lights into the power strip. Now you can run up to six lights synchronized on one timer.
My preference is for fluorescent tubes. So far the plants are happy as well. Two of the two-bulb shoplights, or a single four-bulb fixture, are necessary to light a standard flat of seedlings. A single shoplight isn't wide enough and the plants at the edges will stretch and lean in. With four of the 4' bulbs side by side you can light two flats. I learned the hard way that if I have room for two flats, to only sow one flat with seeds. Half a flat would be even better. I'm working on my restraint. Once the seedlings in the first flat grow and need to be potted up into larger quarters, that extra space is necessary to keep them all lit.
I use the 4' size because they're easy to find (I got a pair of fixtures free through Freecycle) and the 4' bulbs come in at the lowest price, most options, and most readily available. Fluorescent tubes come in different diameters. T stands for Tube. T12 is the fattest, T5s are the skinny sort found in many "grow lights." I use T12s because I already have the fixtures. If you're light-shopping, T8s are highly recommended on the Growing under Lights forum. "Cool White" bulbs work fine.
Get them very close to your seedlings as digdirt said. You'll need to be able to adjust the height of either the lights or the trays as seedlings grow. If your household includes anyone with waggy tails, poking paws, or grabby fingers then you will want the lights mounted securely and both lights and seed trays out of reach. If that's not an issue, you can carefully prop them on something, but remember you're dealing with thin glass.
Do check the temperature as well, and check it against the preferred ranges for each plant you're growing. Any accurate thermometer with the correct range will do the job.
Good luck!
Edie
Check out these 2 discussions on suppliers from over on page 2.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Where to buy supplies
More of a general gardening problem/question than a Growing from Seed forum question so I'd suggest posting on maybe the Vegetable gardening forum for more input.
The things that come to mind is the holes getting plugged with dirt/mud/small gravel or sand depending on what is in your soil You'd have no way to know it until plants in an area started wilting. Then you have to dig up the whole garden to fix it.
Plus it would limit your planting depth and layout and would be easy to damage with planting tools.
You can accomplish, and many do, the same thing by just burying the soaker hose itself. That way if one place gets plugged there is still ample way for the water to get out. But even then you have the basic problem to overcome of gravity - water difusses down - below the roots.
You can switch to a drip irrigation system on top of the soil and accomplish your goals without all the problems.
Dave
I would go with something like this:
Here is a link that might be useful: Running water to raised beds
You may be starting those cucumbers to early. I dont know when you can plant them out, but 3-4 weeks is the longest you really want to have them in pots. They are susceptible to lots of fungal diseases and will also stunt easily if you keep them in pots to long.
Most people have to do some transplanting/potting up. You will get better with practice. I start them 2-3 seeds in little 3oz plastic cups in a domed tray, them divide them as soon as they get their first true leaves. At that size the roots havent developed much so its easy to pull them apart with out damaging them. If you really want to avoid transplanting at all, plant 2-3 seeds in a 4" pot, bag them or saran wrap them and if all three seeds germinate just take scissors to the two smallest weakest seedlings.
The heat mats will come in very handy for germinating the seeds but they won't help you once the seeds sprout as they must be removed from the mats as soon as they break the soil surface. That's when the air temps become important and heat will need to be provided usually at night.
Even this far south of you it would be far too early for me to start anything but lettuces, spinach and other leafy greens, maybe some cabbage in my greenhouse if it wasn't heated at night. Not that it has to be tropical but it does need to be kept above 40-45 degrees. Young seedlings will freeze quite easily.
With night time heat supply - and there are many ways to do this - I can start all of those things plus peppers, tomatoes, most flowers, etc.
So, the real issue is what is your weather like now? Are you still having cold nights or does your temp never fall below 45? If it doesn't then go for it. But if it does, is there a way you can provide some night time heat to the greenhouse?
If not then the best bet would be to start the seeds in your house and only move them to the GH once the temps won't get that cold in it. That is what most people with unheated greenhouses do.
Hope this helps.
Dave
I have never checked the PH of my water, but have been meaning to. I have well water, not city water, so chlorine isnt a problem, but it is pretty "hard".
At this point most of the yellowed petunia leaves have reverted to a healthy green, so I suspect Dave was right on the money with his advice - But I do need to check the ph of the water. - Thanks
Like mandolls we live on wells and have very hard water but have never had a problem with using it for plants.
All our greenhouse plants and garden plants are raised on hard water and while we do get some lime build-up in the soil that is still far healthier for the plants than the salts that accumulate from softened water. Thank heavens we don't have to worry about the chlorine issue.
Dave
PS: glad to hear the plants are doing better.
There are some great ideas in this thread! I usually just put my seed starting kit on top of the fridge. It's warm up there and they can't get bumped (I have children and a dog). This year, however, as we have moved into a new house, my cats love to sit on top of the fridge and nock everything down up there. Needless to say I am looking for a new setup this year.
Lights are a good source of heat. Here in Texas when we expect a freeze that could kill some tender plants we wrap a cage around that plant using what ever kind of structure that will surround and cover the plant most wrap this with plastic being sure it does not touch the plant. We place lights inside the structure for the heat source creating a small greenhouse. I am finding uses for those empty plastic milk cartons. By cutting the bottoms our and placing them over plants such as tomatoes as they stop producing as soon as it hits 95 which comes too soon in our area. I have also started to cut a hole in the bottoms of those plastic ice cream containers, leaving a flap which can be closed at night if the temps will drop too low for good growth. I am also thinking about maybe using other small white frosted containers for seed starting here in our area with a hole cut on the bottom for venting during warm days to prevent too much moisture build up. Again Thanks for the wonderful posts on gardenweb.
Paul
I just got some seeds & the sites I'm looking at say the seeds germinate between 80-85 degrees. The room I'm thinking about using is 75 degrees. Somone above mentioned a warming pad, would a heating pad work just as well?
Also - are there any special instructions to growing the Scorpion pepper?
Couple of questions if you don't mind? First, why the capillary matting? Do you have hundreds of seedlings so that just normal bottom watering as needed would be too difficult?
Capillary matting is notorious for over-watering plants and causing root rot. That is unless you let it dry out well between watering. It also tends to build up salts and bacteria on the matting over time so it needs to be well-disinfected on a regular basis.
Second, given that young seedlings need so little feeding/fertilizing and need it in a well-diluted strength, how difficult would it be to just lightly water them with a diluted liquid fertilizer once or maybe twice before transplanting them to the garden?
But if this is the way you want to go then I'd say, yes, take them off and fertilize off the matting. Trying to mix it in the water means the mat will bind it in the mat itself so minimal if any will get to the plants.
Dave
No, I think you have that backwards, it's the other way around.
"Mango trees from nuclear seedlings are identical to mother plant. In polyembronic seed, the zygotic seedling will either degenerate or be weak, stunted. Nuclear seedlings can be distinguished from zygotic on the basis of greater vigor one month after germination" R E Litz. The Mango: Botany and Production.
Seems to be confirmed on GW tropicals forum -
Here is a link that might be useful: polyembrionic mango seedlings discussed here
Single seed = single stem unless you keep pinching back at the nodes to force development of secondary stems. Best to plant in small cluster. Same for ferns although the root ball, once mature enough will generate new branches if not planted too deeply.
Dave
Well, did they grow?
Good news! (Especially for me with seeds)
I nicked, soaked, and planted 20 seeds. 6 of them are doing great! I gave two of the seedlings to my sister in Tampa, and she says those are still doing well, too.
Here's a pic. And thanks again!!