6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Sorry but once legginess develops it doesn't go away. The thin stretched stems remain. The only way to compensate for them once they develop is to transplant the plant deeply into a deeper container and bury all of the leggy exposed stem. This doesn't work for all plants but will help most. And the "fix" only works when adequate light is then provided.
Dave
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.
In zone 5, probably not as your season usually isn't long enough. Normally perennials in your zone would be started much earlier indoors (January). But you might luck out if the weather cooperates so it is still well worth doing and give you even greater performance next year.
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 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.
Surface sown and not heavily covered is all you need, not intensity of a grow light. Some light may be beneficial for germination. Lavender in general can have low germination percentages. Slightly oversowing, and giving the seeds a brief moist chill of 2-4 weeks before bringing back to warm may be helpful to increase percentages.
Sorry for the delayed response. I was specifically thinking of some sunflower seeds that I bought/planted last year. I got good germination rates and wondered if the seeds had been scarified prior to purchase. Based on the answers above it sounds like that is very unlikely. I wondered if I would have to scarify this year to expect germination rates as good as last year. Apparently not. In fact, I found some people online saying sunflower seeds don't need scarified anyway.
Also, for what it's worth I think there is truth in what both theforgottenone1013 and brandon7 TN_zone are saying. The reason to initiate a forum post is to answer the OP's specific question. But the reason so many people search forums is that we are usually not the first one to ask a certain question. I couldn't find anyone else who had asked this question so I asked it myself. I tried to word the question so it would be useful to others, but if I did not get my specific question answered satisfactorily I would consider that a fail.
stainsor, you are correct in assuming sunflowers don't need to be scarified. You will likely have your same good results as last year if your weather cooperates. You could speed up germination slightly if you soaked the seeds a few hours before planting to begin to soften the seed coat, permit water to reach the embryo but all in all sunflowers are not very demanding and its not required.
In my climate with plentiful rain, soaking isn't necessary. Protecting the sown seeds from chipmunks may be. I find little clumps of sunflowers sprouting in my beds all Spring and Summer long, just about as many seedlings as seeds in a chipmunks cheek full...someone's bird feeder I'm sure :)
A drop of spit (saliva) is a common recommendation for helmet heads. The enzymes quickly soften the helmet and you can then easily remove it.
For future reference, it is often an indication that the seeds were not planted deep enough or in too dry soil.
Dave
New England Aster (asternovae-angliae), Sow at 68F, germination slow - you could start these now. Showy Aster (aster spectabilis) will germinate more reliably if you can give it a moist cold period of 6 weeks, then should germinate in 2-3 weeks once brought back to warm.
Black oak can mean more than one tree. Going by your zone, maybe Eastern Black Oak?Quercus velutina - "Seed can quickly lose viability if allowed to dry and if stored, is best sown fresh in Fall outdoors." You could try giving them 2 months moist chill of 35-40F then bringing back to warm. Suggestions are approximately the same for Scarlet Oak ( quercus coccinea). Fall sowing best and may be better than artificial stratification (the cold moist period). Since its too late to Fall sow, you'd have nothing to lose by trying. Consider soaking overnight before providing the moist chill period.
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.