6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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
You can find some usefully informations this link:
http://www.ehow.com/how_12094796_germinate-leptospermum.html
Good luck...
I'm not sure what you mean by low light, high moisture. Cornus Kousa (kousa dogwood) seed needs to be stratified. Best results will come if given a moist chill of approx 35-40F for 90 days before being brought to warmer (approx 70F) for germination. You can achieve that by sowing the seeds fresh and placing the pots outdoors (protected from rodents if necessary), or placing in a tiny zip lock with a tablespoon or two of moist, sterile medium like damp sand or damp vermiculite, dating the bag, placing it in your refrigerator for about three months. Then you can bring the bag out and sow the contents, vermiculite and all, save the space a pot would take that many weeks in the refrigerator.
I am a first timer and I respect that different methods work for different people. I tried half of my daylily seeds in cells (1 per) and the other half in solo cups 20 oz. The solo sup seedlings are twice the size as the cell packs. germination rate was pretty much the same however.
Good discussion!
We are talking about two different situations jurden - seed germination and then growing the plants,
Very few seeds need light for germination but they all need heated soil.
For growing on AFTER germination they need light but not heat.
So using lights to create germinating heat isn't nearly as effective nor as energy efficient. First because it is fluorescent which create minimal heat. Plus it is radiant heat not direct and most dissipates into the air and so wasted. Plus it is inconsistent and cannot be regulated. So for every kw used the degrees of heat achieved from lights is minimal when compared to the direct consistent heat created by using germination heat mats.
Then once the seeds have germinated it is time to remove them from the soil heat, reduce the air temperature if necessary, and provide them with as much light as possible.
Dave
I have a question though can the T12 bulbs be swapped out for the more efficient T8 or T5 bulbs or does it even matter?
As I posted above
Normally T5 or T8 bulbs will not work in T12 fixtures but T12 work well too.
I have tried to adapt T12 fixtures to T8 bulbs several times and while it will work, with some re-wiring, in older T12 fixtures that have built in ballasts, it will not work in the newer fixtures that only have computer chips instead of a ballast.
And that is only with T8s. The T5s will not fit the fixture at all - totally different diameter on the bulb ends and the contact pins cannot engage.
People have used T12 bulbs for decades with no problems but they are gradually being phased out of production because they are much less efficient so more difficult to find.
To easily use T8 or T5 bulbs you'd need to covert all the fixtures to either T8 or T5 fixtures depending on which you chose to use. The fixtures aren't cheap - T8 cheaper than T5) so if you get the stand I would stock up on T12 bulbs now while cheap and available and plan to use it as is until the fixtures themselves shoot craps and then replace the fixtures as needed.
Dave.
Thanks Dave I reread your first post as I was scrolling down and saw where you said that T8 won't work in a T12 fixture. I wasn't planning on changing anything for now. Supposedly the bulbs and ballasts have been hardly used so I figured I had a couple years before I did anything. I read that bulbs in the 6500K range were the best for plants and seeds alike is that true? I really only need it for getting things started as I will be putting them in the garden as soon as possible. Will the 6500K bulbs be good for that use or will something else work better for what I am planning on? My last average frost date is 4/12 which makes it about 2 weeks later that I will transplant. I was planning for about a week for hardening off before planting in the ground. If I start the seeds this weekend that would be about 8 weeks under lights is that about right? I was planning on about 12 hrs. a day using the lights with the T12 bulbs is that enough or not? How much water should I plan on in the beginning?
We would love to have a report from you come next fall how well they do in the heat of our summers.
Thanks
Paul
I put 2 seedlings in peat to see what will happen. We'll see.
Here is an update on the original seedlings.
This post was edited by garf on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 15:34