6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Wow, what a clever idea! I might have (someday) thought of using the Dremel tool, but holding the seeds in place with duct tape would never have entered my mind :-) Fortunately, I do have a Dremel tool (and the cut-off disks) but for folks that do not, I think the duct tape idea would still be very helpful. Regardless of what tool is used, the tape would sure save a lot of fingers!
Thanks very much for sharing that idea!
Art
Young seedlings at that stage don't need supplements and may be harmed so it isn't generally recommended. It all depends on the nutrient levels in your particular product (kelp extracts come with all sorts of varying nutrient levels), how well you dilute it, the potting mix you are using and its water retention capabilities. In other words, there is no simple answer given all the variables.
Once they have 2 sets of true leaves a VERY diluted (1/8-1/4 strength) supplement may be of assistance but how much again depends on the nutrient levels in the supplement you are using. N stimulates top growth which, without care, can quickly out-strip the root growth needed to support it. With seedlings it is root development that is vital, not top growth.
Hope this helps.
Dave
So many variables in the growing conditions that it's really hard to say how long from seed to bloom.
Clarkia is normally direct sown after last frost. Damp-off is so common with it that growing it inside is impossible IME and I have tried it several times. Sow on the surface and do not cover; needs light.
Same with Wishbone. Direct seed, uncovered. It "can" be done inside but the germination rate isn't as good IME. Just lightly press it into the soil surface and start it 4-6 weeks before plant out.
If you have any experience with Winter Sowing techniques they work well for both Wishbone and Clarkia.
Hope this helps.
Dave
Thanks -Looks like I should try starting the Mimulus soon. I did do a little more internet searching on these this morning, but sowing to bloom time is hard to find. I suppose that there are many variables, but in my short WI growing season, I didnt want to wait and sow in May if it means I wont get blooms before frost in October.
My winter sowing experience hasnt been great, partially due to our late springs.
I am trying something new with a few different seed types right now. They are sown and in the garage frozen solid (-5 for the high yesterday) but I plan on bringing them inside in a couple of weeks and placing them on the cold concrete floor to finish germinating, then will put them under lights when they sprout. If they are successful I may try some of the clarkia and wishbone that way and save the rest for direct sowing.
Thanks again.
My sedums are enormously popular with insect pollinators of all kinds. But, in my experience, Agastache is phenomenal at attracting insect pollinators as well as birds, after the seeds have set. I call my Agastache " beesicles". They'll be covered with honeybees when in bloom.
So the answer here is to grow native plants to your area. Most places don't label if things are bee friendly but do label native plants. Native plants are something that you might come across on a hike through the wilderness in your area.
And when it comes to hybrids rest assured pollinators will go to them as well. The difference is that native plants typically are plants you can find right in the wild. What makes them successful as plants is that they are attractive to pollinators, because without pollinators the plants wouldn't reproduce.
Now most hybrids, and really anything that has been bred by humans, we've taken pollinators out of the equation because we breed them and pollinate them ourselves to get seed. We also select plants to continue breeding based on appearance or disease resistance and rarely, if ever, based on if pollinators go to them.
If you are worried about your beehives look up your local apiarists and ask them what they plant. I know a handful of people that raise bees they really don't do anything in terms of plants because the bees travel far and wide, they'll find what they are looking for without your help. That being said there are wildflower mixes that are for bees. I also know that the beekeepers I know have 50lb bags of sugar to mix with water and feed the bees.
Verbena can be tricky thanks to the hard seed coat. Stratify it first for best results.
But IME it is more about the moisture level and soil temp than covering or not, light or not. I prefer to very lightly cover the seeds with a thin layer of very fine vermiculite (perlite works but you need to grind it fine first). That helps stabilize the moisture level around the seed until it breaks the seed coat.
Dave
They are the nodules of what are called adventitious roots and normal. An indication that the root is looking for air.
But it is past time to get that planted into some potting mix ASAP so some feeder roots will develop. They won't grow in water.
See the FAQ here titled How to grow and avocado from seed. Click blue FAQ button top of the forum page.
Dave
I used to root my avocado seeds in water, but eventually just started sticking them about 3/4ths their length into the dirt with my houseplants. After that, the only care they get is the same care I give my houseplants...normal water, normal food, etc. In time, they sprout and grow of their own accord, and I find the plants to be much stronger and healthier than those I've sprouted in water.
I planted almost every seed from the avocados we ate last year and almost every one of them came up. I lost maybe four or five to my chickens, and approximately seven or eight to winter kill, but I only have limited room to overwinter my plants in my house, so I chose the two best looking plants to bring inside. Btw, all the plants survived quite well down to about 40 degrees on a regular basis, but hard frosts killed the exposed ones in my yard and the THIRD hard freeze finally got the one on the porch.
This gives me hope I can successfully overwinter these plants on an enclosed, barely heated porch in the future and not have to bring them into the house, as I'm pretty sure they'll do quite well if I can keep the room somewhere in the range of 40 to 45 degrees during the coldest months of the year here, which are generally January and February.
Currently, one of the plants has been growing for a little over a year now, and I've actively worked to dwarf it, so I can keep it in as small a container as possible for as long as possible. It stands a little over two feet tall right now and is putting out a new flush of leaves at the top. I noticed last summer that it had formed a ball-shaped leaf crown that was quite pretty.
The growth slowed when I brought it back inside for the winter and I stopped watering until I saw the leaves begin to severely droop, then I started watering again on a limited basis. Shortly after I resumed watering, the crown/tip of the plant grew about two inches and began forming new leaves; my plan is to continue to supply only the amount of water needed to support and encourage leaf growth, but not enough to encourage new growth in height.
I intentionally dwarfed this plant just to see if I could do it, and it's responded extremely well. I'm happy about this, because I've had several failures in the past, and discovered the stems have a tendency to become quite leggy very quickly if they don't have enough light early on in their growth. I just got very lucky with this one...:D.
Only three days ago I discovered a new and very 'leggy' avocado seedling sprouting from one of my houseplant pots and I did't even know it was there until it literally hit me in the face as I was watering! By the time I can put it outside, the stem will likely be so thin and wobbly it can't hold its leaves, but I might try staking it.
Good luck with your seedling!
Blue
You can use it on any seedling. How effective it may be is a whole other discussion.
Damp off fungus quickly circulates through the entire plant and destroys the cellular structure of the stem. So the odds of saving the plant is minimal and if it does survive it is with a very weakened circulatory system and chronic health issues.
Damp-off is easily prevented in the first place with proper watering techniques and adequate air circulation so that is the best route to take.
As to the ants - assuming they are not actually fungus gnats, I assume these are plants in the ground rather than in containers? Containers aren't normally bothered by ants. The solution is to discover why and where the ants are attracted from and eliminate that causes/source. Most ants are considered garden neutrals - do little to any harm to plants - so more details would be needed to address that issue.
Dave
My I suggest planting those as far away from foot traffic as possible, The sticker balls that fall from the trees aren't any fun. I build a new house back in 2003 at a property that had two mature chestnut trees and they were the first thing I had to have cut down..The trees were not in the correct location and just didn't work, tried racking up the sticker balls and there was 8 wheel barrel fulls and there was still stickers on the ground.
I love to eat chestnuts.
I want to know which season is best for seeding it and Propagate it ??????????
Which country has more growth of chestnuts ????
Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Service Toronto
For the lasagna method, you alternate layers of green and brown over the layer of newspapers. I top it all off in the spring with a layer of composted horse manure. The first year I tried this method, I had time to build a bed for the following year and got it about 24" high. It really sunk down over winter (2007/2008) and last year it was level with the original ground. I just keep adding compost in some areas depending on what I plant.
I think you're supposed to give the layers at least 6 weeks to settle down. Last year I wanted to get going on a new bed right away. It was for winter squash which I planted in hills. I made a hole where I wanted the hill and added a few scoops of composted manure. It worked out well but the bed itself isn't in as good shape at the beds I built up with more layers.
The lasagna method gets organic material into the soil. My earthworm population grew. I don't walk on the beds so they are always soft. I think just adding soil on top of some newspapers hasn't left enough depth for roots. Flowers are probably ok unless they have a deep taproot. The paper takes a while to decompose. If you have grass clippings, kitchen waste, old hay, old leaves (chopped up), I would build up a higher pile. Then put the dirt on top. You still have time before spring planting.
If you need materials, you might have a neighbor with a pile of old grass clipping (without herbicides) they'd love to have you cart away. I also find free manure advertised on craigslist.
I'd agree that based on the info provided we aren't talking about a lasagna garden. What you describe is just newspaper with some dirt on top. In that case you are going to need at least 6 inches of dirt.
As to the mulch, it all depends on what you plan to use. The best organic mulches like straw, hay, grass clippings, shredded leaves, etc. can be added at any time and will also help improve the soil. They are easy to pull back, plant and recover.
Other less ideal mulches - things like wood chips and bark - would best go on after the plants are up enough to see where the plants are. You could rake them carefully back in spots to plant the seeds but make sure the bark/chips don't get mixed into the soil where they can bind up nitrogen.
If you plan to build real lasagna beds that are several layers deep and made out of multiple layers of mixed ingredients then the guidelines say to create small pockets/handfuls of soil within the top layers of the bed and plant the seeds in those pockets.
Dave
This discussion of using heating pads for warming soil, reminds me of my friend who manages the produce in a large market. He always has a good selection of ripe bananas, while the competition has green bananas. When I commented on this he took me into the backroom where he has an old electric blanket. If he wraps the green bananas in the blanket at night they are ripe in the morning. Once in a while an early shopper may notice the bananas feel warm, but not a big problem. My lettuce seeds reliably show sprouts in three days in my incubator set at 80 degrees. Al
I don't think that you can "over-pollinate" the flowers. I get lots of pollinating insects, especially bumble bees, on my Hibiscus plants.
Have you tried a germination test? Roll up 4 or 5 seeds in a dampened paper towel, place the towel in a baggy and leave on the counter at room temp. Check in approx. 5 days to see if the seeds have swelled, a root is emerging, etc. Keep checking every couple days up to 2 weeks. If a root does emerge, you can go ahead and pot it up, using care not to damage the little seedling root.
Your Hibiscus plants could also be sterile. Do you know what variety you are collecting seed from?
Hibiscus seeds benefit from a 48-hour soaking prior to planting.
Let us know your progress!
Susan
I agree with mandolls....fluorescents don't put out much heat compared to incandescent, but it still puts out noticeable heat which surprised me. I am also a newbie and need to invest in a soil thermometer, but I can tell by experience so far that the shelf I added immediately above my top tier 4' 2 bulb fluorescent light fixtures stays a nice comfortable "warm" and has been perfect for germinating all manner of vegetables so far. You could even box in (or just tent it with plastic) the area above the light and it would become even warmer but that's not necessary for my setup inside the house where the air temp is usually 70-75 anyway. With a cooler basement setup you may want to build a sort of grow box to trap more of the heat rising from the light fixture as your germination station.
Now I've just planted daylily seeds on the rack to germinate so we'll see how they do but I expect good results.
Good luck with your seed starting!
One never knows what to expect at garage sales. About 5 years ago I was able to find an incubator as used for premature hospital births. With small modifications I am able to use it for those seeds preferring temperatures over 75 degrees. I keep it on the bench in the greenhouse and only plug it in as I need it. Al
That's not a cutting, it's not even a snippet :) Go back to the tree late Spring, try again. Time of year is important with cuttings and not every shrub/tree is the same. 6-8" cutting, rooting hormone, mist or tent for humidity, provide light.
Here is a link that might be useful: Instructions here :
I just now read that you should lightly put dry mix in cups and then water it
That only applies to certain types of mixes - those that contain a wetting agent - and even then you d not have to do it that way. Most mixes do not contain wetting agents so dry mix in containers is NOT generally recommended. You have to read the ingredients in your mix to see if it lists wetting agents.
And like Lynn said, no you do not pack it tight. Grab a handful of the wet mix and wring it out in your fist. Then put it in the container and just use your fingers to lightly level it out in the container.
Dave
I make an effort to keep all my mixes in current use, in a damp, not wet, state. It is a real pain to start with a dry mix when you are ready to seed. Al