6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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.
As the others say your planting mix is too wet. If you are going to add anything to your mix it should be perlite for drainage. I never have this problem but I only use pro mix for seed starting and transplanting and I make sure it is moist but not wet. I mix my soil with warm water before filling my pots and I squeeze a handful and only a small trickle of water comes out. If it's more than that I add more of the mix
I may be way out but I'm wondering from the spelling and the vocabulary if the OP may be in the UK. In which case the Seed and Cuttings mix would probably be labelled 'compost'. If so it's soilless and the right thing to use. So I'd suspect a watering issue. Some pictures would be helpful. If they were droopy after only one day it sounds more like under than over-watering. Exactly how and when are you doing the watering, brandywhisky?
I have to agree with floral. Around here in my cooler zone, squash and cukes are regularly started in pots and transplanted... and do really well. I've started my own, and bought them from local nurseries too. It is usually better to plant them in a bit younger rather than older though. I've lost late season/overly mature seedlings picked up from a nursery way more often than planting in younger seedlings.
But more to the OP. If you pot them up well and give them good light, nutes, and water, they should grow fine. After all, people do regularly container grow squash and cukes with success. However, I would advise to just pot them up in a larger container and keep them in the container rather than trying to transplant them again into the ground. Trying to transplant them when they are too mature can make them go kapooie.
I did this last year not knowing what I was doing... don't waste your time, just pop some fresh seeds in the ground in May, and they will grow like crazy, much faster than any attempted save at the seedlings. Started in February, they will be weak, spindly, rootbound plants, flowering in the pots, that are unlikely to transition well to the garden. Squash family are fast growing. They will also go through crazy amounts of water and will be difficult to keep alive.
Re transplanting, I did buy one Zuke transplant at the store, and it transplanted fine. But it was small. Then again, the seeds I planted in the ground next to it caught right up and even maybe grew a little faster.
Snapdragons germinate best if they are given a period of freezing. I stick my seed packages in the freezer for 3 or 4 days before planting. Snaps grow very slowly at first and do take a bit of time before plants are ready to flower. When to start depends on the variety. I start my dwarf snaps at the end of march and the taller ones a couple of weeks earlier for planting outside at the end of May. They are very frost tolerant--in fact they are a tender perennial--so as long as the ground is warm don't worry about them freezing. If the ground is not warm they will just sit there and may whither away. My snaps were still green at the end of November peeking above the snow and even in my zone 3 I have had some winter over.
Be careful of the germination temperature and light. Snaps germinate at 70-75 degrees and need light to germinate so don't cover them with soil
If you have a sunny protected area that warms up fast try gathering some seed in the fall and sprinkle it on the ground. I often have snaps reseed in my back south facing flowerbed by the house. If you stick a clear bottle with the bottom cut out and the lid removed over them it acts like a mini green house. Just make sure no leaves are touching the sides
Row covers raise the temperature by 2 to 3 degrees. Although broccoli and cauliflower do not freeze easily I think pushing it by a month is not good. I think I'd wait a couple of weeks. The temperature of the soil is most important when transplanting or planting seeds outside. If the soil is still cold seeds or plants won't grow and may rot. Use that 2 weeks to warm the soil. Put plastic over your raised bed or put your row cover on 2 weeks early. Both will help to warm the soil
<I was planning to give the broccoli and cauliflower 5 weeks, though the packet says 6-8.>
Agree with what dowlinggram said above. In most cases those guidelines on seed packs are for direct seeding in the garden rather than for growing transplants indoors. In zone 5b your plant out date is mid to late May (plant out dates are an average of 2 weeks past last frost date) so while you may be able to get away with planting the broccoli and cauliflower late Apr to early may (with protection as needed) the tomatoes wouldn't normally go out until the 2nd or 3rd week of May depending on the weather and the peppers would go out approx. 2 weeks later.
So you have a lot of things started way early. Broccoli, celery, and cauliflower, if you can keep them going and healthy that long, will likely need more than one transplant over that time so just work your way up the sizes of cell packs you have. Transplant the peppers into the 18s and since they are slow growing hopefully they will do ok in them until plant out time. Tomatoes, started at the proper time, normally go from 72s to 36s to or into solo cups or larger.
All this depends on several variables - lights, leggy plants, nutrients, ambient air temps maintained, etc. etc.
Hope this helps But next year plan to start much later in your zone.
Dave
If it is damp-off then you are over-watering even if you don't think so. It is the most common problem in seedling germination. Damp-off is caused by excess moisture and inadequate air circulation. Cut back on the water and set-up a fan.
Dave
Hi There,
Our clients rarely complain about our services.
If you have any questions about our services, we advise you to look at our FAQ : http: //www.rarexoticseeds.com/en/faq .
Also don't hesitate to contact us at contact@rarexoticseeds.com we will answer you with pleasure and in time.
Thank you.
I would think that as long as you are willing to pot up, feed, and provide adequate light & space for larger plants that there would be little disadvantage to starting a month to 6 weeks earlier than late March for probably most annual and perennial flowers. I have tended to start a bit too early with my seeds just because I need something "gardeny" to do to help alleviate the winter blahs. Last yr I had to repot my snapdragons that I started a few weeks too early, and wasn't able to extract them from the larger clay pot I had thrown them all into (about 4 plants that were too large and entangled to try to separate by the time I planned to plant them out) and ended up enjoying them in that pot for the rest of the summer. Which was fine, but not my original plan and not ideal for the snapdragons. You just don't want to end up with leggy root-bound plants and the timing for it all can be a trick. This year I tried starting some daylily seeds about a month ago, and they're now a couple inches tall with at least another month to go until I plant them out. So, I think it would have been easier to wait a few more weeks for those.
There are some varieties of seeds that you can start earlier than others, especially a lot of perennials. I generally research when to start which seeds (ie 'ten/eight/six weeks before last frost') and put reminders in my calender on when to start which seeds.
Seed storage is my basement in a dark location. We definitely do not have a humidity problem in there right now. Plus, the pelleted seeds were shipped in a little sealable vial, so they're even more protected. The vial is inside the seed envelope as well.
I also grow flowers from seed in a basement, though it's furnished so it's generally not too cold. I used to use heating pads (like you use for relaxing muscles), but it actually heated the seedlings too much. Now I just allow them to gain heat from the lights underneath, which are strapped to the wire frame of the shelves with velcro. If they need a heated environment to germinate, I put a plastic top on them, then take it off when they've sprouted.
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.