6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
So maybe I was panicking over nothing; I was afraid they were ruined. I will definitely remove the lids now, and give them some air, and poke the holes, too. Why do the directions say cover with lid till they emerge if that causes mold? It seems more logical that they need the air circulation.
Thanks John!
If you know that you can keep the soil from drying out without using the domes, I think you're actually better off not using them. This would be possible for folks who are home all the time and who are not trying to germinate a lot of seeds at once. On the other hand, lots of trays would be hard to watch that close and impossible for working folks who are gone all day.
Wonderful news Al! Thanks for the positive feedback on paper pots. Many people seem to be posting that they are more difficult and result in yellowing but I don't actually think it is the pot that is the problem, sounds like overwatering to me.
So I am going to try the bottom watering method from here on. My tomatoes all sprouted today (day 5 of germination seemed quick to me) so I am very excited and hoping that this next stage goes as well as the germination stage seemed to for my little seedlings.
I have great success with paper pots and use the crowded in container, bottom watering system ...
Here is a link that might be useful: Starting Seeds Indoors
Take the dome off after you get sprouts. Remember, moist, not wet ... use a small fan on low to help harden your plants ...
Here is a link that might be useful: Starting Seeds Indoors
Peat "pots" - are not nearly the problem of peat "pellets". With peat pots, you are filling them with a mix of some sort, if you are using a decent soil-less mix, you shouldnt have a problem. People often use the wrong word when referring to the little expanding Jiffy pellets that all of the big box stores sell now - they are the problem.
I only have one heater in my cold frame and it is a 150 watt element with no fan. The reason I installed a small fan in the cold frame was to distribute the heat and get even temps throughout the cold frame. I st?arted the lettuce and spinach in the house and kept the temps 70f. Therefore, since they were only two weeks old or so, I figured I needed to keep them around 60-70f. What do you think
You say you are GOING to buy a fluorescent light? I'm assuming you didn't have one before. That and that alone will give you leggy spindly weak seedlings.
Between the heat mat and the lights you will see a world of difference. Good luck and happy growing!
IMO, you probably don't need additional heat to your coldframes at this time of year unless it gets very cold and cloudy for a few days. Lettuce can handle temps down to about 23 F and spinach even lower. Young seedlings though you probably want to keep above 32F.
Oh. BTW, Miracle Gro expand'nGRO reads as if it were a competitor of Wonder Soil - Home Wonder Soil which, unfortunately, as best I can tell does not have any free sample offers yet.
Thanks everyone! That is good news (no stratifying).
Thanks for the picture gardenweed. They look cute! I'll try planting some tomorrow.
Morz8 - thanks for the link to Clothiers. Is there another database that is reliable besides Clothiers? I'm a little bit unsure from your post if you are saying that Clothiers is reliable or if there was an additional link or name that you also meant to post. The Clothiers link may save me from a lot of posting---I got a bunch of different seeds in an exchange that I'm not sure what I need to do with.
Thank you!
I'm not sure any are quite as complete as Clothiers, and the articles below the database categories are helpful too.
http://theseedsite.co.uk/ (the format changed a couple of years ago and I can't navigate this site as quickly now :) but information is sound)
For propagation of all types included growing from seed, well illustrated, well written - you might look for a copy of Making More Plants by Ken Druse. His suggestions are often for freshly harvested seeds as opposed to purchased dried seeds like you might buy commercially (and will sometimes have developed a deeper dormancy in the drying).
Between Making More Plants, and the Clothiers site there is rarely a seed I can't germinate. Occasionally I will have to go to propagation notes from Explorers Garden by Hinkley - the books by Druse and Hinkley are out and on my desk at all times though so you can always ask if struggling to find particular plant/seed :)
Here is a link that might be useful: Out of print T&M database, also reliable
Yes but I have planted a lot orange trees from the store here in South Florida. They are very weak, get killed by the cold often, have poorly developed root systems etc. Unless you have them in the backyard watering and fertilizing all the time they usually don't survive and when they do are often small and in poor health.
By contrast those grown from seed generally grow into a large shade tree, very disease resistant, drought resistant, cold resistant etc. even as a baby.
Down side is fruit quality is almost always below that of a store variety and some trees seem to never get fruit (they might be 8 years old without fruiting). It's pretty unpredictable.
If you grow one from seed it makes an excellent shade tree unlike the scrawny fruit bearing varieities. Bad part is some of them get so tall difficult to climb up and get the fruit even if they do bear.
The info on every site I go to is always incomplete.
The harvesting of the seeds is seldom ever mentioned.
Do I harvest the seeds in the fall and then stratify them?
Can I harvest them the next spring and assume they're already stratified?
Must I stratify first and then scarify the next spring or can I scarify them and then put them in the fridge to stratify?
When I separated the seeds from the pulp I noted that about half of the seeds sank and half floated. Are they all good seeds or is one group or the other useless?
I am trying an experiment to find the answers to these questions, but with a 3-9 month germination time it is going to be a real problem as I'm doing it on a table in my living room window.
If anyone already has the answers to these questions I would appreciate your letting me know.
Thanks
These are planted transplants or just seedlings? Very different things when it comes to fertilizers. Since both are normally direct seeded in the garden, not grown from seed and then transplanted, it is an important bit of info. Neither tolerates transplanting, especially radishes.
So if you are talking about seedlings - no.
If you are talking about established plants in the garden - sure a 1 time only side dress application of it is fine for the radishes worked well into the soil but not for the beans.
Beans, like all legumes, don't tolerate or need high nitrogen fertilizers. Over use of fertilizers on legumes results in big leafy plants but few if any beans.
Dave
mustgarden, if you have the fungus gnats now, I doubt if you will be able to let your seedlings dry out enough, for long enough, to get rid of the larvae without damaging the plants - better is to not keep your medium too wet to begin with.
I'd go with the BTi - Gnatrol, Knockout gnats, Bonide mosquito beater, or if you cannot find any of those locally, pick up some mosquito dunks and make your own solution - float a dunk or piece of dunk (no need to be precise) in a container of water overnight, then use that water to water your seedlings. It's not a 24 hour cure, it can take up to three weeks of consecutive use each time you water before you have broken the breeding cycle and are seeing no more gnats. Don't worry about the adults, they live just briefly, you want to stop their larvae, larvae that will feed on fine plant roots like the types seedlings are developing.
Should I remove the ground up leaves and sow the seeds directly on the soil
Yes, just rake it back. Otherwise germination will be quite limited. Once they sprout you can gently rake it back in place to use as a mulch to help retain soil moisture.
Dave