6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I don't think I need the heat mat at all. I turned it off for the day and measured the temp tonight and it was down to only 94 degrees. I put a fan on low near it and got it to 85. Now I've turned the fan to high. We'll see.
I wish I wouldn't have wasted money on a heat mat!!
I have four of the APS24 on their second season. Don't use the self water feature from the start. Wait until the seedlings have a little size on them before you fill up the bottoms. I got them as the addon from when I bought their three tier seedling cart. I started wave petunias and marigolds in them last year. This year they have petunias and verbena in them. Using the self watering while seed starting drowns the seeds and tiny plants.
Another route you may try, Air Layering. Although this is a little more of an intense method to propagate, it should produce really good results on this plant. I actually currently have some casterbean seeds I've collected from some plants were I work and am going to see if I can get them to germinate myself.
Hope things work out for you, best of luck.
I work in a greenhouse setting and start many many seeds with a similar method. I use a moistened medium, normally a metromix soil, one withouth perlite but a higher percentage of vermiculite and/or bark as it takes a little longer to dry out. I generally use 1020 flats w/o holes and 50 cell plug flats to insert. I also have another flat that is similar to a basket, woven plastic though I don't recall what they are called, this I place the plug tray inside of and both into the flat. After watering thouroughly I can remove the plugs from the excess water if need be and simply set on the table beside them, we have tables made out of expanded metal so it allows for good ventilation. I find that pouring off excess water after letting the soil soak you lose an awful lot of the the soluable nutrients form the soil and rather than having to replace them through fertilizers, just re-use this water. Even use it to water other plants.
The amount of water to use is very dependent on the size of the pots/cells. 50 plug flats, I tend to put in about 1" of water for maybe 15 minutes, really dry 1 gallon pots I usually set in a couple inches of water and let them set for a number of hours so even the top levels of soils become saturated.
Hey Kat,
I've had a lot of success with other plants which also prefer a cold stratification period by simply placing them into a gallon sized freezer bag along with a standard metro-mix soil or peat that has been ever so slightly dampened along with the seeds. Just let it sit in the fridge for 4-6 weeks. I recommend using sterile items such as a clean bag, new peat/soil and DI water if possible as 4-6 weeks is plenty of time for bacteria or other microbes to spread if there is any contamination.
Have you checked over on the Trees forum here. There seem to be several discussions about chestnuts (note spelling for search) over there so perhaps one of them has them.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Trees forum
Mix them with a teaspoon or two of sterile moist sand, or sterile moist vermiculite (not soggy, moist like a wrung out sponge) and put into a tiny zip lock bag. Date and refrigerate.
When you are ready to sow, sow the contents of the bag, sand included rather than trying to extract the seeds.
Something cheap and easy to use for small pots are disposable plastic cups from the dollar store. Clear ones will last a year and colored ones last a few years. I stack them and run the tip of a hot soldering iron through the bottom to melt drainage holes. Using anything else to punch drainage holes results in cracked cups.
Rhizo_1 - When you use the seed flat do you use a standard Seed Starting mix or do you start seeds with paper towles or some other trick?
I use Calistoga's method but once they are hearty enough to transplant I separate them out.
It sounds like everyone in this post is doing some type commercial production but myself I am only growing a few at a time for my garden and the extra's go to family.
Well you can increase actual germination rates, especially for tomatoes, with a seedling heat mat or any other source of bottom heat that you can come up with. Works with rock wool too just as with potting mix. Need a soil temp of 75-80 for germination. Then remove from the heat as soon as they germinate.
The leafy greens like lettuce don't really need it but will also benefit from it and germinate faster. But they only need 70 degrees.
Once germinated are you having trouble keeping the seedlings alive?
Dave
Are you talking about rock wool cubes? Many brands and "Hydro Cubes" is one brand of them.
If so they are used in hydroponic set ups - either wick or drip or capillary matting set-ups and are watered by whichever hydro system you use. They are not used in soil set-ups.
The water used on them has to have its pH adjusted before use down to 5.5 pH so in that aspect alone they are quite different and more work than peat pellets.
Lights used etc. isn't any different. Size of the cubes varies greatly so how they would compare to peat pellets would depend on which size you used.
But the biggest issue is if you would be transplanting your seedlings to soil then they don't work well. They do not break down in soil when buried and since most of the roots are embedded in the rock wool further root development can be stunted. They are intended to be transplanted to larger hydro cubes and then to blocks and then to slabs.
If peat pellets work for you, stick with them for best results.
Dave
Laurie,
Damping Off is a soil borne disease and, to the best of my knowledge, only occurs at the soil level. My guess would be that the blossoms on your squash plant are simply falling off because they aren't getting pollinated.
Squash have male and female blossoms on the same plant. The blossoms are open only during the morning hours of one day. It's during this time that pollen is transferred by bees (which of course you don't have). If no pollination takes place, the blossom will fall off within a few days.
Hope this is helpful,
Art