6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
For common seeds I buy from Willhite in Poolville, TX. For the really fun stuff I buy from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
Here is a link that might be useful: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Al, I keep thinking I'm too old to keep anymore cats too, but they keep showing up needing rescuing, lol. If I wasn't married, I'd be one of those old ladies with a zillion cats that you hear about on the news! We're trying to keep it at four, but another half-feral started crying at the door recently(runs into the woods when I open the door), so I started putting out a little food in the evening next to the door(sigh).
Sorry about going off topic, Ginny. Do post photos of your set-up and let us know how it's working.
Hard to say but i will say that in general 80 degrees day and 55 at night is OK. maybe a little low, but OK. Peppers grow slow. I have know people to throw them out when they were just doing there natural thing. they would like more heat but they should be OK. Good luck.
I was in zone 3 until recently. I did a lot of gardening there. I had a HUGE greenhouse, but I started my seed indoors in a very sunny window in about late Jan or Feb depending on the seed. What is your elevation? Elevation makes a major difference in how fast your little plants grow. I doubt the temps are hurting the growth. Your daylight hours are also shorter in your zone. Of course, they are nice and long during the summer!
Hi all. Discovered that the link on the thread no longer works. Here's a new link to my my homemade heat tray. I'll be firing mine up within the month.
Kris
I am starting seeds in the greenhouse to be transplanted from a community pot into sixpacs. I am growing ornamentals that vary a lot in germination times and temperatures. Only one variety is planted in a community pot, varieties are never mixed. Most starting soils I use are 50% peat and 50% vermiculite, but for some seeds I will use about a third bark fines or perlite. I never buy a seed starting mix, they all have something I dislike, sometimes the cost. Al
I have another reason pellets are a problem and agree with all of the above (plus you spend extra on them). I found when I planted the pellets, the squirrels dig them up. I imagine they sense a pecan and use "radar" to gauge the soil texture difference and dug them up only to be disappointed. I lost many babies this way one year and never used them again.
I have used both. The pellets I have had luck with but I have to break them apart when planting. I don't think that they were that tough years ago. I keep them setting in water here in my dry air-don't think most places could do that. I might use the peat pots for watermelons and cantaloup to save roots. But i don't like then cause they dry out through the sides too much. There again they need to be torn apart when planted. Best is those little square plastic that the green houses use.
I'm not sure I understand your question. One seed grows one plant. Two seeds don't grow one plant and one seed doesn't grow five plants.
Are you asking how many plants a person should have of each variety? That's entirely up to you.
Or maybe you're asking how far apart you should space each plant? The seed packets will tell you that. Keep in mind, not every seed is going to germinate and the germination rate is different for every plant. If you're direct seeding, plant a few more than you want in the end and thin out the ones that are too close together. If you're starting them indoors, again, plant a few more seeds than the number of plants you want and see how many come up; toss the excess or pot them up and give them away.
ok. Thanks! Can I use lentils, mung bean, etc that I can get from somewhere like whole foods to cook with or should I buy them from a seed provider? I'm just wondering do those sprout and/or do they treat the beans with something, even the organic ones.
1) May use seed from any source ie. local seed store, local food mart or a "organic" store.
2) only concern is a "souring of the seed, contamination of seed & unhygienic production with high microbial counts
NOTE: this can also occure in comercial production of sprouts!
Hi Laurie,
The mold I've seen on soil is more like a whitish colored fluffy stuff, but I think there is a reddish colored mold as well. In any case, mold is a fungus that feeds on decaying matter and is usually harmless to your plants. It is however unattractive and an indication that you might be keeping the soil too wet. Scrape the mold off the best you can, cut back on your watering and make sure you have plenty of light on the plants. Improving the ventilation is also very helpful. For example, a small fan on a timer could be used.
Hope this is helpful,
Art
I think that it is inevitable that amateurs will begin dabbling in genetic modification. Most of the genetic modification is now done by big companies in expensive laboratory facilities, but amateurs will devise ways of doing it without big investments or elaborate laboratories. Science Fair projects by children will do genetic modification. For example, the gene gun was originally a modified Crosman air pistol. Kids will enjoy creating new forms of life. Welcome to living in a science fiction world. Will things go wrong? Probably.
ZM
Right now, most GMO seed is for big ag commodity crops- RoundUp Ready soy, corn, canola, and now alfalfa. There is also BT corn & BT cotton, which has BT wedged in there to kill the corn & boll worms when they take a bite. They are evolving to resist that now....
You have to buy GMO seed from the source- Monsanto or whoever, and you have to sign a pledge that you won't perform any experiments with it, and that you won't save the seed. There can be pollen drift which containmates regular seed being grown nearby, (like with corn) but in general, the average gardener cannot get their mitts on GMO seed.
Hybridizing plants for disease resistance & other qualities has been going on since the dawn of time. The key element there, is that it is cross pollination within the same species, and is perfectly natural.
Some Hybrids aren't all that great though- it depends on how much & in what way they have been tweaked. There is some debate to their nutritional value. But there are also Hybrids which have been developed to bump up nutrition, so...read the fine print with them, do trials, etc.
But Hybrids are not GMOs. GMOs are created when one species' genes are inserted into another species' DNA. With BT corn, a bacterium's gene (bacillus thuringiensis a known caterpillar kiler) is inserted into corn or cotton DNA. I don't know what RoundUp Ready seed has inserted, but the basic function of RoundUp is to weaken the plant's natural defenses to enable soil borne pathogens to take over & kill the plant. RoundUp resistant weeds are evolving & becoming a problem now. Old school pesticide companies are quite happy about that~
Google Don Huber & glysophate. Not only are we eating loads of RoundUp every day in soy, corn & canola products, but we are destroying our soil and reducing nutrient uptake by the crops that are sprayed with it....and our livestock is starting to show signs of infertility from GMO feedstock.
As to the Safe Seed pledges- it is incredibly expensive to test for GMO contamination. Organic seed, by definition, has to be GMO free- but I don't know if it's 100% anymore, as the USDA has watered down Organic standards to be almost comical.
Anyhoo, any seed house that makes the pledge is at least aware of the problem & is doing what they can.
Understanding the pollination of whatever you want to grow will help your decisions: if you want to grow corn, which is primarily wind pollinated, don't fool around, buy Organic seed. (Unless you know for sure it's been grown far away from any GMO corn fields.) Stuff that is mostly self pollinated and non commodity (like tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc.) there's not alot to worry about in terms of GMO contamination. Yet!
I hope this helps- it does get confusing & alarming. But at this point you're more likely to eat GMO food than accidentally buy GMO seed. But they have all kinds of GMO plants & animals in the pipeline for eventual release. ...
Johnny Chapman may have been a nut but he provided apple trees for over 3 states for the local farmers for 5 cents per seedling. As for me I have never eaten any apple that was home grown that was not 10 times better tasting than any store bought apple. Red and Yellow delicious have a great taste if picked off your own trees, store bought just do not have that much flavor. I learned a while back that there are no such things as an expert, only educated guessers.
You can put something like chicken wire around to keep your dog away from eating your tender plant again. About all it will be good for is looks anyway. My wife seems to love them also but now I have a Mango tree that has frozen back so is of no use as a fruit tree due to the bitterness of fruit from a mango that has died back to the ground but she like to look and seen this tree which has now become a bush with many trunks.
heavenlyfarm,
Here is a very good article on how to grow pansies from seed:
Regards,
Rokal
Hi there!
I just got some pansy and viola seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I am wondering if anyone here can tell me when would be a good time to start them (approximate date) for planting them outdoors in the springtime...early spring. I am fairly certain I planted the ones I bought at Home Depot in early April last year. I plan to let them germinate in darkness, and then grow them under lights inside. Any advice on the process would be welcomed since I've never started pansies or violas before!
Thanks in advance :)
Hi Bob,
Well, everyone has their favorite way of doing things, including germinating seeds. For that reason, I'm sure you'll get some answers to your post that seem contradictory to other answers you'll get :-) For that reason, let me make it clear that the answers below are nothing more than my humble opinion.
1) When the seeds sprout, do I put the whole seed under soil; or just the root?
Put the whole seed under the soil with the root straight down. I do that even with seeds that require light to germinate (if you see the radicle, they've already germinated). The usual recommendation is to plant the seed at a depth of about three times it's thickness.
2) Is there a problem with the following scenario?: Group each paper towel into sections of 2 seeds each. When they sprout, cut the towel and place the whole thing (towel and seed) under soil. Will this inhibit the leaves? Other problems?
If you check the seeds every day or so, I don't think you'll have any problem with the radicle (root) growing into the paper ( I never have). However, if they do and you need to cut the paper, I don't think the small piece of paper will inhibit the growth of the plant at all (it will soon decompose). To lessen the possibility of roots growing into the paper, some folks use coffee filters instead.
3) Any seeds that do NOT respond well to this method?
Not that I'm aware of, unless it would be very tiny (dust like) seeds that would be easily damaged when you try to move them into the soil.
4) Is there a consensus as to when to plant in dirt; after rooting, but before leaves appear. Or AFTER cotyledon leaves appear?
As far as I know, most folks put them into soil as soon as they see the radicle. I would think, the sooner the better; I can't see any advantage of leaving the seed develop any further.
Hope this is helpful,
Art
Thanks again Art.
bob