6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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 :)
I winter sowed both kousa dogwood and regular white-flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) two years ago and got 100% germination from the seeds. Trees grew about 14 inches per year. Last year I winter sowed apple & pear tree seeds and again had 100% germinate. This year I've sowed Acer palmatum/Japanese red maple, Cornus sericea/red-twig dogwood & apple. Germination should occur sometime around the middle of April based on last year's results.
Winter sowing is a USDA-approved method of growing annuals, perennials, vegetables, trees, shrubs, etc. in recycled containers set outside in winter. There is a winter sowing forum here on GardenWeb.
I have sown white-flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) directly into the ground and lost all to chipmunks and squirrels (rats with bushy tails). The few that sprouted were eaten immediately after sprouting in the spring.
This year I have winter sown into milk jugs and hope for better results. See Winter Sowing Forum:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/wtrsow/
and the winter sowing FAQ:
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/
I previously stratified, but the instructions I read said nothing about warm stratification. I pulled off all of the pulp from the berries and soaked the seed in warm water for about 4 hours. Mix some warm water with some sifted sphagnum peat. (Shaking the peat and water in a jar is a quick way to moisten the peat. All excess moisture should be squeezed out of the peat. Too much water will rot the seed.) Mix the seed with the damp peat. I put the seed/peat mixture in a zip lock bag. (Punch a few air holes in the bag.) Place bag in refrigerator for 100 days. Check occasionally to be sure the peat is still moist.
A few of the seeds were already sprouting after 100 days. I planted the seeds/seedlings in an outside transplanting area. The squirrels and chipmunks soon ate those, also.
I may try to winter sow these directly into the ground, and put a quarter-inch-hardware-mesh wire cage over the top. (Something similar to a bottomless bird cage.) A few bricks on top to keep the critters from pushing/pulling it off will hopefully aid in survival of the seedlings.
Here is a link that might be useful: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/
This won't answer your question but... A few years ago before I discovered winter sowing I found an article on starting daylilies from seed. It said to throw some Perlite in a ziploc bag, add just enough water so the Perlite was damp, not wet, toss in the seeds and set the bag in a sunny window. I followed the instructions and, sure enough, 14 days later I had 12 two-inch daylily sprouts--100% germination from the 12 seeds I sowed. I potted them up to grow on, they went dormant in the fall, came up again the following spring. I finally potted them in gallon pots; one plant bloomed last summer.
I was able to find a stainless steel sink with large drain area on both sides, that had been removed from a lab. It is large enough to take a whole flat of sixpacs. My bottom heating bench, kept at 70 degrees tends to dry the soil very fast, and while using it I need to be able bottom water frequently. As soon as possible after germination I move off the heat. Al
Bellamama, good deal. The 'best' method is one that not only works for you, but one that you will enjoy using. Hope you will post some pics when you get rolling. :-D
Kris
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