6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
1) Temperature over 160F will kill seed and a temp between 160-180 is used to "setrilize soil" It should be noted that some seed need to have a cool period (below 40F) before it can germinate. check the package.
for this reason I keep my extra seed in the Vegitable keeper
2)Very true look on the package it often lists a germination rate
3)This true but also know the germination rate of seed from the same compaany will vary from year to year.
I keep my seeds in air tight containers in normal room temperatures. Dr. Deno did many tests indicating for two or three years seed will keep this way fine. If you want as long as possible then keeping the airtight containers at refrigerator temperatures will also help. Fluctuating temperatures AND humidity in storage, will cause most seeds not to germinate when planted. Al
I am not an expert in these things but I tell you what I am doing. The heating Mat is removed or turned-off as soon as I see any sprout. I have home made green house (not a fancy one) In the Basement I several tables and old desks with flourcent lamps hanging from the ceiling. I have over 100 4 Inches plastic pots with good drainage put on plastic plates. I leave, may be one foot between the lamp and the Plants. As soon as the pot sprout I move it from the heating Mat. I read if you leave it on the heating mat it will grow long leggy and thin. As for growing lights I leave 24/7. From my observation Tomato, Cuccuumber, Squash are growing like crazy, Pepper Egg plant are growing but very slow.
Thanks for the reply. The only time a few of my plants went spindly was when I went on vacation for four days, and they tried to reach for the sun outside of the window because the person watching my house turned them off. Otherwise, they are doing well. But I'm going to turn the heating mat off since it seems that from what I've read elsewhere (and here on the forum) suggests doing so.
Aphids is also called plant lice. They very destructive but easy to control. As a matter of fact they serve as food for other bugs like ladybird and ladybug. Every insecticide lists then as one of the insects controlled. Sevin is very effective to control it. Don't throw away the affected plants they can recover if you get ready of the Lice.
So this weekend I took a pretty aggressive approach to spray everything with Neem. I also cut off any dead leaves etc. Tonight I still saw a few aphids and so sprayed them. The instructions say to spray 7-10 days but I'm spraying whenever I see some of them. Is that a good idea? I'm pretty worried because I have so many plants going that I really don't want them to die. Also, is it helpful to get outside as soon as possible? Which I'm sure will not be a for a couple of weeks since it's suppose to snow tonight!
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
I'm excited to have found this discussion. My name is Will and I'm with Growandmake.com where we are finishing the design of new starter gardening kits. Our site is all about helping people to 'grow' and 'make' more of what we consume. We are creating these as a replacement to more expensive kits we've sold for the last couple years. We've found that kits aren't purchased by experienced gardeners, but by beginners or as gifts. I'd love to ask the readers of this forum to look at our kits and give us feedback. They are still an introductory state and we welcome feedback and new ideas. You can look at them here Growandmake.com garden starter kits
Here is a link that might be useful: Growandmake.com
How many is a few weeks? I'm guessing not enough if you want to see actual flowers. A lot of annuals you can get to flower in approx. 12 weeks. That seems to be fairly average for the fastest of flowers.
Beans are pretty quick and satisfying for kids. Good for you for doing this =) I still fondly remember our grade school bean experiment (has something to do with my current plant obsession.) We just stuck bush bean or pole bean seeds into clear plastic cups we cut drainage holes into and filled with wet paper towels. The teacher made sure that we kept them moist and sunny and 5 days or so later they were sprouting and I was forever hooked on watching plants grow.
Yep. I am afraid you are going to have to teach them patience as well. I did have Alyssum start little flowers in a bit less than 4 weeks, and Thumblina Zinnia is settting buds a month after sowing, but that is with a decent light set up, not on a window sill.
Some lettuce can be ready to eat as baby greens in four weeks (again with lights), so you can get them excited about eating vegetables too!
chele519,
Sounds like we're in the same boat =) I'm a second year newbie and I just bought one of the wire shelves and hooked up a bunch of lights etc. I am so excited about mine! Last year was my first doing a ton of seedlings and I had them in every corner of my house. It was driving me bonkers! And wow, do the plants ever appreciate this new setup too. Much more light control etc.
I used 2 each of 2 bulb shop lights from home depot and other ones I got for free from friends etc. on each shelf, I don't think I could fit more if I wanted. I think I bought the 48" x 20" shelving unit. My trays are not directly under lights on each edge a little, maybe 1-2" on each side. I usually pull a tray out at a time to bottom water and I rotate them around when I do that, so haven't really noticed any issues at all.
I'm using Phillips and GE plant and aquarium bulbs. Overkill maybe, but it was high on my birthday wish list and the family came through...lol. I've heard using 1 cool and 1 warm mixed together works really well though and I did some research and I'll probably go that way when I actually have to buy them :)
Here's a pic, the ends of the flats definitely don't get as much light. I think rotating is important.
Yep, same setup as me. Although I have 2 shelves with 3 shop lights and 1 shelf with just 1. My lettuce is going outside now so that frees up some space under the lights, thank god!
Originally I had bought a 2 pack of warm and 2 cool at Walmart. THey were GE and the cool is much brighter than the cool Philips at HD. One is 6500k and the other is 4100. The rest I'm using all cool Philips. I think I would have preferred the daylight deluxe, they would have been closer to the GE but the Philips seem to be working well too. Aren't those shelves terrific? It was expensive but it will last forever.
I gave up the sterilization routine after the first couple of years. If I have a problem with damping off it is my fault for not watching the growing conditions close enough. Too warm and/or too moist, with too little air flow promotes damping off. Fungus is everywhere, learn to live with it, by NOT providing the conditions it needs to flourish. Al
Al - I am relieved to hear some of the experienced gardeners dont bother to sterilize. I didnt even wash mine. They were in the garage all winter so at least -20 degrees. I was hoping that that would kill anything. I just shook out any older soil that was still inside and planted them up. I did use fresh mix. And while I got a tiny bit of damp-off on a couple of things, I dont think it came from the un-sterilized pots.
I collected a few hundred ripe seeds from a couple african irises at my old house, 5 months ago, knowing we were moving. I have used a seed starter kit and planted 1 seed per small pot and covered (like a greenhouse) for about a week now. I also planted a few wild flower seed in the same seed starter greenhouse box and they have all started sprouting. Which makes me wonder if I am doing something wrong with the Irises. They are in warm shade right now. Should they be out in the florida spring sun to grow or do they just take longer to sprout?
Hi Youngfye ! We are almost neighbors ! Yes, this forum is wonderful , you will meet lots of nice gardener here ! I am in southern Maryland , I've only been gardening in Maryland for about 4 years so I will just tell you my experience here in somd and I will let the experts here give you the best advice however I will tell you that I planted my cool season veggies about 6 weeks ago , everything is growing pretty good except the lettuce is growing a bit slow ( I should have started them inside sooner ) ... Its a few weeks yet before our average last frost date here in somd ... April 30 ... depending on what part of MD you are in I believe you could go ahead and plant some things out, I would hold off on the tomatoes and peppers, they like warm soil and will just sit there if its too cool ... I am thinking about planting out my squash soon in order to get a head start before the squash bugs show up . Its always a guessing game to decide when its too early to plant out ... here is a link to the Maryland Coop Extension Office , I use the planting dates as a guideline , there is a 1 800 number , they can probably help if you want to give them a call .
Hope this helps a little bit !
Iris
Here is a link that might be useful: Maryland Cooperative Extension Office
Thanks all for the great advice,
I want to answer Chris CL. Hi Chris, thanks for all the explanations. I am trying to grow everything you mentioned plus summer stuff.
A month ago I started the spring stuff: lettuce, cabbage, spinach, bok choy, broccoli, onions, and am doing different types. They are what died and got tangled. The last freeze here is around April 11th, so I was going to get them out this week. Only some lettuce and cabbage survived. I guess since its already in the 80s and will be in the 90s by May, I need to wait and do a fall crop as you suggested in say August with the seeds I have left? The nights are still cool say 48 degrees. Let me know cause I would love to get out some green like my brussels sprouts before it gets hot.
Now as far as summer goes I have 17 different types of tomatos, several types of peppers, water mellons, okra, cucumbers, summer onions, and strawberrys. I was going to go ahead this week and start them in cups and aluminum pans with holes in the bottoms of the cups for proper drainage. I also cover the pans, with the seed cups in the them, with Saran wrap until germination. Water melons, strawberrys, cucumbers,and okra I simply seed in the ground. I have to weed soon, and after turning the soil over I was going to add cow manure 50/50 with the soil. Its top soil with red clay underneath. If I do a soil test with my pH soil test kit what range for what I have mentioned do you recommend for optimum grow? I have lime to neutralize if needed. Some of the tomatos and the strawberrys will be grown in very large pots on the back porch.
Last year was my first try and the weather and bugs killed it all. I did most of what you mentioned, but used old bug killer. Where I cleared is overrun with black ants. Funny cause fire ants rule the rest of the yard. I heard some bug that comes out at night could have eaten my greens last year? I will get some Savin liquid concentrate. I gave my plants alst summer an inch a week of water at least, sometimes every evening, and I have a rain gauge. However, the over 100 degree temperatures last year for so long was just too much I guess, I am unsure what to do this year as I expect the same temperatures.
Thanks for the sunlight guide. I did something similiar, but once they got outside the leaves on say the peppers; just drooped in the sun. After I gave up, I actually had small Rutgers tomatos come in when it was October last year?
Thanks again folks and I will checkout that book loribee2
Depending on what it is, you may end up with something very similar to the F1. I'm no expert in this by any means, but I've saved a few seeds here and there from produce and from F1 plants. It doesn't hurt to grow them out and see what you get. I tried growing out F2 pepper seeds a few years ago and I kept getting 3 different types of peppers. Of the 3, the ones I really liked were seedless, so unless I took cuttings, I could never keep growing those. I've saved seed from white marigolds and they would never germinate. I've read that tomatoes grown from Campari F2 seeds are just like or very close to the F1. It is fun to try...I usually have some kind of experimental planting each season, but on a very small scale..
I purchased a honey dew from SAM club. It was golden yellow with green stripes. I never tasted a sweet perfumed honey Dew like that for a ling time. I saved the seeds and planted them. I was able to produce 25 of the same honey Dew. If it was not for the Ants and Squirrels I could have double crop
Where there's one mouse there's more...and more...so if you wait to see what it is, you'll never get anything planted. A really good trap is the Tin Cat. You put the bait inside and the mice go in, but they can't get out and it holds quite a few. Then you take the trap somewhere to the woods or away from your house and pop the top open...and repeat as necessary, which you would still have to do with a trap that kills, but this is less messy(I just personally have a problem killing the little devils). You can also try covering your flats temporarily with plastic(poke holes on top for venting)or tulle netting. Mice can chew through either of these, but it might buy you some time while the plants germinate(and maybe place some birdseed somewhere to divert their attention). Another option is to start your peppers inside, then put the seedlings in the GH, since peppers need warmth to germinate well(75-85 degrees). HTH
Wow, those are great looking starts! And I'm with you on wishing I could plant. I'd started mine earlier this year, because when I planted them out last year around the first of May, they weren't as big as I'd have liked. But I also didn't have the good light set-up last year either, so they've done a lot more growing. I'm trying to hold off at least until 5/1. 5/15 would have been even better, but I'm not sure if they'll last in cups that long.
For me, I do think that when it comes to seed starting, the 3rd time will be the charm. LOL
Thanks! Your tomato babies look aweseome! A little bigger than mine. It's my first time doing them & I didn't start them till Feb 27th. But, I can't believe how fast they've grown in the past 3 weeks. I have to start separating some of the plants again & they're getting too crowded all in their under-the-bed container. Will have to put them in 2 containers. Next year I plan on having two shop lights & moving them into two separate containers. Especially since I want to start more of my own veges next year.
When you transplant your seedlings they will stop growing for at least two weeks, it is called a "check in growth" caused by disturbing the roots. It will not help to move them again, let them grow out of it by themselves. During this time fertilizer will hurt not help. As the roots are not removing any water from the mix, it is very easy to over water, and exclude any air from the root zone. Al
Somehow I don't think that's the issue here. In the past transplanting hasn't slowed them down. I am wondering if the potting soil is messed up somehow. Hoping to replant in another brand today. Thanks for the reply.