6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
You should let them dry out a little, if they are constantly soaked it will cause them to yellow and rot their roots. They could probably use some fert. but be sure to start out with a dilute fert solution, so not to burn their already tender root system and you can even wait to do this until a little while after you plant them out. Also, if they are put outside to quickly and not hardened off properly then you could run into problems.
You might want to watch or tweek your watering regime. The compost will act much differently than a soilless mix...the compost may not move water throughout the container like you normally are used to. Bottom watering will become a whole different beast...so feel the weight of the container...don't go by looks alone.
Congratulations!! Like you, my first year was a bust but even so, it was a great learning experience. Despite all the reading and research I did beforehand, you don't know what you don't know until you dig in and give it a shot. My second year was markedly improved.
Your plants look absolutely gorgeous!! I guess the third time was a charm!
Here is a link that might be useful: my blog
Damping off will typically occur at the soil line, where fungi enter bruised tissue. Strange things on leaf edges means uptake of nutrients and water was poor, or it can be tainted water, etc. In their new home with plenty of light the seedings should be fine. Peat pots offer no nutrition, so moving them was the thing to do.
I have a PUR dispenser for drinking water. I have been using that at room temp to water all my seedlings. Should I continue doing this or use tap water? Once they go outside they will just get water from the hose anyway. I'm confused, I thought the cotyledons were supposed to give them enough nutrition for a while. Should I be transplanting the others that are in the Jiffy mix that doesn't have any fertilizer in it? I also have some in Miracle Grow seed starting mix, are those better off?
I was going to start tomatoes today and I had planned to use the peat pellets for those, in addition to also planting in the mixes for better luck. It seems at least for space I need to transplant the ones in pellets sooner but should I also be doing it sooner so they get nutrition? This is my first year starting seeds inside so I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
Thank you for your contribution, yiorges; however, I was a bit unsatisfied with the answer. I ended up stopping by my local independently owned nursery and showed them this very picture on my phone. Upon very close inspection, zooming in and out and studying the leaves, the guy at the nursery said that these little dots do occur naturally on some tomatoes. I was somewhat relieved. I've made pretty certain not to let any water get on these since they sprouted, but just in case that it was a fungus, I mixed up a fungicide solution consisting of water, milk, baking soda and a drop of soap. I then proceeded to spray the seedlings from all angles. It's been about four days and the leaves have gotten much darker in color. The dots are still present, but have seemed to blend into the darker colored leaves. In any case, I'll continue to spray them every week for the life of the tomatoes.
Yes its definitely to cold to put anything outside right now. Though I am planning on putting "cold-frame" lids on the raised beds and putting out the cold loving plants out in a few weeks. It did get up to 50 today so there is quite a bit less snow. The tomatoes probably wont go out until the beginning of June though I have enough plants that I may try to get some out earlier and keep them warm at night. I have been reading up on ways to extend the growing season.
Eagle - the potato leaf is "Stump of the World". This is my first year growing tomatoes from seed and my first time with heirlooms. Making choices was hard! I think Remy from Sample Seeds said these were one of her very favorite, so I am trying them.
I hear you mandolls, everytime I head to the basement to care for the babies I think about eating, I cannot wait.
From 2011-04-02 4-2-11
You don't say what you growing, but with one seedling per six inch pots, it is very easy to end up with a pot that remains too wet. I would only water when I am sure they need water and then only from the bottom, and let the water wick up, stopping before the top of the soil looks wet. Al
jayhawk,
No question is "dumber than dirt". We were all beginners at one time. I consider myself to be an intermediate now, but still have plenty to learn. (In fact, that's one of the best things about gardening, there always seems to be more to learn!)
A few tips for "potting up" (transplanting to a larger container before their final home) tomatoes:
1) when transplanting tomatoes, any part of the stem buried under the ground level will grow roots. Therefore, it is often best to bury them right up to their seed leaves when transplanting. This will help to bolster the root system.
2) when transplanting tomatoes, be sure to handle them by the "seed leaves". DO NOT HANDLE THEM BY THE STEMS! The seed leaves are less delicate, and are temporary, so if any damage is done to them during transplanting, it is not that serious. If any damage happens to the stem, it is more than likely permanent.
3) a little known fact by some beginners is that an indeterminate tomato can be "cloned". When the plant starts to grow, it will put out "suckers" these are side branches off the main stem, and will grow into "main stems" as well. If pinched off, and placed in a container of water when they are still fairly small, but handleable, they will put out roots, and can be transplanted into the garden later. (I did this one year when I lost a few tomatoes to birds, rabbits or other critters. It works great.) I don't generally do it as a plan, but if I need to replace a plant that is lost for whatever reason, it is a nice solution, and it can grow quite quickly (much quicker than starting from seed again, and much cheaper than buying replacements.
The biggest problem with those seeds that take forever to germinate is the top of the soil will grow an algae and crust, causing seeds that do germinate to fail to emerge. For these problems I sprinkle a grit on top of the soil when sowing those seeds. Parakeet grit seems to easiest to find. Al
For those seeds who are stubborn to germinate I keep the soil moist all the time. As a matter of fact I keep all the soil pots moist and it has to be because the Moss absorbs water. I have my seeds in 6" plastic pots with 5 holes on the bottom. After I watered them the water seeped into the tray holding the pots. The next day I was amazed that there were no water in the tray. Looks like the Moss absorbed the water back into the pots. I have beautiful germination even with Egg Plant which is hard to germinate. 100 pots and I have not even lost one. I hope I am not going to jink it.
Not late at all. you are in cold zone like me. The safest time to plant outside is Mid-may. I leave the lights on 24/7 I think they love the lights. As soon as they germinate they are removed from the heating Mat to let them grow in normal room temperature. Some people say some vegetables like lettuce, Carrots and parsely love cold temperature. This is not my experience. Mid-may in zone 7 is the best results I got. Off course I harden them starting the first of may for may be 1-2 hours outside.
We have 24 days till official last frost day � April 25. That is a long way to go.
OK, so I will pinch zinnias, BYSV and trailing snapdragon. The regular snapdragon doesn�t like pinching? Maybe I better contact Johnny�s seeds where I bought the seeds from. This hybrid is Rocket and I wonder, since it is hybrid, what sort of features thy bread into it. It might branch if pinched, I just don�t know. I will contact them and I will post the answer. Thanks for the tips. I will sow seed directly and if I have enough I may start the snapdragons in cells again. I�m so glad I have whole timeline on my blog for next year reference!
Thanks for the compliment, started_with_bean. Yeah, the wings were incredible, just like a candy and perfect with the beer!
Here is a link that might be useful: Plants and the wings
You can pinch yoru regular snaps, they just take a lot longer to recover.
I would try it with a few and then leave a few.. a great experiment! you can see how long it takes for it to start putting on some lateral growth. It may be only 2 weeks, bit it may be up to 4 -6 weeks and that would not be fun.
Keriann~
Like Sarah says. Forget the "soil" you don't need to buy dirt.
Potting mix straight out of the bag is OK. I kind of prefer ACE potting mix over MG, seems to have less big pieces and is 50 cents cheaper. This could vary depending on your location, The ACE is 70 percent peat, 20 percent bark and 10 percent perlite. Good for potting up, maybe a little too wet for containers.
If you use those jiffy pellets be sure to disrupt the wrapping on the bottom when you pot up.
Yes, MG is Miracle Grow, sorry.
The bag I have is 2 cu ft, it is definitely potting mix. I guess I misunderstood what I was reading. I have not opened the Perlite so I will return that. I have asthma so I'm glad you mentioned about breathing that in.
I am definitely going to remove the netting on the pellets, I've read a ton of posts about that. I will save this small amount that I mixed for when I do my herbs in pots, I can mix it with the rest of the potting mix. I will check prices on a few others before buying any more. I just had this left over from last year and wanted to use it.
Since I have a large amount of peat, I can use that next year to make my own seed starting mix, right?
Thanks for the help.
Well it ended up being sunny these past two days so I did get them out in the cold frame, and I sprayed with fungicide. The brown spots are causing the leaves to curl. I think I'm going to pinch off the bad leaves.
I would tend to agree with you about the 54 degrees thing. Anything below 70 will cause pepper seedlings to have stunted growth & they will never be the same again. I tried putting mine out in a cold frame when temps were getting high enough last year. A little bit of cold destroyed every single one of them. Could also be a fungus though. Pinch off the bad leaves, get them warmer & give them a few days to see what happens.
- Steve