6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
You coverd them with newspaper so the stems/leaves have never seen the light of day.
A lot of people confused the word covered when it comes to sowing seeds. 99% of the time it is meant you cover the seeds with soil, not cover the seeds with newspaper or a box or something. This is so as soon as it germinates, the seed will break through the soil and have light.
I would start a new batch of seeds or get your seeds very close to lights, like 1-3" away and maybe there are a few that havent germinated so they will come up in light, not dark.
I hope that helps, bummer they dont look very good!
Keriann~
365 days? Good gawd no, not true at all. About three weeks to a month at 75 degrees in pure pine bark. Yes, they are slow growers, but geeze, not that dang slow! Pine tree bark is very high in ph, and it's what this berry plant really loves. Plant them 1/4" deep in VERY FINE chopped pure pine tree bark. Spray the pine bark with rain water and a drop of superthrive mixed in a quart bottle in part sun. Do not let the bark go dry, keep it moist. In about a month you will see sprouts emerge out of the pine bark. Always plant these berry shrubs in a high acidic soil/medium of 4.0-4.8ph. This very high acidic soil is very important to the berry producing plants, and they will not survive without it.
From my past experience on just a few items:
tomato: 4 weeks (otherwise, they seem to get too big)
basil, sweet: 6 weeks
rosemary: 10-12 weeks (slow growing and slow germ)
cilantro: 12 weeks (because they like growing in cold weather, and then they bolt come June)
If you have more seed I would recommend starting new ones, especially if the seedlings are over two weeks old. I had the same thing happen to me two years ago. (educated myself after the fact) The seedlings that I started under the lights were much stronger and healthier by planting time, even though they were three weeks younger.
Last year we started some tomato seedlings near a window in a plastic tray and they ended up getting a bit leggy since the light wasn't strong enough. I was worried about them but planted more than half of my garden with them. They took an extra week or two to catch up to the other plants but once they did, they actually produced better than others.
I wouldn't trust my entire garden to leggy plants, but if some are they should catch up.
I almost didn't use them but my father (Why has many years of garden experience) said they would be fine, and they were.
There IS NO NEED TO REMOVE THE DRIED SKIN:aLL THAT IS NECESSARY IS SOME WARM WEATHER, SOME SEMI-FERTILE SOIL, and some moisture. In actuallity You may simply toss the seeds as they are onto your garden soil and they will grow like mad. The leaves are not much raw in salads, but are pretty tasty when sauteed with som garlic for about 10 minutes.
I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I've been wanting to grow some Malabar Spinach and I have seeds, but I was worried the berries might make a mess, since I would be growing it near a sidewalk. Did either of you have any problems with berries that have dropped?
I think that it is not the same how much light there is in sunrooms in zone 9 and zone 6. Now, the light comes in a shallow angle in here whereas zone 9 California, the sun would be fairly high. When I measured the light level in sunroom and outside in front of it with my old photo light exposure meter using neutral 60% grey card (the standard) there was almost no difference at all because the sun beam light came straight in at 60 degree angle. But yes, you are right, I still give it that extra 3 hours of light. I will do an experiment, though. I have more snapdragons than I need and I have 2 plants that are almost identical in growth and seeds are from same packet. One will stay in sunroom and one will be moved for extra light. Just before I will transplant to final pot or ground I will take picture of them side by side. This way my curiosity will be satisfied. Gardening is so much fun!
Check the pictures on my blog that shows my sunroom setup. The post might be second from top or just click on Garden link at top.
Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it very much.
Here is a link that might be useful: Seedlings update
I had to leave mine soaking for a almost two days, and i already have some germination in a few different peppers...
However i kept the room at a steady 75 degrees...
it seems to me that pepper seeds need a bit more soaking to get through their shells (which are tougher then tomato seeds)...
Tomatoes I start in used sixpacs, two seeds per cell. Usually both grow and I cut one off at soil level. When 3 or 4 inches high the cell will be well rooted and I slip the plant out without root disturbance and right into a salvaged four inch nursery pot. Al
Muffin fans used in electronics are available from electronic salvage companies for about $3. They are rejected because they are too noisy or some other reason, but work fine in the greenhouse. I hang them from the roof on wires and run them 24/7, as their wattage is so low to be negligible. As far as I can tell they run forever. Al
I agree with Mike, I would leave them on the heat for another week or so, after that, I would take them off if they all arent up yet.
Just remember to take off the humidity dome if you are using one, after the first one germinates.
Keriann~
I grow my seedlings in my workshop/studio area which is heated separately from my living area. I keep it at 55 when I am not out there. I find that simply draping the lighted shelves with reflective material is enough to hold the heat from the fluorescent bulbs and bring the temp up to 70-80F (top shelf warmer). I can use the top shelf for germination and the bottom one for growing seedings that like it a bit cooler. No need for heating mats. Also most vegetable seeds will germinate at 60 degrees and less - it just takes longer and the germination rate is a bit lower.
I planted lettuce 3 days ago and it started coming up last night so I set up my light system today. I also planted peppers last night and am eagerly awaiting those.
Here's my light setup. It is from a link in one of the posts on here. If anyone else has used this pvc setup, it says each shelf can hold 4 flats but I only have room for 2 unless I use a shelf underneath, did I put it together wrong? Anyway, I like it because for now, I can just leave it on the table and I'll have room for 4 trays and can always expand upward later as I do more or once I start transplanting to bigger containers.
Here is a link that might be useful: