6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I have saved seeds from wave petunias for several years. Waves are called a F1 hybrid. The following generation is F2 and so on. Generally most of the F2 generation are quite close to the original waves, although there can be some very nice color variations as well as some that will flower stripped. The F3 generation onward seems to loose more and more of the wave characteristics as well as a loss of vigor.
For me, what has worked the best is to always have a planter of true Waves (F1 generation). So I will buy or plant from purchased seeds 6 or so waves each year. Then I collect the seeds from those plants and grow a large number of F2 plants each year that I use to fill in mass planting and the majority of my planters. I really like the variety I get from my F2 plants. Anymore, I don't plant any F3 and up generations.
I had great luck germinating seeds in the plugs (I didn't buy the dome, just the inserts) but the plants pretty much died in an aeroponics system.
OTOH, I have had fantastic success with Horticubes. Oner place that sells them is http://homeharvest.com/seedstartingrootingmedium.htm though I bought 162 cell as well as 102 cell trays. If you have your own nursery tray, http://www.insidesun.com/104fb6f35079bf88aed2ed644df1ef6b.item has them at a lower price.
I sowed a tray of the 102 ones a week ago. Only six seeds have not germinated yet. The key is to keep them wet - you cannot overwater them. I line my nursery trays with plastic, then add a couple of quarts of water every other day or sooner.
If you visit this thread you can see how my plants look after 2.5 weeks.
Mike
It definitely is a challenge to have dozen plants that range from 1/4 inch low to 4 inches high in different height containers under 4 feet long tubes. As you can see on picture on my blog I have to improvise a lot to have them all 2 inches away. I still do not know if taller plants have to be that close.
Here is a link that might be useful: Light setup
Jerry and Started with Bean, thanks for the pictures and feedback. My issue is how much supplemental fluorescent light my hyacinth bean vine plants will need if I put them in front of a large east-facing window that gets northern light too. They germinated and are growing more rapidly than expected. I should really solve the problem by tossing and starting over later, but no, I'm looking into additional light investment. :-) So I share Jerry's interest in knowing if larger plants continue to need lighting 2" away.
Deanna
Thanks! I am looking forward to it! And I think I'm going to get three fixture (2 for one shelf, and one for another). I think I will just put down some sort of mat underneath. And I will make sure to have some circulation. I will also invest in some good seed starting mix.
I just bought everything at home depot. I have yet to assemble it. I bought 3 bags of Jiffy Organic Seed starting mix. I did a quick search and it looks like in the past it hasn't worked too well. Should I return it and get a different brand? Anyone have recent experience with Jiffy?
You can separate lobelia by gently pulling the clumps apart. If you turn the clumps carefully out of the cells and put your thumbs into the centre of the clump and ease them apart they will come to no harm and you will not be cutting any roots. It's a bit like opening an egg after you have tapped it on a sharp edge. They transplant easily and thrive on the hunk method. If you go and look at plants for sale at the garden centre they are almost always multiple clumps, not single plants. And like Al said, I'd wait a bit longer before separating them.
Like I said, I will wait. There is no rush. We just got blasted with another 2 inches of snow. Yesterday my lawn was green! At least we never have an earthquake, hurricanes, brush fires or tsunamis! Snow will melt and flowers and veggies will grow and everybody happy. Well, almost everybody.
BTW, since I have a lot more Lobelias then I will need I might experiment with one cell.
I would need to know more about your coldframe. Does it have a automatic vent system to open when the sun raises the temperature from 50 to 90? The 50 degrees night time temperatures would not be a problem for your lettuce, but I think I would wait until the seedlings were at least an inch or so high. Al
What are your temps outside right now? It may be better off just getting them in the ground instead of in a cold frame. I would worry about you cooking them in the coldframe like Al had said.
Lettuce love 40-60* I think it will be too hot during the day unless you prop open your cold frame or just set them in the ground.
I would harden them off ASAP and get them outside. Al's way would work too, after 1" of growth, I just think lettuce tastes so much better when outside in the chilly air!
Keriann~
Thanks for your help! Many of the acorns have managed to find new life. Currently four already have shoots that are about 1.25 inches tall. Many others have continued solid root growth and a few that were whole when I found them have recently started growing tap roots. In total,about 27 out of the original 65 are still alive. The others had suffered severe root damage or had been exposed to poison when I found them and are now clearly dead. That's about a 42% survival rate if the living continue to thrive.
I'm going to try coir pots for a few orchids, the supplier claims they will not fall apart when wet, rich in nutrients, Ph neutral, and will last up to five years.Judging from above, the suppliers seem to say anything they please to sell these pots. Guess experience willtell us what the real story is.
My wife grows orchids and watching what she is doing with them and a medium she grows them in these pots are perfect! I was lucky to transplant my flower seedlings from these pots before the roots got entangled in the fibers. What a great idea to grow orchids in them. I am going now to shred them and give them to my wife as a new fangled grow medium! Thanks for the tip. BTW, they never expanded when soaked. Jiffy pots just grew as you watched.
The seeds I collected this fall were half dark (dk brown) and half pale yellow. After chilling all winter and soaking (presently) the dark seeds are sprouting but nothing from the lighter seeds. These seeds all came from seed pods on the plant. What is the difference?
As morz8 explained, Salvia patens seed should be placed on the surface of the soil and can be covered VERY lightly, but it does need light to germinate. By carnations, if you mean Dianthus, they also require light to germinate. Of course, once they have germinated, they need at least 14 hours of light from both the warm and cool light spectrum (what you get from a grow light) about 4 inches from the top of the leaves.
Thanks for your help. I planted the carnation (heirloom seeds - dianthus caryophyllus, from Renee's Garden) on Saturday and they sprouted on Sunday. I made a mistake, as I put them in the cell tray with S. patens and delphiniums. Now I see that delphiniums germinate in a cool environment and I've been using a heat mat. The salvia are beginning to sprout. How do I nurture these along and not let them become spindly? Using a grow light about 2" above seedlings but carnations already look spindly. Removed heat mat today. Thanks for any info.
Patreesh
I have yet to buy my first pot to use in my propagation program. All my pots are salvaged from bedding plant purchases made over the years and used over and over. The regular square four inch nursery pot is as large as I ever go for tomatoes that will go in the ground very quickly as soon as the temperature allows. Al
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1061/ANR-1061.pdf
I use tables like that to check the optimum soil temp for my starters and germination. I tend to split the difference and keep the soil around 75 degrees or so.
Chris - The Table you linked to is great for germination temps, but gardengolfer was asking about post germination temps. From everything I have read it can be considerably cooler once they have developed true leaves. Hotter is better, but they should do fine as low as 65 F.
As a first timer last year I had pretty much no extra heat (other than the fluorescent bulbs) for my pepper plants, even for germination. I was growing in a 60-65 degree room. The smaller Anaheim peppers were prolific, the Bells produced fruit, but not many, but I dont think it was due to how I started them.
On the other hand, I just bought one of those reflective "emergency blankets"($1.98) which is basically a big sheet of mylar, and have hung it as a curtain over my shelves. The temps shot up ten degrees, just holding in the heat from the bulbs.