6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Your seed can be considered to 'be in the dark' as long as they buried in the soil. The germination flat or trays don't need to be covered. Some seeds require light to trigger germination, and need to be sown directly on the soil surface. Other seeds are neutral, and others (like your onion, need to be buried with a little bit of soil.

Your choice of potting medium may make it a bit difficult to avoid diseases. Fine textured mixes can cause a lot of problems when trying to balance the moisture content.

Now that the seeds have germinated, you should probably keep the cover off so that the whole thing can be exposed to air. Good light, air circulation, and very careful watering techniques are all important to avoid those dreaded 'damping off' diseases so common to seedlings. Excess humidity and moisture, darkness, lack of air circulation will invite problems. Those fungual spores are ubiquitous.

Many people have reported good success at keeping fungus infections at bay with cinnamon sprinkled on the soil surface or with diluted chamomile tea used to water the flats (or mist the surface). You could even dilute some hydrogen peroxide to mist on the soil surface. Mix household peroxide (3%) at the rate of 1 ounce per quart of water. It can also be used to water the plants.

Be sure that you pull the plug on your heat mats, if you used any. Extra heat isn't required after germination.

Thanks! So far, I think they're improving.

I gave them some water last night and today...I think I was underwatering for fear of over watering. It's good to know that the dark isn't needed, sometimes it's hard to sift through all of the info out there.

There's no sign of fungus anymore, but I have some cinnamon at the ready.

As for the potting medium, what is recommended?

Also, should I anticipate problems with the 72 cell trays? I did notice that when I bottom watered some cells were moist while others were bone dry. I switched to a mist to avoid that. What other problems should I expect. Yikes!

Thanks again!

Spindly plants mean that they are to far from the light. Move them close but not touching you grow lights. soon as the second set of leaves come on re-pot them. Bury them up close to the leaves. This was they will root all along the stem.

Spindly stems can also mean that there's too much bottom heat on the sprouted seeds. Be sure to turn off the heat once the seeds have germinated; they'll be much sturdier and stockier.

Thanks for the helpful comments. As a neophyte, I've apparently way underestimated the light requirements. I now have my light right down nearly touching them. Is it possible to give them too much light, i.e., could leaving it on all the time counteract the spindly syndrome?
Thanks again.

No! don't leave them on 24/7. Plants need a sleep time (so to speak) 14 to 16 hours on is enough. Don't let the leaves touch the lights. They do burn if the bulbs are very hot. Another thing! Always water from the bottom, You don't want Damping off to get those tall seedlings. Good luck.

Thanks for the update! I am glad it all worked out!

What kind of lights are you using? Do you lower them down closer to the plants?

Just curios

Keriann~

I have a t5 four tube on the top tier full spectrum and a t8 2 tube with one grow and one bloom tube on the bottom. I am still in the noob stage of growing from seed but have learned a lot from all here and thank all for their and your help.

I do lower them but am trying to get the most coverage and may need to set up some mylar to help in reflecting some of the light to better cover the area.

I germinate a lot of extras, we're a small family too (just 3 of us) and I live in a city so have VERY little room. Like you, I sometimes sneak some into my flower garden. :) I also give away a lot. I would say I probably start around 3x what I need. If I have a yard sale in May, which I usually do, I set my daughter up with a table and sell some off.

If you have the room to grow a nice sized garden, you can always donate the extras to a food pantry or shelter. Or you can learn to do some canning. My neighbor makes the best jams and sauces from all her extras. She gives me some for gifts, and I always love it when she does! :)

I myself am on my third year of starting from seed and in the past have started double what I thought I needed, this year for some reason I decided to share with friends and family and have quadrupled my seed starts and am almost overwhelmed with the amounts of plants that I have space for, that being said if your planting for just yourself double the amount and share the rest you will have plenty and will make others very happy that do not have as green a thumb as you.

Thank you all for great help! I do not think that I will transplant them, I have so many. What I have decided to do, thank you mandolls, is separate clumps when transplanting into container or hanging basket. The cells are of the heat mat for the last week and they look like have moss. Have a look:
http://jerry-our-garden.blogspot.com/
And yes, flora_uk, they are Lobelia Erinus. Is it ok to expose them to sunlight? Filtered or straight? I will be posting light question as I couldn�t find any thread.
keriann_lakegeneva, it all depends what pepper I am growing. The Thai chilies are red by mid july and banana red about 10 days later. I put my pepper and tomato pots in cold frame and burry the pots. Then when frost danger is over they go to their containers or beds. It works for me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lobelia and other seedlings.

Thanks Jerry!

I *need* fresh peppers by the end of May. : ) I cant do store bought for much longer than that!

Good luck and I will follow your blog.

Keriann~

Thanks Flora. The tree we have is the Yellow Buckeye. We seem to be the only ones around here with a Buckeye. I'll try your recommendations. There may have been some nuts, we have a few greedy squirrels here, and they might have beaten me to them. I'll have to get out there faster next year to try and get some. Marg

Marg - if you have squirrels it might be worth having a good hunt around for baby trees. They often 'plant' the nuts for you.

It would be considered a fertilizer.

Granted some advise to fertilize when growing, but I am serious when I say this. I have had more plant failures due to over fertilizing than what I have had from under fertilizing. Once you over fertilize a plant that you love and you recognize it and do everything that you can think of to save the poor fellar and you still lose the plant, you tend to NEVER forget it. :(

This is me and only me, but I would say do not worry about fertilizing those little guys. Just talk to them and they will listen and they will start to talk to you!! :D

Problem solved after I have sprayed with horticultural spray about a week ago and they look terrific. I have posted more pictures on my blog.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seedlings updated pictures.

You should figure about two weeks of growing will be lost at each transplant. If you were a little more specific about your routine we might be able to suggest a change or two. Are you starting your seeds in a flat and transplanting into what size container? For what you are growing, I start in cells and then transplant into four inch pots when the cells are rooted well enough to hold the soil when removed from the pot. I prefer to plant in the garden from four inch pots. If transplanting is done at the best time, there will be very little stress on the plant. I don't like to transplant and change the environment at the same time, as this requires the plant except two changes at once. Al

Here in Oklahoma I have found we have better, long lasting plants if we plant seeds direct. Our early spring weather is up and down until first of April which is really hard on transplants. We now use plastic to warm our rows which allows planting a little earlier. Now we do not have to deal with leggy plants, small roots, hardening off. Plants seem to be able to handle the the various type of weather better. They have a better root spread, and seem to produce more and better veggies.

I have only been germinating seeds for two years, but I have always gotten some moss growth. It hasn't seemed to do any real harm, but this year I thought I would top the containers with fine chicken grit which I have seen mentioned in the forum as a way to counteract it.

I am also assuming that moss indicates lack of light since out in the real world it sure doesnt grow in full sun. - does that sound likely?

The grit surface will help prevent a crust developing, and because the grit dries quickly the growth of algae will be slowed considerably. With seeds known to be slow to germinate I also use the grit. Al

If you live in Alabama I would assume it is warm enough at least part of the day to put your newly sprouted seedlings outside directly in the sun the day they sprout. I find here in southern California that if I put my just sprouted seedlings in full sun the day they sprout they do not get sunburned and are hardened off from day one. Seedling that get sunburned are ones that are babied too long inside under low light levels. I take my seedlings back inside at night if the predicted low will be below 47 degrees and put them under my fluorescent lights.
After all, volunteer seedlings that sprout by themselves outside are in full sun the day they sprout.

Keriann: Excellent information! This was exactly what I was looking for. Okay, so I have a plan now.

Al: My question was quite clear, "which do you think is the best option?" No worries though. It looks like there is no one option anyway, so that explains it for me.

Californian: Thank you! I agree. The reason I was hesitant is the late frost or soil temperature problem. It's much later in the season when you do it that way. Wow! You're in zone 10 so you probably don't have that problem! ;)

Ah, yes - I'm fairly sure low light levels aren't the problem. This isn't a regular shop light - this is a bank of 8 T5HO lights - 432 watts, ~40,000 lumens at 6500k. One of these lights allows several citrus trees to set fruit indoors with no problem.

As I said it's 1500 foot candles at the tops of the seedlings which I thought was appropriate but maybe it's too much. Or maybe it's just that I didn't realize I needed to keep them much cooler than I have been..

Oh, that makes more sense.

Yeah, my bad they are the true leaves.

YES, you can harden them off and get them oustide now, they can take the light freezes, just make sure you do it slowly and put them out for their first few days in above freezing temps.

They will love it!
Keriann~