6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Right now I am using my home-made heat mat(9"x13" cake pan) with Christmas tree lights under it. I only have one 9 cell in it now. I can look over on the bookcase and see it is 76.1 degrees inside(transmitting therometter) and can addjust up or down as I see fit. The major drawback is that I have to have an extenion cord running to it from the switch I have set by my recliner.
I have a Hydrofarm 9.5x19.5 mat that gets too hot, but I will fix it like the homemade (pan) by using a dimmer switch on it. The home made runs about 85 degrees at 80 volts (temps vary with ambient).
I like having a small heatmat (pan) and just sticking 1 or 2 cell packs in it and sliding it under or behind the chair
and just glancing over my left sholder to check the temp.
Larry
Here is a something cheap to make and I got all the stuff at Lowes. I made this last year and it worked good. Its nothing but a 5 gallon bucket and a light socket. I dont keep my seedlings in there after they are up because of no air movement.
Check It Out!
Here is a link that might be useful: CFL bucket
Many of us sow in flats for material and space saving - sowing in individual pots may not be efficient unless you need only a small number of plants.
Seedlings from seeds sown close in a flat can grow together and become overcrowded, tall and spindly, difficult to separate if left too long. It's beneficial to the seedling to 'pot up' or transplant to individual containers at this point ...they benefit from transplanting in that way, but often disturbing the roots will set the growth back or stall it temporarily, they don't actually benefit or improve from having their roots disturbed - not like punching down rising dough :)
If you started your seed in individual pots (or thin using scissors as you describe to a strongest seedling), you will not have to transplant if your pots are large enough to accommodate developing roots until time to plant out in the garden.
It may be a little harder to keep the moisture content appropriate in a large container for seedling roots so you'll need to pay special attention there if you choose to go that route. Watering not frequently enough can cause the top to dry out (where the roots will first be) and watering too often can leave the lower pot zone too wet.
Not a germination database of credit, but Fine Gardening mag -
"wash the seeds well and remove the slippery outer coating; then sow immediately. Cover with soil and keep in a warm, bright place. Germination should occur in four to eight weeks. You can also start seeds in vermiculite; keep a plastic bag over the pot to maintain high humidity. Papayas are prone to damping-off. "
Gailardia I know for sure blooms the first year and it is easy cheesy to transplant.
As far as monarda this will be the first year I grow that genus so if it blooms the first year from seed I am not sure. Though I have read nothing that indicates that it is difficult to transplant.
Hopefully someone else will come along about the monarda with more experience first hand than myself.
I grew Monarda from seed last year and they bloomed on the top of the one stem which grew per plant. I did not pinch them to cause branching. At the end of the season,(November,here)I dug them up and potted them, as the location where they were requires constant blooming plants. The potted Monarda kept in a cold frame are producing lots of growth from the root ball which I presume will be lots of flowering stems this year. Al
Hi every one, hi Man-Go-Bananas,
In January I grew lemons, apples and kumquats as I said I would. They are all doing rather well. I have a couple of questions.
1-Lemons
I planted some lemon seeds a month ago in Jiffy Easy pellets. I hope you all know what they are - small soil packs. I have kept them indoors in a light windowsill. Now they have grown very nicely, they are around 5-7 cm tall and have nice healthy looking leaves. The thing is their roots have started to come out of the bottom of the soil pellet. I want to make bonsai out of these trees. should I cut off the roots as they come out? Should I just let it be? Or should I transplant them quickly into a pot. The roots which have come out seem to be drying out.
2-Kumquats
The Kumquats were planted in January too. Some I started in Jiffy easy pellets and some in wet paper towel. All of them are now transplanted in Jiffy easy pots, which are pots made of some sort of cardboard it seems, with potting soil. The baby trees look as if they can't stand their own weight even tho they are so small still. Should I put a stick or something to support them? And how? I want to keep these trees as small as possible too. What do you suggest?
3- Apples
I started some of the apple seeds in January and some a little later after being kept in the fridge for a while. They are all growing nicely except for three of them which I kept outside in the cold and snow and they are sprouting but on the soil, I see a kind of white colored fungus (mold) growing. should I throw them away. The rest of them are OK. some have even grown another set of leaves. In order to dwarf them should I be pinching out the new set of leaves?
Thank you all in advance for your help.
Cheers
Thanks for the input, everyone. So far, I haven't had any problems with damping off (knock on wood). But maybe I'll open my foam doors during the day when it's warmer, and close them up at night when they could use the extra protection. The picture is a little deceiving in that it makes the top look more "closed" than it is. But I'd hate to lose 14 tomato seedlings that are doing beautifully at the moment.
Larry, my set-up is out in my garden shed, unheated, which is why I wanted to add a little insulation. This seems to be working good.
And yes, it was refreshing building something with duct tape! LOL My first idea had been to make a box out of some scrap wood I've got, then cover it with foil. When I saw that the 4X8 sheet of foam insulation was only $8 I decided I could "splurge". It was worth it!
I just looked at my bill again and I was off a little. I used 949 KWH and my bill was $85.58. Thats the total with tax and all the other clean air stuff they add in. Cost will be wattage x hours run, divided by 1000 x price per kilowatt. So, Its .013 per day if you run it 18 hours a day. So about a nickel for every seven hours of run time.
I top water because I don't like holes in the container to make a mess on the window stool. I poke a hole in a bag with a safety pin to make a very fine spray and usually water along the edge of the container only, which makes most of the water flow down to the bottom and then spread from there, which has the same effect as bottom watering.
That seems like a lot of work. I have hundreds of seedlings and that would take me all day. : )
You are still missing the main advantage of bottom watering. The seedlings suck up the water they need, instead of us pouring water over them and seeing what pours through and what the soil soaks up.
I also believe watering from top encourages dampening off becuase the top is usually wetter than the bottom most of the time VS. bottom watering (top layer dries out faster and longer)
But hey, if it is working for you, thats great!
Keriann~
Sorry for not specifying this initially in the thread, but these herbs aren't going to be grown indoors as houseplants.
I also just wanted to know if these were good candidates for seedling transplants for the herbs I listed, not if they were good candidates as houseplants being grown indoors.
Also the only other thing I wanted to know is some herbs are very difficult to grow from seed if just direct sown outside; I wanted to know if these 'difficult herbs' can be grown as transplants indoors.
The main reason seeds are difficult to grow outside from directly being sown is cause birds and other critters will eat the seeds especially herb seeds. Or rain likes to wash them off to some nook and cranny to never be seen again.
Growing outdoors is the way I choose to go, though very few do I direct sow. I only direct sow things that do not like to be transplanted.
All of the herbs you mentioned in your original post I personally do not see a problem with being transplanted.
It's not necessarily the peat that is the problem, but the pellets are encased in a netting that can inhibit root growth in spite of what the manufacturers say. If you use them to start your plants, cut and carefully peel the netting off when you pot up or transplant to the garden. Don't use 'garden soil' as it will carry bugs and pathogens that can kill your seedlings. Straight peat can compact, dry out and crust up, or hold too much moisture...starting mix has peat with vermiculite and other stuff(perlite?)mixed in. It is also sterile. I use Jiffy starting mix in cell packs, then use potting mix when I pot up to 8oz cups after a few sets of true leaves.
As for peppers, you can find a lot of info perusing the Hot Pepper forum(growing info applies to sweet peppers too). There will be as many different methods as there are posters, and no way is THE way. What works for one may not work for another. Don't forget to read the FAQs at the top of the forum page.
Peppers seeds need warmth to germinate, about 85 degrees is ideal, but they will eventually sprout at temps a bit lower. Keep the medium moist, but not wet. Some varieties will take longer to germinate than others and I've found it's best to keep different varieties in their own cell packs or pots so you can take sprouted ones off of the heat without disturbing the others.
Don't fertilize your seedlings until they have a couple of sets of true leaves, and then do so with a very weak solution.
Also, you don't say where your location is, if you're starting your seeds indoors, what kind of light source you have(lights, bright window?)and that info would help with feedback. Hope this gives you a starting point.
Here is a link that might be useful: hot pepper forum
I like a potting mix such as Ferti-lome Ultimate. Mass sow seeds in a container of it, once they germ and get a couple sets of real leaves, transplant them into 3" nursery trays. Let them sit for about six weeks under lights, feeding them from the bottom with good nuits (Tomato-tone is my fav) and you end up with strong seedlings when it comes time to transplant.
Mike
Hi Al,
Thanks for your input. I'd better get my light table cleared off; it's in the garage. I hope this goes well as I haven't had much practice with seeds under lights.
The Rudbeckia I'm growing is the one with the green center. I only see them in gallon containers in the nursery. I hope to take one or two to my garden club's plant sale.
Ginny
Ginny
Hi Ginny, you won't need the light until germination has taken place. It will not hurt to have the extra light now, but not having it, will not prevent normal germination. I started a lot of seeds too early,lured by a couple of weeks of unseasonably warm weather,I am finding which seedlings will tolerate the cold best or worse. I have learned to always plant only a sample of any seed, so my losses are minimal. Al