6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Just make sure that the soil is always moist, but not soaking. If it appears to be drying out, give it a thorough watering- BUT not soaking it. Usually this means a little bit once every day.

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!

If you add a small 4" personal fan on each end that helps with dampening off and also stimulates the plants. Just my two cents worth. I think this is a great idea

I don't even want to think about it. I'm running my lights 12 hours a day. And it's a high sodium pressure lamp so I'm sure I'm going to be a nasty bill. Good thing my husband never sees the electric bill. :)

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~

Do you leave the humidity dome on? (in the background)

also, can you post a picture of your light over your seedlings?

Keriann~

The cause of leggy seedlings is usually either poor lighting, too much heat (65 to 68 degrees F. is usually good) or too much fertilizer.

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.

Thanks swb! :) It's interesting b/c the zinnias and alyssum that I started in the same tray/same window are compact and growing well!

I'll resow cosmos outside when it gets warm.

I had two cosmos in each of two pots, otherwise identical. I pinched one plant in each pot and the cosmos I pinched both died, slowly.

Calistoga,

I recently placed a order with the GreenhouseMegastore. They are a division of International Greenhouse Supply. Thanks for the link-Steve.

They carry smaller hobby packs (10 count) of seed starting trays and inserts. Shipping was perhaps a little pricey but I liked the option of the smaller packs.

Karen

Thanks for the references. The more sources the better. Al

Everyone says clip off the weaker seedling. My situation is I almost never have a weaker seedling when two seedlings come up together, they both usually look the same. So you have to play God and kill a perfectly good seedling. Some seed is expensive, especially some hybrid seeds that can cost over 30 cents a seed. Why not just plant one seed per a cell and if it doesn't come up plant another one. All you would lose is about a week of growing time.

Um okay just to get clarification, you're saying I could start from seed and grow till they're big enough the be transplanted and it wouldn't hurt the root system of the plant? Basically I wouldn't have to repot while they're still being grown indoors as seedlings (to bigger containers)

Also I'm using the 48" grow light not because of the brightness of the light is given off, but because it's bigger, and I'd be able to maximize my growing space.

The dimensions of it are 22" x 11" so would I be able to get two under a 48" grow light? This is for future reference.

I'm referring to using the hobby greenhouse thing I suggested, the one I gave the link for.

My question about it is, is it durable enough that it can be reused for a good period of time? I really don't want to have to keep replacing it year after year after year.

Use one of the reflective emergency blankets you can often find in the camping section of sporting goods stores.

I had just posted some pictures of my set-up in a related thread below (use the link below to view it). This uses the reflective foam board insulation, as I wanted the double-bonus of hopefully containing a little more heat from the bulbs. (And according to the helpful people on this forum, they don't believe it will go up in flames, LOL)

Here is a link that might be useful: Forum Link

I do...for larger seeds, I'll sow and cover with the sowing medium, then top pots with fine aquarium gravel. If using it with very tiny seeds, I'll prepare the pot with the gravel complete, sprinkle the seeds on that and wash down in with a spray of water to make soil contact. It works especially well for those pots of perennial, tree, shrub seeds that are going outside for the temperature fluctuations, the gravel will keep seeds from being dislodged in a gully washer rain and prevent a crust from forming if there should be a drying wind. Discourages algae and mosses for those pots that are going to be a while in germinating.

But I'll use chick grit or crushed pumice as a topping just as often. Will help to control damp-off as it doesn't hold as much moisture at the surface. It also helps to control the growth of those unwanted green things (algae, lichen, moss) under lights. Light layer for those things that have small seeds and those that require at least some light for germination, heavier topping for the rest.

I plant my tomato and pepper seeds in small holes about 3/8 inch deep I make in the seed starting mix with the eraser end of a pencil. After dropping a seed in the hole I backfill it with pure vermiculite soaked in the potassium nitrate solution I presoak my seeds in. It doesn't take much, maybe a quarter teaspoon per a hole. The vermiculite in completely sterile, and very easy for the seedling to push through. Even if mold forms on the surface of the potting mix it doesn't effect the seedling because it is pushing its way through pure vermiculite.