6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I haven't started bleeding hearts from seed, but the plants I have reseed profusely by themselves--at this point I'm running out of room for more plants and have to pull the new seedlings as weeds. So you might try buying one established plant from a local nursery and letting it reseed. These are the big old fashioned ones--the fernleafs don't seem to reseed. One new seedling turned out to be an alba, even though the original plant was classic pink.
My Goodness, there is always one in every crowd isn't there? I know a quilter like that. Always ready to put people down and ready to accuse other quilters of stealing things. She had so many people convinced others talked about them not to mention accussing others of theft. Guess what? She is being investigated of breaking into someones house and taking thousands and credit card theft and now it seems that stuff always went missing only when she was around. The police said she has 9 aliases and has records a mile long. Wonder why she is not in jail. It takes time but they get found out.
It seems to me that no matter how common your plants are (and I don't believe they are), as long as they sell and the money goes to a good cause, what the heck does it matter.
I am new to gardening, the last 3 yrs now, and I find gardening to be a relaxing, rewarding and gracious task. You take a small seed or plant and pour your heart and soul into it. Everyday that plant expresses it's graditude to you by growing strong and vibrant sharing it's beauty and wonder with you and those who happen by. To take that love and care and share it with someone else is as good as a heartfelt hug in my book! The joy of a plant or flower has been known to heal many wounds and to take that joy and dampen it with such negativity is very disapointing.
Common or uncommon each plant and seed is a gift from God and each in it's own way has it's own personality. So.... even though your plants are not that common, even if they were purple cones or shasta daisies somewhere there is someone who wants to share their heart and garden with a wonderful plant! Keep donating, you do it for the joy that it brings someone! Let the negative nancy find her own joy!!!!!
$30 is not really expensive. Relatively dollars are almost toilet paper they way they print them, thats why things cost so much its just wages are not increasing with this.
But The shops lights will be good while their seedlings, but they might a get a big "Leggy" so you got to keep them close, after a certain point it won't be enough to pentrate several layers of branches/leaves.
Myself I used a Floru tube called a "Grow N Show" I bought several years ago at Wal-mart for $20. It worked somewhat well this year for my seedlings, then growth just dimsished. (not enough light)
I bought a 125 Watt CFL which is misnomer becuase there not really compact there quite huge. The 125W CFL are sold for around $60 and give off about 8,000 Lumens. From my understand LUMENs are the most important part of a growing light. If you can afford get something rated around 10,000 lumens like a High Pressue Sodium or Metal Halide Lamp, or try the the 125 or 200 Watt CFL grow lights and your plants will grow very good like they are outside.
I've had good success using simple shop lights. As lazyhat suggests, you need to be careful about "leggy" seedlings. I have a couple of pictures of the setup that I used. Basically its a pole with some chains which you can use to lower the light and mitigate the legginess of the seedlings.
Here is a link that might be useful: cheap grow light setup
Humidity is not that important for germination In fact if the plastic is kept on it will permit/promote "damping off" IF you check the moisture content once a day should be fine & since you have a bottom up watering system just just add water if needed.... Keep in mind if the soil is two WET then the seed may rot & you block the needed air spaces & the seed cannot germinate.
If you've got peat pots sitting in water and wicking water up, your soil is too wet.
I've occasionally poured water around the base of peat pots if I am going to be out of town and not there to water. It works OK for a short time, but as soon as I am home I dry the pots back out.
If you start with damp soil (damp, not wet) and have the pots covered with plastic, you should not need to water. Uncover as soon as the plants sprout. Then you must monitor soil moisture. Keep on the drier side, but do not allow to dry out completely.
I am in desert, so I mist the baby plants a couple of times a day. If your air is not dry, you probably don't have to mist.
By the way, I dislike peat pots. You'll need to peel those off when you transplant. If you get into this growing-from-seed thing, you'll be happier if you start collecting something more suitable.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Overcoming Seed Dormancy: Trees and Shrubs Vinegar is safer (but less effective treatment) and can be used for species that do not have an extremely hard seed coat; the technique is the same as with sulfuric acid.
Wonderful news kayjones, Trudi and Albert. Trudi our winters are so mild here it's like spring most of the winter. We have had one cold day so far I guess average around the valley got down to 36 or so. Next day it was in the 70's. This is the time of year I start many seeds in small styrofoam cups so I can easily bring inside incase of really cold weather. Right now I have 13 differant peppers, 8 kinds of basils, amaranthus, blue bonnets, marigolds, etc..that have all been started from seeds. They are all just waiting to go into the garden beds. I also have all sorts of tropical hibiscus and the bouganvillas I am rooting for the first time. The begonias and angel trumpets are all doing fantastic with lots of new growth. I would love to know what everyone is growing.
One problem comes to mind for me and that would be the weight of the sand. It is much heavier than perilite. For some small seeds the sand might just be heavy enough to cause emergence problems. In addition the perilite helps maintain moisture, I'm not sure about the sand. It would be a shame to sow that many flats and there be problems.
I think you could order the perilite online and the weight of it should be a plus in shipping costs.
If it were me I would order some perilite and sow like you have in the past and experiment with a tray or 2 of the sand and see what the difference is. If the sand works that would be great and you could save money in the future. Heaven knows we all want to save money. Be sure to let us know if it works for you!
Good luck.
For germinating tree and shrub seeds I generally use all sand or a combination of sand and Pro-Mix. So far my results have been very good, however I have not tried this with veggies so I'm not sure how well it would work with them.
The sand I use is the unscreened, coarser type of sand and not the very fine "play sand". I simply mix equal amounts of the Pro-Mix with this coarse sand and I have a good seed starting mix. So far the trees and shrubs do very well in it.
HTH.
JZ
Yes, thats the seed, and you're right, it doesn't look like the pod you might expect from that flower type to me either.
They germinate pretty easily after a moist chill of 6 or more weeks. Druse suggests nicking then chilling, but I did not nick (not that it would hurt) and germination was fine, more seedlings than I needed.
As has already been suggested I think the Winter Sowing - GardenWeb people could be very helpful.
I used to start seedlings under lights 5+ years ago, and can't even remember when I would start them. Maybe about 6 weeks before the last frost? Now I start all seedlings outside, winter-sowing perennials and "spring-sowing" the tender plants like basil and tomatoes, usually in the 1st half of April.
The perennials go under the shrubbery on the east side of the house and I don't worry about the snow or frost with them. The tender heat lovers get sown in large cups, the cups are lined up in a large plastic container, and the containers put along the foundation on the south side of the house. This is the warmest spot outside - the foundation holds heat at night and the southern exposure receives maximum sun at that time of year (until the trees get their leaves!). There has been a hard frost in the rest of the yard and the seedlings along the foundation aren't at all frosted, so I don't even usually cover them on cold nights. I water them from the top and bottom by filling the container with a bit of water. This method works really well - no lights, no damping off, no extra elec. charges, and the herbs and tomatoes grow great.
However, if I really wanted earlier yields - I would start a few things under lights to get a jump on the season. (Or you can buy big seedlings someplace, but seeds are so cheap and easy.)
Lol, I am idiot!!! I always confuse hollyhock and hibiscus. Can anyone say, DUH?? lol
Read Carolyn, Read!!
Omit the first paragraph please, lol. The rest still applies even for a hardy or tropical hibiscus, accept for the page location on the web page I posted. :D
Oh, and I looked at your link for the shelf/light units. That ready-made-for-gardening stuff still seems way over-priced to me. I'd go with an inexpensive(but sturdy)shelf unit and separate lights(using regular flo bulbs)that you can attach yourself. I tried to find shop lights at Walmart's site, but none showed up. I know they have them though. Here's a link from a big box store...
Here is a link that might be useful: shop lights
FWIW - you can sprinkle ground cinnamon over the surface of your growing medium to retard the damping off fungus. It won't hurt the seedlings but will neutralize the fungus. I grew things indoors before I discovered winter sowing and even with a fan to circulate the air the damping off fungus developed. The cinnamon really worked. Dollar store brand works just as well as the named ones.
Buddleia davidii - Moist chill (stratify)of 2-4 weeks may improve germination but isn't strictly necessary. Surface sow, do not exclude light, @ approx 70F for germination in 20-30 days.
They shouldn't be difficult for you, such prolific self sowers here we can no longer plant, noxious invasive :) Same in Oregon, and a while back they were getting some attention in Massachusetts but I don't know what their status might be in Illinois or the other colder states in 2010.
I've started butterfly bush inside twice with great results. Just followed the instructions on the envelope. The germination rate was good and they transplanted well.
Have fun!