6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
IMO the best way to germinate seeds...
use those olive garden takeout containers, fill with soil
sprinkle the seeds on the top of the soil
mist the soil so the surface is moist a couple times a day and keep the container covered with the lid it comes with
keep out of direct sunlight
I use old window screens to cover my raised beds when I direct saw. They are still mounted on light frames so they just span across the raised bed frame. They still let the light and water through but no animal or bird gets the seeds.
You dont say where you are, My corn germinated in a week. Dont plant too deep.
Squirrels or chipmonks. you need a tunnel of chicken wire made in a hoop and stuck in the ground--or individual bowl shaped ones. The sunflower will grow up through the chicken wire and The squirrels can't get the seed. Once it's sprouted you can remove the cage
Natanya, there are many columbine/aquilegia, do you know which you have? They have different germination requirements, some will germinate after a chill of a couple of weeks, some with no chill and can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to several months to germinate at room temp, others need many months at approx 40F.
And the chill (if needed) has to be moist to do any good. Dry in the refrigerator is just storage - a chill to stratify must be done moist.
I don't have any experience with Japanese maples but common sense would say to wait until the maple itself decides its seeds are ripe. i.e. when they start to fall naturally. I have grown other trees from seed which I have just collected up off the ground. Why make things harder?
At least online, just like all the others that have pink poppies. Swallowtail Garden Seeds does not have Linum lewisii. To give them the benefit of the doubt they may be calling it ''common flax''. Their pink poppies are in a mixture, not sold separately.
Since pink poppies are fairly common and Linum lewisii is fairly common it is curious that it is difficult to find both.
I did a lot of winter sowing this winter, and now as I am emptying milk jugs I have been re sowing annauls back into them. I dont fasten the lids down, just let them drape over on their own, and it still allows plenty of air movement, but keeps them from drying out too much, oh, they are also in an area with almost no direct sun, but plenty of light so they dont over heat. Then when they have their first set of true leaves, transplant.Zinnias grow pretty quick. Its been working well for me.
Tammy
I grow lots of these and I believe most zinnias take about 90 days from planting to bloom, so you should have them by September. I have a few hundred zinnia plants set out in the garden, but I will be direct sowing some more for fall use. Keep the soil moist and they should be up in three or four days, as long as your weather isn't too cool.
ThinMan
Lucky you, I can only wish!!!
The best time to collect seeds is when they have seed pods that are ripe and that is usually a month or 2 after they start blooming.
If you look closely you will see a football shaped pod that comes to a point on the end. Make sure it's big and fat. It will be where a flower was, but don't touch it until you are ready to collect the seed. Have a container ready to put the seeds in. Make a fist around the pod. As soon as you touch it, it will spring open scattering the seeds into your fist. Put the seeds in the container and throw away the pod. Let them dry inside for a few days, in a spot out of the sun. Then store in a jar with a tight fitting lid in a cool dry dark place.
Collect Seeds from each color and 3 or 4 times as much seed as you think you will need. Some of it may not be mature and you'll want to experiment with planting them. Scatter the seeds on top of the soil. They need light, and must be kept moist, but not overly wet until they germinate. You might try some in pots too.
Good luck and may you enjoy your new home
I think so but since mine are the mixed ones I couldn't say for sure. After many years I still have all the colors, and they still have the same pom pom flower. I have noticed the size of the flower is dictated by the kind of Spring-- early summer we have. Last year it was cool and rainy and the blooms were big. This year it has been hot and dry and the blooms are half the size. We haven't had more than a couple of showers in 2 months
Would anyone agree that this is good information ? It looks like bottom heat should not be necessary if I sow them outside right now based on our recent temperatures. It also looks like although the seeds are just a few millimeters the pod should open and the fruit will ripen and I'll have time to monitor the situation and hopefully collect the ripe fruit ?
I would really love to hear from anyone who has done this or seen it done.
Here is a link that might be useful: general palm germination information...
hi there...id advice you to take have a look at rarepamseeds.com,am sure you will gain the information you're seeking plus,its a whole community of palms seed,they do have cool tips on how to get 100% germination..
i did tried some technique and invented some of my own..they were successfull,,but some seeds might take few months while some might take 4-7 days to germinate eg christmas palm,very elegant,grows fast and easy to maintain...
i just started my blog and am gonna post few cool tips bout palm trees..feel free if you wanna share any tips or comment..
hope its helpful
Here is a link that might be useful: exotic palm trees
The seed pods will be where the flower was. It is an oblong pod with many tiny seeds inside. Wait until the pod turns brown and starts to open Then collect the pods in a container. If you do it before this you will get immature seed that won't sprout. Stick your thumbnail in the opening and peel it back. Do this over a piece of white paper so you catch the seed.
Hostas are easy to grow from seed and don't need cold stratification. I'm growing them from seed I harvested from my own plants a few years ago. They take a really long time to get any size to them. The ones I planted 6/20 last year went dormant in December but are back up again this year. They still only have about 3 leaves on them. They won't come true from seed--the ones I'm growing all came up green, even the seeds from variegated cultivars.
Oilpainter is right--it's faster to divide mature plants every couple of years to increase the number of plants you have to work with. You can also divide them into smaller segments. I've got smaller divisions planted around the base of an oak tree. They'll be small this year but slightly bigger next year. By the third year they should have grown to almost their mature size. I've got some gigundo designer hostas that need to be divided but I missed my window of opportunity this year.
I also winter sowed hosta seeds. They're tiny but they're up. Check out www.hostalibrary.org for instructions on how to grow them from seeds. I grew them indoors last summer by a sunny window. This year I winter sowed 2 different types of seeds--'Dream Weaver' & 'El Nino.'
Many people grow hosta from seed trying to see what variations in plants they can come up with...they don't come true to the parent plant. Takes some patience....germination may be anywhere from 15-90 days or so, and the plants stay small for the first 2-3 years.
Hostas are not bulbs. They have a root system extending downward from a crown, and quite an extensive one at that...One of the few times I've broken a shovel was lifting hosta to divide.
Have you visited Swallowtail Garden Seeds? They have a really good assortment of perennials. I went to the site for bellflowers and ended up with a whole lot more.
Here is a link that might be useful: Swallowtail
Try the link for info.
Here is a link that might be useful: Pelargonium Basics