6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Your hollyhocks, sweet peas can go outside anytime now with reservations since they are already started.
Both don't mind cool temperatures and will withstand a light frost. I start them outside in a month or so before my last frost date, not inside.
With yours, Transplant them into individual pots and give them a week to settle in and then start hardening them off and then plant.
You can do the same with Morning Glories but They like it warmer and won't stand frost so don't plant outside yet. I usually start these outside too.
Then you will have room to separate the others. I wouldn't use peat pots. Do them in pots or paper cups with holes punched in the bottom and a good potting soil like pro mix. If you ever plant peat pots be sure to remove the pots or outer cover before you plant. Unlike they say the roots do not go through it unless it is sopping wet and it doesn't biodegrade in one season
I let the top 3/4 dry out and then bottom water until the top glistens.
I would not keep the soil damp or always spray when the top drys out.
The top of my soil will dry out in a day or so, but I wait until the top 3/4 is dry before giving them a drink.
Are you using Peat moss jeffy pellets?
Keriann~
You could also search 'watering' here, there are many posts about this.
Thanks for the responses!
I am using a Schultz potting soil mix that contains mostly peat moss.
I removed the plastic covers from the flats some days ago,and since then, I have been misting the soil with a spray bottle every day. We are currently getting some unusually warm weather for this region, and the tomatoes are springing up very quickly!
"WHAT WOULD DO THIS???"
You don't happen to have any cats around, do you? That is exactly what some of my cats will do, just bite the heads off.
Try covering them with netting of some kind, even tulle.
Go to a dollar store or party store and see what they've got in shiny mylar fringe, the longer the better. Hang it over your seedlings; if necessary, tie them to the top of a stick (like a ponytail) and let them sway over the seedlings. Birds shouldn't like this at all.
Growing seedlings is like issuing an invitation to a smorgasbord to every animal and insect in the area.
Slugs usually take them off a the soil line.
Sue
Belgianpup:
Birds may pick at the petals of flowers but I've never seen any that go after leaves. They have never bothered my flowers, but They do go after the apple blossoms occasionally
Slugs will eat the leaves and sometimes the stem, but it's cutworm that nips them off at the base.
"What about leeks? Will they develop more than one long grassy type leaf?"
That one long leaf is the plant. They will grow more, and some of the lower ones will turn yellow and wilt, but they all grow from the same base, not in a rosette or anything.
Sue
You don't need to grow them inside for 6-8 weeks. You can plant them out as soon as your weather allows and you feel they are big enough (i.e. 3 or 4 sets of leaves, 4-6 inches tall, won't wither up without constant watering or if a strong wind comes along). That said, assuming you keep your lights close enough, they won't get out of hand before you plant out; they won't grow faster than their roots will let them. I have some that I started in February; they're a little leggy, as I ran out of space under my lights and they've only had sunlight for the past week or so, but they are still probably only 6 inches tall.
Sleepy is right. Most plants don't flower inside. They also don't usually flower until they are mature enough.
What kind of fertilizer do you use and how often do you use it. A fertilizer that is high in nitrogen--the first number on your fertilizer box-- will make lots of nice lush green leaves and few if any flowers. Use a balanced fertilizer like 15-30-15 or one that has all the numbers the same and only use it about every 2 weeks. Nasturtiums in particular don't need much fertilizer.
Don't feel you are alone. When I was a newbie, the first year I grew nasturtiums I had a lovely dark green bush of leaves and not one flower. Now I get lots of flowers. It's all about learning.
I'm not an expert and I've never started them from seed, but when I buy them from the garden centre, I often snip mine off fairly soon after planting and also quite often during the growing season. They get nice and bushy and sturdy. I grow them every year.
I don't even remember how tall they're supposed to get, but mine are always about 8 or 9 inches tall, bloom like crazy and they're beautiful =:)
Well, the instructions stink. :) To put it politely. Those self-watering thingies are ok if you use them like you would normally bottom-water with any other container; that is to say, pour water in the resevoir when the cells are dry, allow them to soak up what they need, and dump the rest. Seeds won't germinate, and seedlings won't grow, in a constantly wet, soupy bog. Which is what peat/soil will be if you allow it to sit and soak up water all day long. Sorry for your struggles, hopefully you still have enough time to get some new starting mix and seeds and try again; this time, wet the medium, squeeze out extra water, fill the cells, add seeds and cover. Don't water again until the seeds sprout and the soil is dry. Hope that helps!
Thanks for those tips. I'll try that. I just planted some passionfruit seeds about 2 days ago so hopefully I didn't ruin those. I don't really care about the other stuff I was growing as I have my vegetable garden mostly planted. I was just experimenting with seed sprouting since I'll be growing a lot of stuff this year with my new greenhouse.
In looking at the photo - my reaction is that the light source is inadequate. How old are your bulbs? Shouldn't use them for more than 2 years as a grow light. Set the timer for a 16 hours/day on cycle. The lumen output drops off dramatically.
I start mine in the seed packs, then into 12 oz red drink cups, when about 3 inches tall, planting deeply. then after about 4 weeks they go out to the coldframe. a few weeks later - into the 1/2gallon milk containers, so that by mid May have nice big root systems to plant in the garden
i keep the lights about 2 inches above the top leaves.
also, the peat or manure pots you have - i've never been able to keep the moisture regulated - their either too dry or wet. I did some peat pot, some plastic pot w/seed start mix, and some w/spaghnm moss in small self water plastic containers - only the peat pots had problems.
keriann--
I haven't grown the trailing petunias much, but I know others who do. Some don't cut them back, but one lady cuts back the longest trailer every week. She says it makes for a much bushier basket and she avoids the bare center look. It must because her hanging baskets are beautiful.
The bonus if you cut them back is that you can root the cuttings and make new plants. The choice is yours.
Thanks Oilpainter and Dave
I will trim one back and see what the results are. I like your idea oilpainter, I will have to give that a try.
Also, good idea about saving the cuttings to root!
Happy Easter!
Thanks again
Keriann~
Woo Hoo 85* yesterday and today in WI in April! Crazy!
Hi httyuwma
That is just about our summer temperatures and the tomatoes do just fine outside.
If the roots are growing outside the pots the roots are being air pruned. You could put them in other pots or plant them outside. The choice is yours, but I definitely wouldn't leave them as is.
You don't need to remove all the newspaper. It will biodegrade if it is wet enough. Thoroughly wet the paper and you will see most of it will come off and the roots will pull through it. I used to grow tomatoes in peat pots and the roots sometimes came through it. A thorough wetting and the roots slid through the holes they had made and we could peel the pot off.
If your house faces west and this bed ends at your driveway does this mean your bed runs north and south? If it does which end is your trellis on the north or the south. If it's on the north end and you are growing regular sunflowers--they can grow 5 feet tall-- then the sunflowers will take all the sun and shade the trellis.If the trellis is on the south end the trellis will shade the sunflowers.
If on the other hand you grew dwarf sunflowers on the south side and Clematis the trellis, to the north of the sunflowers it would be perfect. Dwarf sunflowers grow no bigger than 3 feet and that would be the perfect height to shade the Clematis roots.
There are many different varieties of sunflowers. What you should look for, since this is more of a display area, is not the kind that get a single main head, but rather the kind that are intended for flower production and cutting. If you keep the spent flowers cut off, they will continue to bloom for most of the season. The single headed plants are pretty ratty looking by mid August.
For a vine, try planting one of the runner beans, scarlet, or pink. Edible pods and then edible seeds if you let them mature. The flowers are attractive to humming birds also. Plus, they are an annual so if you don't like them or they don't do well, you are not stuck with them next year. Good luck!
Steve
I agree with oilpainter that unless you can rig up a way to support the fruit watermelon in a container will be very problematic.
But if you want to give it a try then the bigger the container the better and both of yours are quite small. The 24" container would be close to the size of 1 hill in the garden except for root room so it could hold 1 plant perhaps. But you will have to water it several times a day and feed it at least weekly for any production.
Container gardening is great in many ways and normally easy to do but a few fruits and vegetables just aren't "container-oriented". So rather than things like potatoes (you other post) and melons why not focus instead on food plants that will thrive in containers?
Dave
My Watermelons always sprawl to 15' or so, if you have that much land,why a pot ???
But anyway... Unless you are doing trellis's (in which case you WOULD have to figure out a way to support your melons), all you need to do is pinch off any watermelons that will be in a position to "hang"...VIOLA...back in business ;-)