6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Thanks for the info, Sarah! I haven't had many responses. Yours definitely helps, but i'll still probably read up on them today to get my facts straight. =) I'll prob make myself a little cheat sheet of sorts for them since i've never grown any of them before.
- Steve
Here is a link that might be useful: Steve's Garden
I would have started all of those 6-8 weeks ago.
You may want to try wintersowing or direct sowing.
Successful supplies:
Sterile potting soil and/or seed starting mix.
Well vented growing area
Lights
containers
trays to catch water when bottom watering
plant ID labels/tags
fertilizer
and enough room to keep your plants happy without crowding them.
Keriann~
Many, many, many hints and advice in all of your plants here in this forum. Search each one to find more specific answers.
No photos, but I can tell you about them. A leggy Tomato and pepper will have a weak thin stem with lots of space between the leaves and branches. It just looks weak. A perfect Tomato or pepper plant will have a thick stem It will be compact and bushy and the branches will be closer together.
I haven't tried Delphiniums myself, but according to "The New Seed-Starters Handbook," it says to keep the planted seeds dark.
Here's an interesting trial someone did, growing some in darkness and some with light - it looks like either would work.
Yeah, I have that and have also read that. I was just surprised that some of the seed packets recommended light and others dark. I wondered if there was any reason I should adopt one method over the other. I guess not. And, thanks, that trial was interesting.
Just pull the mulch back in places and direct seed, cover with soil and wait for germination. Once the young seedlings are established you can put the mulch back into place. In your climate keep in mind that mulch will keep the soil too cool for germination until well into the summer.
Dave
One thing to watch for: the air indoors is drier than the Sahara desert because of the HVAC system. If seedlings have grown for long in high humidity, their stomata are open, and some genes may be turned on in the seedling adapting the plant to expected high humidity. Hitting extremely dry air can be harmful to the leaves even if the roots are moist.
As you can tell by the other responses, we've all overplanted seeds. It seems like the smaller the seed; the more viable they are and form a carpet of plants when they all sprout. I volunteer as a propagator at a local arboretum and have found that a couple of common eating forks is best for jiggling and teasing the plants apart.
I might also suggest you join a garden club or other similar group where you can trade or exchange plants.
What I do with a large quantity of small seeds is use a plug tray with 200 cells. I first fill the plugs with my seed-starting mix (Miracle-Gro with 50% perlite) and then dump it out into a pile. I add around 200-400 small seeds to the soil, mix in the seeds homogeneously, and then put it all back into the cells. I keep the mix moist and have excellent germination. Usually I have one or two seedlings in each plug. I grow them on till time to transplant outside or into a larger-volume cellpack. If I have two or more seedlings in a cell, I either tease them apart or sacrifice all but the strongest one. Even if the seeds need light to sprout, at least some will end up at the surface of the plugs; ditto if they need darkness since some seeds will inevitably be covered. I collect my own wildseed around Houston and SE Texas so have lots to play with.
Without seeing them in person, I would say too much water and they are in need of potassium.
They look really wet from the pictures. You said you used peat in your 'soil', peat retaines a lot of moisture and is slow it drain.
I would repot a few in regular sterile soil and get them dried out and see it if helps.
Keriann~
Got to agree with the above. That was my first reaction too since it is across the board - it is the classic look of way too much water/too wet soil.
My only other thoughts as "possibles" is halide light burn or wind burn. But if in the greenhouse and unless your fans are set way too high speed ;) I'd doubt wind burn is the problem.
Dave
Good to go, the root will figure it out. As long as it is covered you are in the clear.
Sometimes we all get caught up in a 'perfect' situation. Mother nature has been germinating all of these seeds without our help since the begining of time. Plants are pretty tough, they mostly wither due to our doing or under-doing.
Your guy should do fine.. a bit lanky but it will catch-up once the weather warms and you get get it outside.
If you don't see the seed break surface in 2-3 days, brush the light layer of soil away so it can peak out. It may have to be misted if after a few days of breaking soil it emerges with a 'helmet' head with the bean shell not falling off.. or I always just pick it off VERY carefully as not to damage the stem. You can tell after a few days to a week if the seed leaves are struggling to break the shell off.
Congrats again!
Keriann~
Hi Kim,
I like vegetables, but I am more of a carnivore (Rib-Eye) Yummm
I saw a need in our community for Fresh Vegetables all year round for the Homeless or Needy and I have a 1/8 acre and figured I should do what I can to lend a helping hand,so I grow year round as many things as I can, There is nothing like walking into the foodbank (especially when it is barren) and handing over a hundred pounds of fresh vegetables... those are some real servant hearted people there... Anyway...It is a total blessing ...I couldn't be happier to be a part of someone getting food in their stomach ;-)
I wish I had not sown scrophularia nodosa (figwort) indoors. The germination suggestions indicated it could take several weeks at 40F to germinate, or might respond to warm/cold/cool cycles totalling several weeks. I decided to give sown seeds a warm moist period and then place outdoors for some weeks of overnight frost, but they germinated in about 8 days from sowing while still indoors....are now taking up space not designated for them under lights until I can harden them off. Came up like cress, every seed must have germinated.
As long as the seed is under the ground it can't freeze unless it's a hard frost that freezes the ground to where they are.
Poppies don't freeze easily anyway. I have had poppies reseed themselves and come up the next spring.
All you are doing with your milk bottles is warming the ground and maybe making it too hot if the excess heat has no where to escape to. You would be surprised just how hot it gets under plastic. Be sure to remove the bottles when they sprout or you will have fried poppies
It may be a little early, but they probably will not germinate right away. I usually wait to direct sow warmer season crops until around the last frost date (May 10th in my area). I am not sure weather or not the frost will have an affect on your specific seed.