6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Hi All
Just wanted to give you an update on the Ipomea that you all gave me advice on.
I can't believe that i actually had some success with growing them , after years of not getting past the germination stage.
I found that i was planting them too early as the packet suggested, in April, I planted them end May and this seems to have worked, I found that they produced an abundance of leaves(first pic) and the flowers seemed to appear under the leaves so were very hard to notice among the dense foliage. Only a few flowers have come out, although there are many buds. I guess it's the Leeds climate!The same thing has happened with some cup and saucer seedlings. Lots of foliage and buds, but no flowers. I've added a couple of pics for you to see. Cheers and thanks for the advice it really helped.
After posting my questions, I saw there's also a forum on winter sowing.
If seeds of Cora or Cora Cascade vinca series are candidates for winter sowing, I'd be interested in learning about this as well as sowing it in the "regular" way.
If you think I should post this part of my questions in the forum on winter sowing, please let me know.
I have always had a hard time with asters, until last year. I tried Tower asters and they germinated really well. This year I sowed them again plus a different aster and again the towers germinated fine, the others, I think I have one that germinated.
I bought 8 different types of petunia seed this year, 5 of them I got close to 100% germination, the other three I got zilch. Which has never happened to me with petunias before. Avalanche Red, Denim Shockwave, and Baby Ducks - total loss.
It's weird how sometimes things work and others they don't! I have been using the farmer's almanac gardening by the moon this year just for fun and I haven't had any failures aside from forgetting to water something too long :( I actually have an Ipomopsis flowering now!! I also have some successful moonflower vines this year which I haven't had luck with in the past. I think if we keep trying we eventually are successful!
It doesn't sound like your planting medium is good for container gardening. The topsoil and compost holds too much moisture and is effectively drowning the plants. You will need to look into a "potting" mixture.
Second a majority of what you listed are 'cool' weather crops (you can google that) and will do better in the spring and fall before it gets really hot.
Good luck
SCG
Not sure what climate you are in but here in Cambodia you can gently press the fresh black seed into the ground anywhere with reasonably good, well draining soil, forget about them, and a month or so later you'll have a decent seedling. I "found" a 2 foot tall tree today that i literally did nothing for once the seed was in the ground. So the black coating doesnt inhibit anything that I've observed, at least not in the tropics! Good luck.
You May Get Soluions For You Query @
Happy Friendship Day Quotes
Here is a link that might be useful: Happy Friendship Day Quotes
Digdirt's (now) dead link was scraped by the wayback machine archive - Below is a snapshot of that linked Acai Palm page in 2011 when it was still working:
Here is a link that might be useful: [wayback] Growing Acai at Your Organic Garden
I have about 10 plants I planted from seeds. That was about 11/2 years ago. Now they are about 1 ft high. I have had no problems with them. Even in the winter time when temps get in the mid to upper 40s a couple of times they did great.
I live in SW Fl. and we have hot humid summers, so conditions seem to be very good. I do give them some plant food once every 3-4 weeks. I plan on keeping them in pots until they get about 6-7 ft and then put them in the ground.
I would not fertilize in small cups. I also would not trust the big box "feeds for months" stuff, either.
In my experience beans - Blue Lake Bush is what I grow - do best sowing directly into their final growing spot. I also do container gardening. I would get those sprouts to their final growing spot and let them adjust and feed off the big box mix at first, then add some inexpensive 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 - easy to find. Don't add high nitrogen or you'll get too many leaves and too few beans.
All said, there's always the "it depends" qualifier, as growing involves light, soil structure, water, temperature, fertilizer, organic life in the soil, aeration... I'm sure I'm forgetting a dozen or more things offhand.
Anything started in pots needs light soil to allow roots to grow. I've had good experiences using Pro Mix BX, but you can use any light seed starting mix. Whatever you use indoors, make sure it's sterile. Avoid re-using pots unless they are sterilized and remember to clean your trowel. I also had a bad problem with damping off this spring because I added an organic fertilizer to the soil. The bag had been opened and left in the shed last year and must have been contaminated with fungus spores. The outbreak killed my pepper and eggplant seedlings just as they were germinating but I managed to save the tomato plants that germinated the fastest. Next year I will just use very dilute liquid fertilizer indoors and save the organic stuff for the garden.
Also, since you have a short growing season you should be starting your onions indoors around Jan or Feb or buying plants if you want large bulbs. A long or intermediate day variety would be appropriate depending on your latitude.
When I do start seeds in small pots and/or indoors I use coconut coir plus inexpensive soil conditioner.
I'm a container veggie grower in Atlanta, Georgia... coming on 4 years now. I used to grow veggies in the ground but I switched to raised tables and containers due to back problems.
I have an indoor nursery but it gets little use now because the only plants that I find do well starting indoors and under lights, and that I like to grow, are tomatoes and eggplants. These veggies hate the cold. I start them in Dec/Jan and put them out after first frost to get the most out of them come May-Sept. Everything else that I like to grow does better outside and sowed directly into the container soil.
Note that I use a seed warmer in my indoor nursery as well. I use lidded 1020 seed trays and keep an eye on what's sprouting and then move them out to being under grow lights ASAP.
My new soil is usually a 1/3 each mix of perlite, peat moss, and Black Kow. My "old" soil is last year's soil, reasonably washed of salts, and then revitalized with some inexpensive generic 13-13-13 slow release fertilizer plus compost and vermicast from my compost tumbler and worm farm, respectively. I like the results that I get from this, and the lower watering and fertilizer and money demands, versus other soils that I have seen touted on this website.
As far as starting from seed goes, in my own experiments I have shown that the less I transplant the healthier the plant grows. I have done comparison tests growing from seed indoors versus direct sow starting at the same time, as well as giving the indoors plants a few weeks head start, and found the direct sow did better and produced more veggies, with the most memorable such experiment being cucumbers.
So much goes into growing healthy plants that this one factor - how I started from seed - may well not be the reason why I got the results that I got. I recommend you try a few things out at the same time and see what works best for your plants... *as well as for you*. By that last statement I mean you have to enjoy the process, too! I read a lot of posts here where the labor and money involved seems excessive to me. I do what works to produce veggies without making it so much of a chore that I don't enjoy it.
I hope that my shared thoughts help you in some way to find your gardening path.
You are all inspiring to me :)
I got heavily into gardening again, plotting out a backyard project that entails pulling up grass and planting a wide variety of perennials. Ordered some SMALL items on line, but they will grow, and I am semi-patient, but I have also bought some plants and this year read about winter sowing. I am psyched and want to try it....I have tried planting seeds in the past, but they seem spindly and never seem to do well. I SHOULD say that my last attempt at perennial seeds was OK, tho, I did end up with a few columbine, euchenecia that have returned for the past 3 years. However it's a far cry from the amount of seeds I planted and what survived these past few years is mighty disappointing. This year I have renewed enthusiasm and am semi-retired so I have more time for gardening and planning and watering and keeping up with the garden! Would love to follow you all how you make out during this coming winter/seed season!
The Name That Plant! Forum is a good place to get an exact ID on most plants.
Here is a link that might be useful: Name That Plant! Forum
A few questions:
Are these species roses? If not, even if the grow, they will not produce plants like those the seed came from. All named hybrid roses are grown vegetatively i.e. from grafting or cutting.
If they are species roses what have you done already to get them to try to get them to grow.
I am afraid that anyone selling rose seed is basically a charlatan UNLESS they clearly name the species, explain how to grow them and warn how long it will take to get a flowering plant.
Here is a reasonable overview of what you need to know.....
Here is a link that might be useful: Roses from seed
FWIW, I don't dead head my pansy or viola's. They have been forming seed pods which have been bursting all year. So mother nature is sowing them all summer for next spring.
What that means is sow whenever you are ready as they will germinate when conditions suit.
SCG