6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
mayzu I am impressed with your grasp of seed starting at your age. I am 60 years older but was not as thoughtful at your age. First your seed will probably germinate much faster than what is says on the package. When you have a few true leaves I would suggest you start taking them for a walk outside when you have a nice day. Only an hour at first,starting in the shade. As your walks get longer they should include more sun. By the time you can plant them in the garden they will adapted to the conditions, and take right off. Al
Thank you all for your input! I will avoid the fungicide and follow all directions on my seed packages. ;)
And Al, thank you for the compliment! To be honest, I think my "thoughtfulness" and knowledge is helped a lot by the fact that I have the Internet AND books as my guide. There's a lot of information out there!
tn_veggie_gardner - I'm no master gardener but I believe the botanical name for anise hyssop is agastache foeniculum. It's called by several common names including hummingbird mint. The bees absolutely LOVE it. I've had bees stay on the same flower spike for 10-15 minutes or more at a time. All parts of the plant--including the seeds--have a strong licorice scent. Check the stems--they're square, like others in the mint family. I bought a packet of seeds at the job lots store three years ago and not only did it bloom the first year, it multiplied prolifically. Give it full sun and it's a happy camper.
A commercial vacuum seeder as used in the plug production trade is worth several hundred dollars. The production line moves a line of plug trays filled with mix coordinated with a revolving drum vacuum seeder in a bath of seeds. Each hole in the drum is sized to pick up one seed as the drum revolves through the seed. As the tray moves down the line one row of seeds is released as the vacuum is cut into the individual plug tray holes with mix. It is amazing how fast a tray of 300 plugs can be planted with only a worker or two watching and removing the planted trays from the line. On average a plug will sell for about $.15, making the equipment cost a good investment. Al
I have seedlings located in the gh and in my basement. I depend on mother nature to provide the light for the gh.
A warm sunny day the seedlings they will jump in stature. Inside the the house those seedlings are getting constant light and 70 degrees
Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening by the Seat of my Pants
If you are going to keep seeding mix in a shed or even in a basement you have to keep it dry. Get yourself a garbage can with a tight fitting lid and use it exclusively for potting mix. Mine has soil in big red letters so it won't get used for anything else by mistake. I buy a 3.8 cu foot bag of it every spring when I open my greenhouse and it does me all summer and I still have some left in the spring. It never gets musty as long as I keep it well sealed.
I keep that one in our garden shed. I have a 5 gallon pail with a tight lid that I fill from the big one for the greenhouse and I bring it into the basement when I close the greenhouse. I use this for fall planting and fill again for the spring. It never gets musty either. Pro mix will last a long time as long as you keep the moisture away.
Steve, 2 things. First, I bought a *very* inexpensive light fixture at Walmart. The short one (holds 2 flourescent bulbs which comes with it) was $14. The long light was $11 plus $6 for two regular bulbs. I did quite a bit of research on the lighting requirements, and for most plants regular bulbs (or one warm one cool) will be plenty to help seedlings get off to a good start.
Second, I am very heavy handed and I think the smaller seedlings transplant easier than the bigger ones. I found out the bottom of the cell trays have a hole in which a pen fits nicely, popping out the whole chunk of seed starting medium in one piece (as long as it's wet). Too bad I didn't figure this out until halfway through my transplanting :)
Ok, well, it's done. =) I now have 4 Amish paste, 5 Sungold Select II & 6 Black Cherry seedlings in my normal 16 oz plastic cups. Yay! They were soooo frickin delicate though...lol. Only 1 tragedy, maybe, as I broke a good root piece off of one, but I still potted it to see what happens. I did look under the tray for those holes, but it is filled almost fully, so it looked hard to do. Anyways, we'll see how it worked very soon. If not well, then i'll need a close light setup or something.
- Steve
Here is a list of perennials that bloom the first year that wife and I have put together over the years. But keep in mind it is also going to depend on your zone. Further north may not be until second year:
Balloon Flower, Black-Eyed Susan, Coneflowers, Blanket Flower (some), most Columbine mixes, Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise', Dianthus, Shasta Daisy, Blue Sage, Mallow 'Disco Belle', and Yarrows.
Most perennials will be second year bloom.
Dave
I've done it both ways - snip thinned with the scissors and just let the clump grow. Either way works, it all just depends on the "look" you are after. We like it in hanging baskets so individual plants don't work all that well.
For future reference if the small clumps of lob appeal to you you can just buy the plain seed (cheaper) and plant it that way.
Dave
Dave,
I defer to your experience in that you're likely correct, scientifically, about what is actually best for plants... but it doesn't bear out in my personal experience. I find my plants "stop and start" and struggle along more if/after they are potted up to different containers than they do while still in the APS units... perhaps because of the human factor there! I am a rather scatterbrained mom with three small children underfoot... I am hopeless about remembering to water even a few houseplants, so you can bet my success rate with more finicky seed starting systems was about zero! Then again, maybe the "scatterbrained" thing has worked out to my benefit, in that my reservoirs do dry out once in awhile before I notice it... haha! But that is different from keeping the reservoir empty except for specific watering times...
There are an awful lot of people who are enthusiastic proponents of Earthtainers and other self-watering container systems who would argue your point...
There are an awful lot of people who are enthusiastic proponents of Earthtainers and other self-watering container systems who would argue your point...
Ahhhh but there we are talking about established plants, not young seedlings. ;) Been awhile for me as my kids are all grown but you'll understand, it is just like "kid's needs aren't the same as those for adults".
I find my plants "stop and start" and struggle along more if/after they are potted up to different containers than they do while still in the APS units... perhaps because of the human factor there!
Nope its not the human factor it's the plant factor and good for them in the long run. Those stops and starts are the triggers the plants need for switching to root development vs. top growth just as kids have growth spurts and plateaus while their bones catch up with them.
Just some thought to consider. :)
Dave
Am I reading this right that your mix is one eighth ferilizer? If so you probably killed your seeds and seedlings from fertilizer burn. Don't add any fertilizer until your seeds are sprouted and have their first set of true leaves, and then only sparingly. The worm castings didn't kill your plants because it is a very weak fertilizer.
californian you are missing the point of the experiment.. which is to germinate (or not) seeds from the get-go in a pre-mixed soil medium. The experiment shows strong fertilizers in the soil are not conducive to germination. It's a multi-tiered experiment that also is looking at the growth patterns for what does germinate. We're not trying to show the effect of fertilizer AFTER the seeds are germinated, but the effect BEFORE the seeds germinate and then closely watch the results. The fish fertilizer is 5-1-1 and nothing has germinated to date. Instead we got all that mold growth. The other aspect of this experiment is for observation notation in the project. I know what you are saying, but that's not the premise for this particular experiment. We could try reducing the amount of fish fertilizer and 10-10-10 used to see what amount allows germination and then note what kind of growth we see.
Lettuce ect do not plant deeep.. keep in very good light... I prefer to "top water" but others are convenced bottom watering is best (both have advantages & disadvantages) Soaking seed for 8-24 hours is a good idea.
I only direct sow my cukes, squash, mellons.
ninjabut - can I suggest a review of the many FAQs on this forum (linked on the front page by the forum instructions). They will answer many of your questions.
As already mentioned lettuce and other leafy greens aren't transplanted deeply like tomatoes. They form their roots and leaves from the base cluster, not the stem. If they are leggy they simply aren't getting enough light.
In your zone it should be possible to move them outside now for sunlight, perhaps even plant them in the garden since they are cool weather crops. Here in zone 7 lettuce and such are already planted and up in the garden.
Top or bottom water is debated - several discussions here currently about it. All I can say is that professional growers bottom water only while the seedlings are tiny - once established and the danger of uprooting them in the process is passed they switch to top watering for convenience purposes. Otherwise it is up to you. My personal preference is bottom watering to develop deeper root systems.
Cilantro can be very slow to germinate but then it grows so fast to bolt that direct seeding is usually recommended. Same with cukes, squash, and melons. They don't tolerate transplanting real well and often stunt if you do it.
Pre-soaking seeds helps some things but it isn't required in any way. It's an option some like and many ignore so it's your choice. And if soaked too long can be harmful to some things so do it with care.
Dave