6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Thanks. Wow, it's really that easy!

lou--For slow starting seed sow a few turnip or radish in the same seed furrow-they germinate fast & you can cultivate close to row if necessary. Remove when you see intended crop

THanks

Also the peat pellets themselves don't have an awful lot of nutrients, so potting up enables you to give starts a richer medium. For brassicas in your zone, I would think that the end of first week of April should be earliest for hardening off/planting out, JMO.

Sleepy: I feel like such a dork!

Your message even said to read below the picture!

Sorry for overlooking it.. you rock!

Keriann~

Oh, that's ok; the cool thing is, after you said that about the link at the bottom right, I clicked on it, and that shows you everything they sell that is 'supposed to' flower in the first year, which I didn't know they had a category like that. But the only bummer is it shows you their plants for sale, too, so it ends up being like 300 things, and not just seeds, but it was still neat to look through that category. Glad you will have some beautiful hollyhocks THIS year! :)

Last year I did an experiment and start sunflowers inside 3 weeks before my last frost.

I also direct sowed some in the middle of May. The ones I started inside were about 12" tall and were very sad, but I got them in the ground.

Come June, my direct sow sunflowers were much larger than my 'inside' sunflowers.

And come July, almost all of my seedlings I started inside fell over because they were not as strong as the ones I started directly outside.

Lesson learned... and now I don't plant any and I have 50-60 that self-sow. Fun to see what they will look like once opened. Mine reach over 15" tall. It is crazy!

Keriann~

We start our sunflowers inside a couple of weeks before they go out. We use paper cups(ecotainer 8 oz.), and at transplanting, rip out the bottom, and sink them in a bit.
We grow sunflowers for large seed heads, and height(county fair competition)....so these are not baby sunflowers. And if we don't start them inside, the critters eat the seed before it comes up...or take down the small sprouts. The buried cups also help with cutworms....and the system works wonderful for us:)

m

I collected the very small seeds from a Pentas this past September. To check on viability, I sowed a few on a paper towel moistened with a dilute fertiliser solution, placed towel in a Baggie, and stored it on a furnace top. In 9 days small plants appeared. Today I sowed the tiny seeds on a sterile, powdered peat and covered with a glass pane. Literature indicates that light is necessary for gremination as well as 70 degree temp. Good Luck!

Here's what it says on the Thompson & Morgan germination database:

"Pentas: 25-40 days to germination, surface sow on peaty soil, 70-75ºF, see #5.

"5. These seeds should be sown on the surface of the compost and not covered. The compost should be quite moist and we would recommend that you cover the seed container with a piece of glass or clear plastic and leave in a temperature of approximately 65 degrees F in a position which receives diffused light. Once some of the seeds have germinated air should be admitted gradually otherwise the seedlings may damp off.

"Alternatively the seeds can be sown on to moist blotting paper or kitchen towel placed in a saucer. Cover with a transparent cover and place on a windowsill which receives plenty of light, but not direct sunlight. Keep the blotting paper wet at all times and when the tiny seedlings are large enough to handle prick out into small pots. Use only pure peat with no fertilizers, added to which sphagnum moss should be added if available."

Good luck!

Sue

Could she also maybe re-pot the tomato seedlings and bury them deeper? I've always done that w/ my tomato seedlings, buried them up to at least the first set of leaves; what gets buried grows more roots.

Yep tomatoes are very leggy as the lights are way too far away and too much heat. Either switch your bulbs to CFL and lower the lamps to 1" above the plants (you'll have to deep transplant those really tall ones*) or switch to a shop light.

*16 oz. cups with the transplant set right on the bottom of the cup and all of it buried in soil except for the top set of leaves.

pepper seedlings look fine just as is for now but with the lights that high they will turn leggy too.

Dave

T12 bulbs are getting phased out, only to be replaced by T8 and T5. The is also a number on the bulb: example SP41 and that is a cool white and a SP35 is the warm white. The SP41 is the better light for plants. There is also a daylight bulb which is more of a SP50 (guessing on the number), but is more costly but better than the previous mentioned. I use T8, SP41 bulbs and my plants do well with them.

I mail order a lot of things but fragile tubes are definatly a pick up locally item

If you are starting out simple and easy a 4 foot shop light can be had very cheap

No. Winter Sowing is a genuine propagation method for starting seeds outside. In vented containers. During winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Thesaurus 'Winter Sowing Method'

This pertains to indoor seed starting:

If you are only starting seed to save money, I don't think it will be worth it for you.

Becaue you are only filling a window box with pretty common flowers I bet it would run you $10-$30 to fill it with plants from a garden center.

Lights, soil and seed will cost you about that.

I am sure you want nice large plants come time to plant because it is such a focal point, and seedlings will be smaller than nursery bought plants (but will quickly catch up).

So I would say you start saving money on starting your own seed when: 1. you start at least 30-40+ plants 2. you plant things that are hard to find 3. you plant things that are more expensive (such as tuberous begonias, wave petunias...3" pots ect.)

Plant seeds for the experience and the enjoyment...not just saving money, it is much more valuable in the long run.

You do not give enough information. Peppers like a warm soil, like 85 degrees. Source of heat should not be the light source. How high are the lights from the seedlings? A 400 watt HID light puts out a lot of heat as well as light. I keep mine at least two feet above the seedlings. I also provide bottom heat. Sixteen hours of light sounds OK. I start my peppers in recycled sixpacks. If I were to use four inch pots I would start 9 seeds per pot and repot when they were about 3 inch tall. Sixpacks makes potting up easier with less check in the growth. Al

Why are you using the HPS instead of MH? HPS is mainly for flower/fruit production, MH for vegetative, all around growth. I keep my HID lights 4 feet away from my plants. That's why I like to use HO flourescent tubes for starting seeds then I switch over to HID lights. I can have the fluorescent lights almost touching my seedlings. 16 hrs a day on seems fine. Are the curled leaves dry? They might be too close. As the previous person said HID lights generate quite a bit of heat.

Well, that was clear as mud! LOLOL About 1/2 and 1/2!
I guess I'll just experiment. Thanks for your responses. Nancy

Perhaps a good answer would be that the majority of the watering should come from the bottom, with just enough of a misting on the surface to ensure that a crust doesn't form on the surface as well as to make sure that small seedlings with undeveloped roots are not sitting in a dry top half of the soil, while moisture remains in the lower half of the container. Everyone would agree, I'm sure, that at no point do you want your seedlings sitting in soggy, soupy dirt, but neither do you want them in a bone-dry lockdown. It's a fine line; luckily, most seedlings are forgiving. Those that aren't...well, live and learn! Also helps so much to really research the specific needs of the individual variety you're growing. Different plants like different conditions, some dry, some damp, some are very susceptible to damping off, some you can bury up to the leaves when you transplant, some will wither and die if you do that. Research! :)

Agree it is just cool growing temps that cause it but it does no harm to them. The plants green up quickly when planted outside and the weather warms.

If you want to warm just the growing area a bit without heating the whole house just enclose the plant area a bit with a plastic drop cloth and let the lights provide a bit of heat to them. That means leaving the lights on a night and off some during the day. Get a timer. ;)

Dave

Thank you both! =)