6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
What zone are you in? What kind of temps are we talking about? What kind of vegetables? Most annuals aren't even direct seeded until all danger of frost is past so that by the time they sprout a couple of weeks has passed and temps have risen quite a bit. Can you add heat to the cold frame as needed?
Obviously few things can stand freezing temps except a few of the leafy greens like lettuce and many things won't even tolerate low 40's. Length of time exposed to low 40's we also affect some things. They may take a few hours but not a few days.
Need more specific information/details please but if that's not possible then I guess all you can do is insure that it's kept well above freezing. ;)
Dave
My thanks to everyone who replied. Your comments have been very helpful to the health of my little seeds.
I kept my hands to myself and as you said, the little cotyledons are pushing the seed coats smack dab off! :-) woohoo, everything is looking good so far.
Mary
Both are hybrids and new ones at that. FAIK they are not old enough to have stabilized and are primarily sold only as plants - no one seems to offer F2 seeds but they may breed close to the original. If you have seeds about all you can do is try them and see what you get.
Dave
I believe it's common practice for seed companies to test germination of large amounts of seed stock left over from previous years. If the results meet their standards, they use it for the current year's sales. Most probably have climate controlled seed storage areas, also, helping extend shelf life.
The problem I see with tin cans is the heat they would draw. Set a tin can in the sun and after a couple of hours you can barely touch it. Your plants roots will be against that and fry.
The rest of your plan sounds fine. Be sure to mulch for extra winter protection, whether planted or in pots. If you do plant them be sure to give them a couple of weeks before the ground is frozen for their roots to settle in.
If you set small pots on your deck be sure to set them in a tray or something, and be prepared to do a lot of watering. Small pots dry out fast and they don't have much soil to give them weight so they will be blowing around unless anchored.
To tell the truth I would plant them this spring and mark them with a stake or plant tag printed with permanent marker. They would grow better and some perennials bloom the first year.
Oilpainter - hey, thanks for the post. I hadn't thought of the heat in the tin. That could be a big problem. I suppose I need to clear out and till some areas and plant them in the ground after all and just move them as I get the final places ready. I'll have to work on that. I'm glad I posted. That may have been a lot of extra work for me for really bad results.
Thanks again
Susan
Sure. Many seed starting mixes are 50/50 peat and vermiculite. Several are straight peat and Jiffy Mix is commonly recemmended for seed starting.
Many of us prefer no perlite at all so I know several folks who'd be happy to take it off your hands. ;)
Dave
It is fine for germination, but as it's a sterile, soilless mix blended for drainage and some moisture retention with plenty of pore space for oxygen, there are essentially no nutrients that the seedling can depend on once it has expended the food stored in the seed's cotyledon. That means you need to fertilize or transplant quickly or your seedlings will die in that mix.
Druse, Making More Plants" Rudbekia maxima, fresh seed, sow barely covered as some light may be beneficial to germination, 70F, germination in 5 - 21 days.
Rudbeckia maxima, (Clothiers database, suggestions are most often for stored dry seed), Sow 68ºF, if no germination in 3-4 wks, move pot to 39ºF for 2-4 wks, bring back to warm
Three months stratifying is probably overkill for rudbeckia....why don't you try sowing some rather than the baggie of seeds, barely cover or cover only with a little grit.
kawaiineko gardener.
There is a reason cool season vegetables are called cool season vegetables. They germinate better in cool weather and cool soil. and grow better with cool air.
Radish sure doesn't need a head start. It's up in a couple of days and usable within the month.Start your peas lettuce and radish as soon as you can work the soil, even if it's before the last frost date--they won't freeze unless there is a ver hard frost and maybe not even then.
I have never started bush beans inside. I don't know if they would do well or not. Frankly to grow enough they would take up too much room and they do well in the garden.
The rest by all means start early inside, but be sure to harden them off before setting out
The stuff I'm planting won't be being grown in the ground. I plan to do container gardening; unfortunately I don't have room where I live to set up and prepare a plot in the ground.
I plan to use earthboxes, which are a self-watering variety
of container gardening.
Since I'm going to be growing stuff via container gardening, should I still start growing the stuff from seed in my containers for cool weather vegetables in Mid-march?
Also I realize that cool weather vegetables like cool weather and grow best in cool weather. However I also realize they have their limits and if it's too cold they'll die. Is the weather going to be too cold to plant cool weather vegetables in Northern Michigan in mid-march to grow cool weather vegetables?
I start my seeds indoors and place them in my gh in mid Feb.
I keep the temperature around 42 at night.The only issue is cloudy days since I have no artificial lighting.
Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening by the Seat of my Pants
In the winter I use HID light in my greenhouse. Having no heat(can't afford it)in the greenhouse, I use a heat mat to maintain 70 degree soil temperature. I run the light(400 watts)as little as possible to keep costs down. Natural light in the winter is just not enough here in the winter. Al
I do pretty much as Al does, except that I've been using perlite instead of vermiculite. (I might add some vermiculite this season if I get around to visiting the local Brew & Grow.) If you use perlite, it can send up huge clouds of perlite dust when you dump the bags, so it's good to plan around that (mask, well-ventilated area, breath-holding, whatever).
I grew onions from seed this past season. It was easy, satisfying and the onions were fine--but not remarkably different from what I get from the store. If you have a lot of space for a veggie garden, it might be worth it. For me, it's back to leeks, which are more expensive to buy so more worth it to me to grow. If I do grow onions again, I'll probably try a different variety--not standard yellow onions. I started mine indoors under lights, probably in February. Pretty much like most other vegetables, except that they can go out earlier than tender things.
I liked the idea and made one from a battery powered Oral-B flossing tool. It is easy to epoxy the seed tray onto the flossing fork. It provides more agitation than needed, but can be damped down by dragging the tray on the soil. It gives me an idea for making a seed winnowing tool that could save a lot of time cleaning my saved seed! The removable flossing fork would make it possible to use different home made trays on the same tool. Al
There ya' go. Innovation.
I've found that "damping" is a matter of how far down the channel you grip.
A little pinch slows the action down if need be.
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Cool beans.