6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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
You can repot them either before or after they are hardened off. To harden them off you need to take them outside to a shady location for an hour or so. Then back in. Increase the time each day until they are out all day and all night.
They look rather wet since I can see green algae on the surface of the medium. You could ease off the water. But when you repot make sure they do have an initial good drink and drain.
Walking Onion seed is uncommon, typically the flowers dry up and wither (topsets are competing with them for energy) and they don't produce seed.
You can plant the topsets (bulbs, bulblets) to increase your plants - about 2" deep where you want them to grow. They are mature in late summer to Fall, may be picked and planted then, ripe when the leafstalk has dried and is turning brown.
- Sheffield's Seed Company ( sheffields.com ) is the leader in tree and shrub seeds. They have a very good Garden Watchdog rating, and I've always had fairly good results from orders I've made through them.
Other potential sources include:
- F. W. Schumacher ( www.treeshrubseeds.com ) with a very good G. WD. rating,
- Sparkleberry Springs ( www.sparkleberrysprings.com ) with a limited but excellent G. WD. rating,
- TreeSeeds.com ( www.treeseeds.com ) with a limited but excellent G. WD. rating,
- Angelgrove Tree Seed Co. ( www.trees-seeds.com ) with an excellent G. WD. rating, and
- Lawyer Nursery ( www.lawyernursery.com ) with a so-so G.WD. rating.
Yes, you can cover seeds with mulch and expect them to grow, and mulch will not stop weeds from sprouting.
There are two separate things going on: sprouting and growing, and they are separate processes. Sprouting will not occur if the seeds have dried out after sowing. An airy sort of mulch will shield from the drying wind and the hot Sun but let light and air in. If a leaf can see light, it'll grow to it.
A thick layer of heavy mulch like pine bark, gravel, or tree chipper run will prevent growth by smothering after sprouting.
The problem is that no one has defined "mulch" here. It can mean anything from a six inch layer of ground up truck tires to a sprinkling of pine needles.
There is a limited amount of nutrients/energy stored within the seed, only enough to get the cotyledons to the surface and into light where they can begin to make their own 'food'. Cover it too deeply with soil or mulch and that energy is expended before the seedling begins to grow - it dies.
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.