6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

there's also a FAQ at that forum that is quite a useful place to start.

Here is a link that might be useful: seed saving faq

Here is a blog, it is still kind of new so there is not a lot of plants on it. However, there are tomatoes, and Squash and Garlic.

I too have been looking for more examples, but the step by step on this site is nice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Savers Exchange

Yeah, I gave up on them over a decade ago. Non-renewable resource, always too wet or too dry and more expensive than mixing my own sterile germination blend.

If you'll do a forum search using 'peat pots' you'll find tons of discussions about them - most quite negative for several reasons.

Dave

kayjones,

I appreciate the link to the ratings. I have used Garden's Alive in the past, and had nothing but positive experiences. One thing I ordered for my Dad for Christmas last year came a few days after New Year's, but I suspect it was more due to the volume of orders and shipping, than Garden's Alive themself. In either case, the delivery was WELL before my Dad needed the product!

I am more interested in the PRODUCT, than the company. Does anyone have experience with the PRODUCT? (or a coir product in general?)

I've been using coir since it came out on the market and I absolutely love it. I put it in all my soil mixes for potting soils and I use it half and half (with seed starting medium) for starting seeds. It has really helped my concrete like clay soil get a better tilth in a huge flower garden bed I have under a tree. I have been putting leaf mold and compost in that bed for 20 years - when I started putting a lot of coir in it I noticed the difference immediately. I order from Gardens Alive every year and have never had a problem with them. I LOVE those 25 dollar coupons.

I'm in 7a and it's impossible to get rid of once it's become established.

I had trumpet vine on 3 sides of my yard for twenty years. My neighbors had it growing in their fence lines because they didn't care about it, they are renters. It is HORRIBLY invasive and when you cut it back, it starts new shoots underground. Even worse than bamboo. I probably spent 40 - 50 hours a season just cutting it back as hard as I could. Then I bought some powdered roundup and mixed it double strength and sprayed those vines about 4 times. That got rid of it. It was the first time (hopefully the last) I ever resorted to using poisons in my yard but it was so worth it. If it comes back in the spring, I'm going to spray it again. It was even coming up as far as ten feet away from the original plants. DON'T PLANT IT or I'm sure you'll regret it.

Adjusting the water pressure on a drip irrigation system is relatively easy by using a pressure regulator on the spigot. Most soaker hoses come (in the ones that I have anyway) with a blue round rubber pressure regulator in the female end of the hoses. The blue regulator has a hole in it that acts like a regulator. If the current hole doesn't produce enough rainfall, drill it out and make it larger. Then again, you could regulate the amount of rainfall by adjusting the flow out of the spigot. Just a few ideas.

Most of the soaker hoses I've used, the higher you turn up the water, the more the water tends to shoot out in direct spray jets from the myraid slightly-larger-than-regulation holes that there tend to be. If that makes any sense at all. I've had some success in the past rectifying this by covering said holes with electrical tape, but there are usually quite a few. Hence, your 'hard rain' would be interspersed with tiny shooting jets of water in various spots. Also, in my limited experience, water coming off of a soaker hose tends more to run down the length of the soaker hose and eventually drip off, rather than falling in neat, patterned 'raindrop' style drips. Though I admit to never really observing it in an elevated state with this thought in mind.

Thank-you to both of you for your responses. My Acer palmatum is covered in seeds at the moment. I will pick some and plant them outside in pots. I do get some natural germination every year, but digging them up successfully and potting them up is never 100% successful. Thanks for the input!

I am able to get the seed to germinate, but they (JM) will dampen off easly.In other words low sucess rate.

Are you perhaps confusing S. sempervirens with Sequoiadendron giganteum? There's no reason to scarify or stratify the coastal redwood seeds. A sterile germinating medium and a shallow covering that allows sunlight to penetrate to this seeds is though. Germination is typically low no matter what techniques are used, so plant liberally.

Thanks Dicot.

No, definitely sequoia sempervirens. Everything that I have read so far, including what I have read here in the forums, has indicated that I should scarify and strat for approx 30 days, to help imitate the wintering process.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Remy

NO IT FINISHES THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRO .... UNTILL THIS HAPPONS THE SEED WILL NOT GERMINATE/.

Thank you for the info. I'll be doing this soon.