6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Did you plant all you seed? If not save the remaining seed for next year. Don't put plant all your eggs seed in one basked at one time.
As a rule, unless you are in a problem area don't plant sunflowers inside.
Six different sunflowers, May, zone 6 - something went wrong; too deep, too much water perhaps.
Ok well first off if you have ever overwatered and the leaves turned yellow cause of this the leaves will never turn back green. I would just remove the yellow leaves. If your getting wilt during the day that could be a sign of not enough moisture in the soil or to much sun. Young plants that arent well established sometimes do this even with the proper moisture.
To much acid in the soil can cause a plants leaves to turn yellow. If this is the case taking some epsom salt and put it around the base of the plant will help that part. No the epsom salt will not hurt the plant if thats not the case.
As far as your raised bed 2 gallons of water can be enough or not enough. It really depends, for one any kind of plant in soil that has completely dried out may take more water than that. When a plant completely dries out the best way to water is by a slow long drip. If you just dumped the 2 gallons of water on the area it may just not of had time to soak in. If an area is wet or has been watered consistently and the ground is not completely dried out it will take less water to reach to the bottom. I really hope that made sense.
As far as a soil moisture meter I personally have never used one, I tend to listen to my plants. If they want water they tell me if they wont less they tell me. I dont get to technical when gardening trial and error is my way to go. I try something if it doesnt work I try something else.
Four O clocks need to be watered more often, daily or every other day. With the hose set on shower, spray the flowers and count to 10 for each plant. Watch how the plants respond to the water and adjust watering accordingly.
Newly planted four o clocks do have shallower roots so if the plant is healthy don't worry about shallow roots.
Remove the yellow leaves, this is probably a lack of water. Do not confuse drought tollerent with no water at all.
Good luck!
Seed dormancy is natures way of setting a time clock that allows seeds to initiate germination when conditions are normally favorable for germination and survival of the seedlings.
Viable seeds that do not germinate are dormant, and there are types of dormancy - seed coat or external dormancy where temperature, water play into breaking down the seed coat to allow moisture to reach the embryo, and internal (endogenous) dormancy where inhibitors are contained within the seed.
Seeds of some species exhibit what is known as double dormancy. This is a combination of seed coat (external dormancy) and internal dormancy. These double dormant seeds (or two step germinators as Deno calls them) need a resting period between the emergence of the radicle (immature root) and the cotyledons (seed leaves).
Yes, you need to water them at least occasionally and not let them dry out for any prolonged period of time or the seed will die.
Parentage is supposed to be e. purpurea both sides for this one, so stratifying fresh seed shouldn't be necessary.
Germination approx 10-21 days - if you don't find germination after 4 weeks try giving them a moist chill of 2-4 weeks.
I was sure waiting to see if someone else had an idea on this one.
My first thought is that maybe they are crossing with each other or maybe the hollyhock you had was a hybrid and the seed were not true to begin with. If several hollyhocks are close together they will tend to cross and the seeds will be totally different than the parent plant.
As far as the life of a single plant that I am unsure about, I do know that a neighbor of mine has had a hollyhock in her garden at least 7 or 8 years could be longer. I obtained seed from it and grew my own and I have had it for 2 or 3 years.
I'm not sure if the double hollyhock seed are hybrid varieties (the seed package just said 'double hollyhock mixture of colors')but I am quite sure the one's I grew did not cross with any single varieties. I guess then the seed then must revert back to the single varieties. I too have had the same plant come back again for a couple of years & some plant stalks in bloom way over 8-10 feet tall. but wasn't sure if they were true perennials or not. On the farm they just did as they wanted & we never paid much attention to them ... oh, as little girls we made flower dolls out of the open flowers & the un-opened bud ... can't remember how we did it now though!! :)
The doubles are so beautiful so was hoping they would re-seed & grow the same double shape!
Try putting a coffee filter in bottom of pots so soil doesn't wash out. May degrade over length of time you'll have seedlings in those pots, though. I also use fine insect screen in bottom of pots to try and keep out pests including slugs. Can get insect screen in rolls in any big box store, Walmart or hardware store. It's just the stuff they use to replace window screens. Get the coated kind so you don't risk rusting.
Good luck.
The FAQ's for this forum should answer quite a few of your questions. If there is more you want to know, come back to this thread and ask additional questions. Hope this helps.
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from seed FAQ's
Keep the soil very moist until the seedlings have sprouted well through it (until you have as many as you need/want). Watch out for white mold on the surface of the soil (if it appears, remove the lid for a few hours and place in light and it should go away). Other than that, you're using a good method & good starting soil. =) Remove them from the greenhouse when you see the 2nd set of leaves is about 1 cm or larger. Place into same soil in 16 oz plastic cups, potting up an inch or so higher on the plant than they were in the greenhouse. For helpful pics, go to THIS LINK.
Peace - Steve
I have tried these for years and failed. This year I was tired of being afraid and soaked them and planted them outside. To my surprise they germinated and grew (about three inches) and there they are--only three inches for about weeks. They are not dying but they are not thriving either. As long as they hang in there I guess there is hope.
Ah, I forgot all about the the wet paper towel approach. It's been decades, so thanks for the reminder lesson.
And, don't worry about the stay-at-one-size stage. I'm not sure if that's usual, but the one that has emerged was doing the same thing. It's just been the last day or two, when it looks like it has finally started growing again. It's stayed at that stage for so long the nastutrium is competing with it, but I keep pushing them out of its way, until the time I have to keep pushing it out of thier way. lol
The likelyhood of your seeds being true to color is unlikely, you can always try it though and see what you may get. Who knows you may get something even prettier than what you already have or you may get something that is just plain ugly.
Yes you can self pollinate your own flowers, I use a paintbrush. Here is a website I found that tells about pollinating your own flowers and the reproductive parts of a flower.
Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Saving
I have leftover seeds still in their commercial packages that I have kept in the freezer for several years. I used a pack earlier this year that I had stored in my freezer for over 3 years germination was extremely good.
In other words I dont do anything special to wrap them just close the package by folding it and put it in a walmart sack and put it in my freezer door along with other seed packs.
novice, it would help to know which seeds too, different plants have different requirements and maybe some of us have tried those you'd like to grow. And if we don't have our own experience, some of us have a stack of propagation books next to our computers that may well describe which process for that particular plant, has a lot to do with their climate of origin, which region they are native to.
I use a bit of sterile moist (like a squeezed out sponge) sand or moist vermiculite in a 2x3" zip lock for stratifying in my refrigerator during those months when I'm not getting a 40F average between day and night temps outdoors...just a teaspoon or so of either will do. When the appropriate number of days have passed and I'm ready to sow, I can sow the contents of the bag, sand and all, and not have to extract the seeds. Your freezer is too cold.
I simply take a wet coffee filter or wet paper towel and place the seeds in between two of either the wet coffee filter or wet paper towel and stick that into a plastic sandwich bag. And stick that into the freezer.
Easy as that.
Ryan