6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Marie, glads will form seeds that can be sown at 70-75F for germination in approx 20-40 days. The seedlings should be left in the pot for the first year while corms form below the grass-like seedlings.
But not deadheading (removing the spent flowers) and allowing seed to set will take energy away from the existing corms that you plan to save, and unless growing the species types the seedlings will not come true to the parent glad. You'll have glads but will have no way of knowing what color if that matters to you.
What's your light level?
If you don't have much light, perhaps coffee plants? They grow slow in the shade, but they do survive. And they flower with beautiful-smelling flowers, and yes, produce coffee cherries (although, again, don't expect them to produce well when kept small and in low-light situations)
Any transplanted plant needs a recovery time. The trick to digging a seedling up is to try to get every single root. I dig at an angle so the shovel kind of come up underneath the seedling. Preserving the root ball, soil and all, will stress your seedling less.
This experience is basically trauma to the seedling. You need to baby them a bit until they take. They can't be in soil that's allowed to dry out and they also can't be put into bright light right away. They have to be weaned off of coddling.
Whoops, I didn't spend close enough attention. What you want to do is press on the container sides to loosen the dirt from the container so the plant slips out easily without stress to the roots. Then you plant it with as much as the original dirt intact as you can because it'll disturb the roots less. But the rest of what I said is still true for indoor started seedlings.
actually yiorges-z5il, the zinnia are hardened off and if i could i'd be putting the in the ground this weekend. So my concern is that if i leave them out over the next couple of days they will dry out and dies but if i leave them indoors i'm afraid they'll react to the lack of sunlight. What could also happen is that the weatherman predicts rain. That would leave the flats filled with water.
What do you/other folks think?
Thanks!
Dale
I've got some little plants under type of shade cloth over overturned lawn chairs and chaise lounges. They're getting light breezes and filtered sunlight. Using something to shade them prevents them drying out every day. I weight down the sides of cloth at night for now.
I took cardboard boxes and tented them over other seedlings since I don't have place where there's dappled shade all day. At night I put covers from plastic storage containers all around sides to keep out wind and add shade cloth over everything.
Do you have a porch or somewhere relatively protected you can easily rig up wind, light and temp protection if you find enough "stuff" around to set something up?
Just don't use solid, impermeable materials over, under and on sides or they'll overheat. They're already hardened off so cooler temps forecast shouldn't effect them.
If you've got those bases covered you just have to think about moisture.
Don't know if giving them good, long drink before you do all the covering would carry them for 3 days. Roots might not like all that water but you may not have a choice.
Maybe if shaded and otherwise protected with a little air flow they'll be fine with watering before you leave if containers you've got them in are not too small.
Good luck!
Plant a few seeds in a small pot using sterile seed starting mix. Anything that grows there should be from the seeds you planted. Take the pot out to the garden plot when you weed and compare your seedlings to those in the pot. This is especially helpful if you are direct sowing a seed mixture or are broadcast seeding instead of planting in rows.
I think naturegirl_2007 is right on. It shouldn't take too long. After the first true lives are a few days old the pattern of many are already obvious. Checking the color of the stems against the plants in the small pots may help.
Also when you get to pulling note the root characteristics. Some weeds may have a different root and will pull up differently from a desired plant that looks similar.
Some of us had the benefit of grandmothers who knew all about such things. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get such help because our society is so mobile.
Yea...newbie...artificial light will do that. Grow lights are awesome for seed starting & early seedling stages. After that, they must start getting used to normal sunlight (and sunlught schedule/hours) even if indoors, or they'll have a hard time outdoors no matter how much hardening off is done.
zinnias are good for direct sowing.
I have 2 zinnia envy seedlings growing in pots. :D I've never seen them in person. It's my first time to have this annual. I'm glad that it was one of your choice.
I also have marigold seedlings. I forgot which type it was.
Thanks!