6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I always started my munstead lavender in mid march and planted them in the garden memorial day weekend. The first year they don't do A LOT, but maybe throw up a few flower stalks. The 2nd year they go nuts. Then I wonder why I keep starting so much lavender.
I haven't had much luck with lavender starting indoors. However, by wintersowing them, I got nearly every seed to germinate. If you're not familiar with the method, there's a forum here for it.
Nearly all my ornamentals are being done this way. I currently have about 200 kinds of plants in the yard. Some have already been planted out.
I was going by some instructions from this lady who has grown them for years, she says 68 F is the best temp. and I believe she means air temp. No, I do not think I soaked them at all. I do not have a heating mat or anything and am not sure if we are going to get the fire going again in our basement where the growing lights are. I will have to search around the house for a warmer place perhaps. Thanks for your help!
It's a funny thing about germination. I have some seeds germinating, and I made sure they were damp and in the sun. Several sprouted. I was thrilled! They were NOT covered with saran wrap or anything! Just seeds sprouting.
Then, I went golfing. A warm, dry wind came up. I came home to sad little seedlings. I mean, really sad!! So, I brought them in away from the dry wind, doused them with water, and went to bed.
In the morning all of them were perky and happy!! I think as long as the root is alive, they will do their best to survive!!
Good luck to you!!
Suzi
I started seeds indoors and they are emerging but they are leggy and falling over or the top of the seedling is dying but the stem is still there. What am I doing wrong? I started them in trays with soil specifically for seeds.
Light, light, light! Especially the blue spectrum, which encourages stocky, leafy growth. Our eyes sense light roughly logarithmically, so the outside doesn't look *that* much brighter than indoors, but in terms of absolute energy coming down, it's orders of magnitude more outdoors than indoors. If using fluorescents or LEDs, pack them in as closely as you can over the plants, no more than a few inches away. If using HID, keep them just far enough away from your plants that the light feels slightly warm on your hands. To amplify your light to cut down on your power bill, surround your grow chamber with white or reflective material. Get the bluest light you can for seedling starting -- that means a high "kelvin temperature". If kelvin temperature isn't listed, go for "daylight" or "cool" bulbs, not "warm" bulbs.
Best of luck!
Started with bean,
Thank you so much for the encouragement!
I was really hoping someone would share some information who's grown them before:) so the info you provided helps so much! I will definately try to water before the tray becomes desert like! Also maybe I will direct the fan away from the impatiens allowing the fan to blow only around my other plants.
I been seemingly getting different messages as far as fertilizing?
Mine have never been fertlized but is theyr'e growth usually this small?
I sown them on March 1st.
That would be so wonderful if they really just grown out of this.
Do you fertilize with something like miracle grow or fish emulsion?
I would hate to burn them after they are already leaved weird. But maybe by not fertilizing them I am helping them struggle longer?
If you can provide anymore information I would love to learn even more!
At least for tonight I am not going to try anything on them and will try not to worry :)
I can worry later if they start to fall over dead! ha ha
Hopefully that won't happen!
Also' I had them under two fixtures with 4- tubes Cool White fluorescents
Maybe I was stressing them by being to warm and also dried that they were struggling. There leaves pointed down look as if they are saying " My solar leaves have to much light!" then again maybe not. Either way I think putting the lights a little farther from the plants and giving them a little less time under the lights would be a good thing! And less time between waterings!
I will keep you posted, in the mean time thanks so much for all your help!
My aim for sowing indoors is to get lots young healthy transplants. Emphasis on the young. I really try not to sow too early.
All plants benefit from having adequate space for their roots. So I do not recommend keeping them in the cramped cels. I use the 72-cell trays for germination purposes only. Particularly pansies. But as soon as the seedlings begin showing the "true" leaf bud, I transplant them.
However, some plants are more susceptible to transplant shock! Eggplants and zucchinis are two examples. I plant those seeds directly into 4 inch coir fiber pots and don't transplant until they're ready to plop, pot and all, into the garden.
Tomatoes, when transplanted deeper than their original depth will actually grow roots from their stems! So they always are potted up into progressively larger pots in my case.
Since your seeds have to share a heat mat, you may have to get creative. Look around your house for hot spots, like water heaters, laundry rooms, refrigerators, TVs, computers... any place where it feels warm is probably around 80 degrees or so Farenheit.
Finally, I never plant Brocolli rabe indoors just cause they're so quick to grow when direct sown outdoors. They're great for succession planting.
As for your leggy lettuce, I've never had problems transplanting them leggy. If you're nervous about giving garden space to your leggy greens, feel free to have an early salad and begin again. :)
Hope that helps!
If you have begonia tubers, NOT seed, keep them in household temperatures not touching each other, well ventilated until you notice buds form on the concave side of the tuber. Plant the tuber concave side up barely covered with a potting mix with lots of ground bark, just damp. If kept too wet tuber will rot, not grow. when surface of soil starts looking dry add water carefully to not over do it. You should not have to water the first time before the stem has grown and produced the first leaf.A heating mat is not needed if pots are in the house. Al
Thank you very much for your replies. Guess it makes sense to keep the trays warm until the leaves come. Calistoga, I have a light stand from Lee Valley in my garage for starting up some plants and although it's not exactly cold in there, it's a bit chilly. I think the begonias appreciate the extra toasty for getting started.
Many thanks!
Spamming the forums is prohibited by the user guidelines and your link merely re-directs to the Op-Ed News site.
This is a topic which has been discussed in depth on several forums here in the past, and in a much more objective fashion, so if you wish to discuss so-called "hot topics" a forum is provided for that.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Hot Topics forum
digdirt, I took the addy directly from the article. I'm not sure why it doesn't go there now.
My sole intention was to share information about seeds with conscientious growers. This looked like an appropriate forum for the topic, controversial as it may be.
I'm new here, so if I've offending anyone for posting inappropriately, I apologize. After researching this issue however, I certainly do not apologize for being non-objective. Thank you for the feed back.
I sure hope not, because we're gathering the supplies to start ours right this very minute! :-) No, really though, I don't think it's too early. I've actually spoken to quite a few people who started theirs two weeks ago, or more! I'm not entirely sure, but it might even be a bit late for beans--maybe someone else could cover that?
I'm aiming for 7-8 weeks indoors, and everyone has told me that Mother's Day is generally considered the earliest date to put seeds in the ground here (central NJ--might be sooner further south?).
A lot probably depends on your light situation indoors too. We have a light setup so we can get them big and string indoors. If you're going to be relying on natural light for your seedlings, you might have a harder time.
That's my newbie .02. I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong!
It is awfully early IMO for green beans and okra because they are warm season/soil vegetables not spring garden vegetables and they germinate quickly. Especially okra - it is direct seed in the garden only veggie and only when soil temp is 75 degrees plus. Zone 6 planting date is usually early July for it.
Tomatoes and peppers and eggplants are fine as they take much longer to germinate and grow to transplant size.
Dave
It depends on what you are growing IF cole cropes spinish, etc then its ok to leave out IF have tomatoes. peppers, geraniums, squash etc..... then keep inside & open doors & sides during the day.....
I wouldn't hardening them full time anyway right off the bat. You could burn them. Plants like it best if you acclimatize them to the outside slowly, prefering shorter periods of exposure and/or shade for the first week or so.