6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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
Are they still bright? If so, keep them. If not, get rid of them. That's the real test.
Cool bulbs (high kelvin temperature) are better for starting seeds than warm bulbs, as they have more blue light.
Any bulbs can be used for seed starting. Even LPS, which has a just awful spectrum in terms of PUR (your plants will just end up chlorotic and with starchy leaves if that's all you grow them with). CFLs are just fine, in terms of spectrum. The big issue is how much light -- it takes a *lot* of light energy to replicate the sun. For best results, pack those bulbs in tight and keep them just inches off of your plants. The bluer the better, of course. Oh, and a reflector setup doesn't hurt.
Yes the lumen output drops off drastically with time. If possible, many recommend using fresh bulbs each year because of the measureable fall in output. A good compromise is to replace at least one of the bulbs in each fixture. That spreads the cost out over 2 years anyway. A good indicator is the amount of black at the ends of the tubes.
Personally I have never found the need for special grow bulbs - just plain old 'cool' fluorescent work fine and are much less expensive.
Dave
It would depend on the size of your plastic cells since they come in all sorts of sizes, but alyssum is one that can easily be planted in hunks. Check out the 'hunk of seedlings" (aka HOS) FAQ here on how to do it.
If "leggy" then much more light is needed.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: HOS FAQ
You can post this on the Seed Saving forum (linked at the top of this forum's front page). There are also several FAQ's there on how to collect and save various types of seeds, storage tips, how hybrids differ from open pollinated varieties, and much more.
You might also post over on the Perennials forum about the specific varieties for specific details. I know Red Sea is a relatively new hybrid sold as an F1 so it likely won't breed true but I don't know about the purple one. But if a Goggle of the variety names doesn't tell you if it is a hybrid or an OP or if it is a stabilized hybrid, the folks on the perennials forum will likely know.
Hope this helps.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Perennials
Oh, I didn't even think of them being a hybrid. Darn it! I bought a few different seeds that I though were perennials, and when I looked up more detailed info, I found them to be annuals. For example: Monarda bergamo(beebalm, this type happens to be an annual) Rudbeckia 'Maya'(Black-eyed Susan, another type that is annual). Oh well, I guess I will never assume anything again when ordering seeds!!!
Sarah
Standard flats (trays) are 21x10.5. Is that what you need? If so most all of the xommon seed companies like Gurneys, Harris, Johnnys, Jungs, etc. offer them or if you want bulk quantities check out Novosel. They have good prices on all the basic equipment.
Otherwise your best bet is one of the greenhouse supply companies like FarmTek or Charleys.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Novosel
Dave,
Thanks for the response. I'm looking for 8 x 20's or 12 x 20's to hold 4" square pots. It's such a waste of space under the lights to use 1020's. The closest thing I have found are some cookie sheets that I have that are 12 x 16 but again, they waste space.
Rick
Wow...seedling mania! =) They are a bit leggy, but not as much as many others i've seen. Simply provide them plenty of light (preferably sun, if zone permits) & replant leaving about the top third above the soil (if you have the time...that's a lot of seedlings!).
Thanks for the advice Dave. I've been leaving the lids open for a couple of hours at a time. While the white stuff hasn't disappeared, I think it might be lessening but happily the seeds have actually started to germinate and the seedlings are beginning to poke out :-)
I guess they didn't get too grossed out.
Amna
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!
They're fine. I don't fertilize until they have the second set of true leaves. And they are small but grow rapidly after transplanting.