6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
you can take two paper towels and put them on a plate. Wet the towels so that it has a skim of water over it. spread the seeds on this. put one paper towel over the seeds and if necessary add water to create the skim. you can set this in a window with sun. It will dry out quicker than you think so make sure you watch closely. Wet to replace skim of water. Once you see some of the seeds start to open reduce water to just dampen the towels. Plant when seeds are all sprouted. Good luck.
I always preferred to grind a bit with a Dremellike tool. Some nail files were good.
As for germination on paper towels, some say use the brown ones if you plan to remove and plant the seed after germination as the root hairs are supposed to be less disturbed by removal from the towel.
Being under lights I had to keep up with watering daily since the soil dried quickly.
Watering daily? Sorry but even smaller containers than the cups you are using and even under lights, daily watering is very uncommon. Maybe every 2 days. The soil may appear dry on the surface but it isn't dry down at the root level. It is better to go by the appearance of the plants - any drooping leaves, any loss of turgidity in the stems - than by the soil appearance.
Most inexperienced growers are way over-watering, even when they are convinced they aren't and stunted root development results.
So maybe they want more food.
What food have you given them and how often? A diluted solution of a well balanced fertilizer weekly is the common recommendation. But given the poor root development I would mak it any stronger than 1/4 normal strength.
Are there drain holes in your cups? There should be and if so then bottom watering is always better than top watering.
Dave
Dude.... the soil comes dry to a crisp under lights with a small amount of soil. It requires most times daily watering and YES... plenty of holes for drainage and there's a little bit of water in the pans for them to soak some water up.
I haven't use any food for the starters... I used decent potting soil.... never been a problem with anything else but these I mentioned above... and mint is hard to grow period in pots.
I SLOWLY introduced them to light... started with shade in the evening.. 20 minutes each for several days... brought back to lamps.... introduced more sun... quit growing. I've followed the rules by professionals... done so same with many other types of plants and not a problem.
Has anyone experienced what is happening here???? I surely can't be the only one. I don't know if my thread got in the right Colum.
Nice update! Always nice to see experiments. I encourage it.
And encourage back-up 'insurance' starts/plants. : )
Those of us in northern climates need to try various methods as every spring can bring crazy temps and late winter-like storms. Prevents 'hysterical' gardening. Enjoy the challenges, makes it interesting. Accept failures and let it roll of with acceptance.
I noticed two different fabric weaves in my garden shed last weekend. Not planned. Just bought-it-when-i-saw-it. (A few yrs ago).
I may have to 'speed' plant a few things early this coming weekend due to work. (may be out of town a few weeks)
Might just hoop and lay over double or four fold a dozen toms and let nature/weather decide the outcome.
Water the pot thoroughly before attempting to remove any plants. I would tip the whole pot onto its side and tip out the whole clump of soil onto a sheet of plastic or something. Easier imo to disentangle roots like that than by attempting to dig down.
When I planted this morning they were not root bound too badly. I only fertilized once...on May 1st which was when I brought them outside for the first time. I made a diluted fish emulsion solution fertilizer in a five gallon bucket and dunked each plant for about 2-3 seconds. All 52 plants (14 varieties x 3 plants each).
When I planted this morning they were not root bound too badly. I only fertilized once...on May 1st which was when I brought them outside for the first time. I made a diluted fish emulsion solution fertilizer in a five gallon bucket and dunked each plant for about 2-3 seconds. All 52 plants (14 varieties x 3 plants each).
One old trick is to mix tiny seeds with sand. The idea seems to be to improve the chances of putting a seed down near another while reducing the chances of clumping them up.
Remember the movie Summersby with Richard Gere? He came back with an extremely tiny (but extremely expensive) amount of teeny tiny tobacco seeds. They mixed them with dry sand and then broadcast them is seedling flats to sprout. Don't remember? It was a bad movie anyways.
Park Seed has a seed dribbler at http://parkseed.com/pro-hand-seeder/p/06528/
Burpee has a cheaper and simpler version at http://www.burpee.com/seed-starting/handy-seed-sower-prod001219.html?omn2pd=bz&catId=cat230002&trail=
Or you could hold the seeds on a folded piece of contrasting paper that makes it easier to mete them out carefully.
Here is a link that might be useful: Summersby
Thanks for your kind suggestions... I'll look into them.
...Gary
"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter."
â Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring"
Don't soak the seeds! And mimosa plants love to grow in medium that covers the seeds loosely, ive got many many mimosa seeds sprouting this spring cnt wait till they get bigger! What i did was take the seeds plant them 1/4 inch away from each other after thoroughly wetting the soil which is a mix of fast draining peat and perlite, cover the seeds with a light layer of soil make sure it's loose-ly covered! - then wrap some plastic wrap over the top held in place with a rubber band, and put it in a sunny warm window for a while don't water until the seedlings sprout about 2-3inches and remove the plastic and water when soil ids completely dry, first start in a cut out bottom of a plastic cup with no drain holes then after they get bigger transplant them into a bigger pot with fast draining soil and drain holes, good luck hope you give it another TRY!
Can I assume this rule applies just to veggies, not flowers?
The general rule of thumb you mean? Applies to both.
Most flowers have always had the guideline of pinching back or removing any blooms before transplanting far as I know unless you are trying to force blooms indoors for some reason. But if you are growing seedlings of any plant with the purpose of transplanting them outside there is nothing to be gained by letting them develop blooms indoors.
Of course commercial growers force blooms for the eye appeal for sales but usually a reputable grower will recommend removing those blooms before transplanting.
Try it both ways side by side and note the differences.
Dave
Can you expand on the "active soil food web" ? And what the primary defficiencies are that would not be provided by a mix this seemingly well balanced? I have watered them once with a dilution of a product (Tomato Maker) which includes various nutrients and I thought that could be the issue because the whiteness appeared the next week. What liquid product do you use to supplement for plants in this stage of indoor growth?
If I have a soil medium with so much "good stuff" (I forgot to mention it also has Mycorrhizal Fungi), what is the missing component that makes it more "active" as you said? This would seem to be far better than topsoil or an average potting soil, or seed start mix and yet the plants look like they do.
I planted tomatoes year prior in a mix I made using box store composted manure/topsoil/peat mix with added Blood & Bone meal, small amount of lime etc and didn't have any issue similar to this.
To expand on the soil food web (aka soil micro-herd) here would take pages and pages. But it is a well known and well published concept with all kinds of info available online. It is discussed in expansive detail over on the organic gardening and the Soil and Compost forum for starters.
Over-simplified version - any dry-form organic supplement requires a well established active bunch of soil microorganisms, bacteria, fungi and 'bugs' to eat, digest and poop the organic matter converting it to a form of useable nutrients the plant roots can then absorb.
In the ground they usually exist but require several years of time and proper conditions to proliferate to an ideal level. In containers filled with any peat-based mix - which is what should be used in containers for many reasons especially drainage - they do NOT exist unless added (the small dose of Myco in this case). Even when added as in this case they cannot survive for long due to containment, the frequent watering, heat, etc. etc. The smaller the container the less likely they can function even after they colonize the root system and the shorter their lifespan. Your's have probably died off.
So one can generate an active soil food web in a 20 gallon container and keep it going but not in a 16 oz cup.
For that reason, the absence of the micro-herd, it makes no difference what the "good stuff" in your mix is if the plants can't access it. And for that reason IF organics is your choice then you have to use liquid suspensions and feed regularly. There are numerous recommended liquid nutrient organics available ranging from fish oils to seaweed and kelp blends, to worm teas, to compost teas, etc. - your choice. But they need to be liquid suspensions or capable of being dissolved in water so that the plant root can absorb them with the water. The standard recommendation is mix per label directions, dilute to 1/4 to 1/2 strength, and feed weekly.
The alternative which many organic gardeners use is to use synthetic liquids on the transplants while they remain in containers since those synthetics are more balanced and faster acting and then garden organically once planted in the ground.
Hope this helps clarify it all.
Dave
got a bunch of peat pots at a yard sale. Crumbled them up and spread the course dry ground stuff on the soil surface when potting up annuals and vegetables. I imagine that it helps to reduce damping off because that is what my grandmother said.
In the past I used cowpots, but they have issues.
This year I use plastic Grow Pots (GRO PRO).
Thanks for all the info! Out of curiosity, what corn seed brands did you test?
Test? Just what i have. CountryGentleman white, OF o.p.sweet, and from a friends local organic farm not labeled...looks like a mix. If you can get local from a neighbor or a feed store that is proven/tested for your area ...all the best.