6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Mimosa's require dark and 80 degree soil to germinate. Constant bottom heat until roots are well established also helps. Nicking the seeds with an exacto knife or razor blade helps but isn't really necessary. Plant 1/2" deep in good moist potting mix (not dirt) and cover so light doesn't get to it. I use several thicknesses of damp newspaper.
Good luck.;)
Dave
Someone asked about these several days ago for seed starting - Checking Terracycle website then shows the 'organic soil' in which to start the seeds is pure worm castings. Should already provide nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, other trace minerals. The cells are quite small, you may not want/need to add additional fertilizer while your starts remain in them.
Let us know how your seedlings do - I haven't used or known anyone who has used them but it seemed like a fairly rich environment for starting seeds to me.
Be sure to review all the great FAQ's here too as they cover all many questions in detail. You'll almost always find the answer to any basic question covered there.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed FAQs
Quirkpod, that true of most seeds - they should be harvested when ripe and not left on the plant all winter. I'm surprised there were still intact pods on a tree peony after facing winter - usually they would have split open and spilled onto the ground by at least the first Fall storm.
Just got this from a grower, Cricket Hill Garden:
>
> Planting Tree Peony Seed Pods
>
> In our garden, right after the bloom period, we are busy
> cleaning, trimming and cutting off the spent flowers. We
> "dead-head" both the tree and the herbaceous
> peonies soon after the flowering period. The plant uses
> energy to make the seeds, and it will sacrifice flowering to
> some degree if you let it go to seed. When your tree peony
> is older and there are many blooms, it is fine to let some
> of the flowers go to seed.
>
> The pods are harvested as soon as they are ripe, usually in
> late August or early September. Remove light brown to black
> seeds from seed pods and plant about 2" deep. We like
> to plant seeds in pots, sunk into the ground, so they are
> well marked. Often the seeds will germinate the next spring,
> but it may take two years. Both herbaceous and tree peonies
> are unlikely to come true from seed. You are growing a new
> hybrid, so expect that the plant may not be exactly like the
> mother plant. Move your young seedlings in the early fall,
> to a garden bed or individual pots.
>
> Be patient and tend them for about 4-5 years. Remember to
> feed plants for best growth. Tree peonies form new buds
> during the summer months. By fall, a bud is formed at the
> junction of the leaf node, on the woody stem. This is why
> you do not cut down a tree peony, it blooms on "old
> wood".
>
> We recommend feeding with Neptunes Harvest (or other
> fish-seaweed fertilizer) about every at least once a month
> during the spring and summer. We also use Azomite mineral
> powder to boost the plants' growth. Tree peonies respond
> well to low nitrogen-high mineral amendments in a balanced
> spectrum.
>
> And then one springtime your plant will reward you with a
> flower!"
That depends on the seed.
I start tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, and eggplant indoors right now.
As for the starting lettuce and such outside with a dome, that's the basic idea behind Winter Sowing. Please see the Winter Sowing forum and read the FAQ. They detail a very easy and cheap way of getting quality seedlings outdoors in flats with little fuss and NO HARDENING OFF. You can even get tomato plants that way.
Hope that helps!
Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing FAQ
Looks very nice and quite efficient. No, T12s aren't as bright but they are what most use because the are quite a bit less expensive and still do the job. Your mix of bulbs is is fine.
Yes you will have to transplant at least some of them - all depends on what the plant is. Very small flowers will be fine but vegetables and larger flowers will likely need some transplanting into larger containers.
And yes, a small fan will be most beneficial for both temp help but mostly for improved air circulation. Stagnant air kills plants. Remember that it is the soil temps that need to be warm for germination, not the air temps. And once germinated the plants will do better if grown at cooler air temps - shoot for air temps of 65 degrees once germinated.
Good luck and have fun! ;)
Dave
Check out the FAQ here for beginners.
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed FAQ's and How-To's
According to this link, Paeonia takes more than a year to germinate and under very special conditions described therein. Perhaps we'd be better off letting them reseed themselves the way nature intended. I gathered seeds today from a mature Tree Peony here in NC and went directly to this seed germination database to find out what to do. I will sow them in the garden and let nature take its course.
Here is a link that might be useful: Thompson Morgan seed guide
quirkpod, are you looking at peony under herbaceous plants or further down in trees/shrubs for the tree type.
T&M site that you link references their #15, flagging them as a warm/cold/cool germinator. " #15 Tree paeonies need a three month warm period (68-86'F) during which the root develops and then a three month chilling to break dormancy of the shoots, before the seedling actually emerges".
As is what happens when the ripe seeds fall from the pods in Aug/Sept. Germination time for fresh seeds is approx 6 - 9 months. If you sow outdoors and begin with cold, you can plan on germination approx 15 months from now, needs to be warm moist, cold moist, germinating while still cool and moist and in that order.
Hi Amna, I just wanted to let you know, I had moss roses 2 summers ago in a wood barrel, I bought the plants, we got winter early that year so I didn't get them pulled, and I'm glad I didn't, last summer I had a barrel full of moss roses from the previous year. I don't know if they were from the plant or from seeds, but nonetheless, I had em. I live in Montana and our winters are probbly pretty much the same, cold, snowy, below zero temps, late spring and on and on and on and. . . just thought I'd share.
Looks like you'll be busy when all those babies get going :)
Thanks ohsillyme & maidinmontanna! I didn't pull the moss rose plants from last year either (until yesterday). They were completely brown and dried up stems so I don't think they would've bloomed again. Lightly raked away the top layer of winter debris (pine needles, leaves etc) - hopefully didn't destroy my chances of getting the seedlings to germinate/grow. We'll see what happens - I really did like them :-) Wintersowing sounds so daunting to me - to put so much faith in the whims and vagaries of a New Englan winter! I know that sounds stupid but I can just never get the nerve up :-)
In other news, the cardinal climber that I sowed yesterday after an ON soaking has ALREADY sprouted!!! My very first seedlings of the season. The cotyledons anren't properly out yet from within the seed coat so I'm leaving them covered for now. Not much action from any of the others :-(
Thanks again,
Amna
I spose you can pinch them back, but why? Does it make them bushier? I have grown them for years and have never pinched them, maybe I'm missing something tho.
I soak my seeds and have them ready to sow either indoors or out on April 1st. I heard a long time ago that according to the farmers almanac april 1st is the day to sow seeds, it's my b day so I always have done it on that day. It is also the April birth flower. I love them, they smell soooo good.
Here in NC z 7 and where I lived in MA z6, I sowed them in January for their proper freeze treatment needed for germination. See this handy germination guide link. They then germinate in early Spring and bloom in June. From there, we let them form seed pods, go to seed and self-sow. Some will germinate and remain like small green lettuce plants thru cold Winters. Others will germinate in Spring. Either way, you cant lose. I grow the pink Peony Poppies but there are many different forms and colors. Irresistable!
Here is a link that might be useful: Thompson Morgan seed guide
Your questions are all covered in the FAQ's that I linked before but I'll summarize it for you.
4 foot shop lights with 2 fluorescent tubes is the least expensive, hang no more that 1-2 inches above the plants, use soil-less potting mix not potting soil. Seed starter mixes are just for germination and then you transplant the seedlings to a growing mix - many brands available and most have some sort of mild fertilizer in them.
You can put them in the garage as long as they won't freeze or you can rig up a mini-greenhouse using clear plastic around a set of shelves. Several posts here on how to make them out of shelves or even a box lined with aluminum foil - with pictures included.
Dave
digdirt makes some very good points about this. I decided to try a Jiffy peat pellet tray this year for a few things. It seems to be working quite well. Being an intermediate gardner, I see a few problems with it though that I plan on solving. First, seeing as how all the cherry tomato seedlings I put in it have already sprouted, I plan on moving them to some other type of small, well-drained container before their final move to their permanent pots. I'll take the whole Jiffy peat pellet mass, put it in a hole in some of my soil mix, then cover it over most of the way and take the netting off, when able. Those nettings seem like they might restrict some plants with not so strong roots. Second, I imagine I will have sets of pellet masses that I remove from there every couple of days/week due to some plants growing & sprouting faster than others. The cherry tomato plants, for instance, all have their first set of tiny seedling leaves now, so I will find some sunny windowsill to put them in as I believe they need to be removed from the container & put near a light source. You just have to remember that rules/instructions are good to follow, but depending upon what you're plating, make sure you break/tweak those rules when necessary. =) - Steve
Soak seed in warm water for 24 hours, then surface sow, barely cover the seed with a fine sprinkling of sowing mix or vermiculite - don't sow deeply or exclude light, as some light may aid germination. Keep 68-77F until after germination, may take 21-60 days.
This is a good overview. Thanks