6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Thank you both for the responses, that seed database will come in very handy. Now I have another question. On the database it says to sow for most of my seeds around 68f, though my temperatures are now above that, here in florida, and I also dont have much room in my fridge to place sowed seeds. Can I start the seeds in the fridge either on a plate, or maybe the paper towel method inside of a bag thats damp, for a week, then sow them in containers? Or does the stratification need to take place in soil?

Thank you again for your help with my questions.

I prefer to put the seeds in something like a tiny zip lock with a tsp or two of moist sterile sand or moist vermiculite and put those in refrigerator. Larger seeds don't need to be completely buried, just in contact with the moist medium. Write the date on the bag, when the appropriate time has passed you can sow the entire contents of the bag, vermiculite and all if you wish without having to extract each seed.

If you are going to chill first, I'd plan for at least 2 weeks, one week isn't much time to be helpful.

The suggestions given for temperatures are approximate and not meant to be precise (with very few exceptions), a few degrees one way or the other will be fine

I have started in both flats and individual cells/containers. I find that I save myself a step if starting in cells/cups because depending on the seed variety I don't need to transplant to larger comtainers until being planted in the garden. When using flats it does seem a bit easier to weed out smaller plants. I think it really comes down to a space issue and how much room you want to dedicate to seed starting. Needless to say flats can be a bit more compact and easier to move depending on your setup.

I think I read somewhere that slightly injuring the tips of a seedling's roots will make them grow faster. Anyone else ever hear of this?

Where can I get No Damp?

I am in Canada, so I am not sure if it is the same in the US, but I can get it just about anywhere, Sprawlmart, Homedepot, Lowes, anywhere that has a small gardening section, usually in the area where you would pick up rooting hormone, or those small bottles of african violet drops... Not that No damp has anything to do with African Violets, they just tend to be in the same area.

And BTW I am the original poster of this thread too.. So I wont miss the responses... :)

Oops! Good. ;)

Dave

Beatrice - it is all explained in detail in the Seed Starting Lighting FAQ here.

Last year I experimented a lot with starting seeds indoors and learned a few things in the process. I thought IÂd share a bit of what I learned through trial and error so that you can skip my mistakes.

LIGHT

The hardest thing to provide seeds started indoors is light. ItÂs almost impossible to use just the light from windows. Most likely youÂll need a grow light. You can use something as simple as an incandescent grow bulb that fits into a regular household lamp. They are available for purchase for between $5-$15. I have one such bulb in an old lamp that has a moveable arm.

YouÂll need to keep the light on for between 12-15 hours each day. The easiest way to do this is to use a timer that you plug the lamp into, which will turn the light on and off automatically. Timers are really cheap and can be picked up at a hardware store. Of course, you could also turn the lights on and off yourself. But seeds need both light and dark, so donÂt think you can get ahead by leaving the light on all the time.

SOIL

IÂve had the best results using peat moss mixed with perlite. IÂve also had success with Jiffy peat pellets. What hasnÂt worked for me is regular potting soil. I donÂt know why, but IÂve had trouble getting good germination results with the potting soil I use outdoors.

You should know that peat may not be the most environmentally friendly seed starting medium. A more eco-sensitive option is coir, which is made from the husks of coconuts. You should be able to get peat or coconut coir where ever you purchase potting soil.

WHEN TO SOW

The first thing you need to know is when your last frost date is. This is the day which is, on average, the last day your area can reasonably expect a frost. If you donÂt know your last frost date, this site will tell you the date for your area.

After you know that date, count backwards 4-6 weeks. That is the date you should sow your seeds indoors. The longer the particular type of seed you are growing takes to germinate, the more time you should allow. But a quick to germinate seed should be fine with 4 weeks. You can find out how long a particular seed takes to germinate by looking at the back of the seedÂs packet.

WATERING

In my experience, itÂs best to water seedlings and yet-to-sprout seeds from the bottom. By this I mean putting the container the seed/ling is growing in into a larger container that has an inch or two of water in the bottom and allow the dirt in the container to draw up the water through the drainage hole.

If you water from the top (i.e. the normal way) you are likely to disrupt the seed or damage a delicate seedling.

Here is a link that might be useful: landscaping salt lake city utah

hi token, i think your right. Thank you so much,
Maueen

The hummers love both, so I would say plant them. :)

I think my first couple years, in order to maximize heat and light, I secured cardboard to the wire-mesh shelves I was using. I covered the pre-cut cardboard on one side with aluminum foil, made holes at the top, and twist tied them onto the shelves. When I needed to get to the flats I lifted up the cardboard like a flap. This also effectively served to keep the cats out. In fact, spare lengths of cardboard seem to have been used on many occasions to keep cats out of whatever it is they would have made a mess of. :)

I have found that my cats made the connection between the spray bottle and the plants. A few squirts at the cats have been helpful. I also leave the spray bottle "guarding" the plants, and the cats dont' go near. :-) I still keep the door closed most of the time anyway, just to be safe.

So glad you enjoyed my picture! I too get inspired when I see other people's seedling pics.
I read that impatiens like it cool at night. It was most likely the heat from the lamps and not the light that's been helping with the germination. Gotta keep them just moist! I went away and my husband almost killed them as he was just watering them every 2 days! BTW, it took a while to get buds though, but the plants really took off once I put them into window boxes.

started with bean,
I am so happy they germinated, I bet your right about the heat from the lights!
The seed coating is still on the tops of the leaves. So how often do you water?
I also am curious now that I got them growing, what now? I am clueless! ha ha! Well I still am trying to decide if it is to early to take off the dome? Do you fertilize yours and if so with what? And when? Questions, questions!
Again thanks so much for sharing your picture! It is worth a thousand words!
Do you keep yours pretty cool?

I started some a few weeks ago, no plastic, no heat mats...nothing. I did cover them with soil because I wasn't aware until after the fact, that they say aren't supposed to. They did fine.

I have also used gallon bags as a dome...this may sound crazy but this year I started about 16 different kinds of seeds and couldn't afford the seed trays with Domes at $7 a piece. I went to the dollar tree, got the little 8x8 alluminum baking trays that were 4 for a Dollar. they are very thin but I'm not cooking with them so it didn't matter.

I filled them with soil, watered, sowed my seeds and slid the hole thing into a gallon bag, filled with air....and ta-dah....had a small greenhouse. It worked GREAT for ALL of my seedlings.

Thank you all for taking time to respond and provide me with this information. I sowed them about 5 days ago - so I guess I have a long while to wait.
I also just put them out in trays ( recycled from plants purchased last year) in front of the patio door. No heating mat and no lights. Usually my plants do quite well with that.
Happy Gardening - summer is coming close!!

I have them fairly close under artifical lighting. The color is virbrant and the leaves seem healthy, so you'd think that both of those would suffer if light wasn't sufficient right?
So should I just stake them with a toothpick like you did and hope they toughen up? I think I'll do that anyways just in case.
Thanks!

With low light seedlings grow larger leaves to get more photosynthesis and also elongate the stems. There is NO substitute for adequate light. Al

You are keeping your plants too wet and the resulting moss will kill the seedlings if not remedied. Your seedlings have roots and the soil surface does not need to be kept WET. Al

The "moss" is actually mold and is a common thing when the potting mix is kept too wet and it often comes up for discussion here. It can kill the seedling so yes, it needs to be stopped. It leads to the disease called "damp-off" (lots of info here on it) and rots the stem at the soil line. Gently scrape off the surface what you can.

Most new to seed starting overwater and young seedlings need air in the soil as much as they need water. Water drives that air out of the soil mix. So, as already mentioned, you need to cut back on the watering so that the surface soil dries a bit and improve the sir circulation and then the mold will die. Part of the problem is using the egg cartons.

Very young seedlings can easily be transplanted to larger containers and root damage is actually much less at this stage than it will be later. It is called "pricking" seedlings. It takes a light hand but it is best to get them out of the egg carton ASAP and transplanted.

Dave