6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

I have been starting seedlings outside in Al's gritty mix. I can usually pull the seedlings out when very tiny because the mix is so loose. In addition, the root systems are huge compared with the little plant, which is a result of having a lot of airspace in the mix allowing the roots to grow fast.

I usually leave them in until they fully grow their second set of leaves. Then I move them to gritty mix again with much more spacing and let them grow until they are an inch or 2. It is so easy to get the roots out of the gritty mix, I can usually use a fork, and when the mix falls off, it's fine with me because it does not attach to fine feeder roots so the roots remain vastly intact.

All the tiny seed/transplants you mentioned I have just gone to winter/Spring sowing..it's just so much easier with the amount of seeds I sow, they can be left alone till planted out

I usually use water right from the tap that is at a temperature slightly warmer than room temperature. Soak a paper towel with it, wrap up the seeds, stick in a ziplock bag and onto the top of the fridge they go. There is a heating pipe about 5-10 feet away so the lil guys think its spring or summer and start sprouting within a week or two. crazy huh!?

Room Temperature

Update! Over two days ago I decided to put the other plants in the ground. They all had 2 sets of leaves and looked pretty established. Therefore, I whacked the bottom of the egg shells and cracked them off. I was surprised to see so many white roots there. I then made cracks in 2 sides and gently put them in ground mixed with potting soil and vermiculite. They are FINE and growing new leaves! I'm glad I only murdered the first one. I guess I set it out too early. Lesson learned. Wait till they get established.

Update! They are all alive and growing. They are from 4" to 6" tall now. They seem happy! I now have some chili peppers started in my little egg shells! When I get blossoms, I'll take a picture!

In the past we have ordered seeds from Burpees (good but expensive), Gurneys (cheap & vegetable seeds are reliable), Henry Field (ditto as Gurneys), Thompson & Morgan ( expensive & very few seeds germinated), E & S (cheap but only fair germination). I am sure there are more but do not remember all. For vegetables that are standards such as some beet varieties we use seeds from Walmart if they are cheaper.

I agree you can't find some varieties of flowers or veggies without trying the more expensive catalogs. I have often googled for seeds I have difficulty finding. I then try to find reviews of those companies before I order.

Jelitto has great seeds, if you're looking for perennials. I also like the North American Rock Garden Society.I found some other interesting sources here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Sources

When did you start them? Thanks Nikki

It depends on the variety and how fresh they are. Some varieties can take up to a year to germinate while others a couple weeks. Soaking the seeds in orange juice for a couple days prior to planting helps as does bottom heat. The fresher the seed the higher the germination rate in most cases. Here's a link to a great site for passiflora info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Passiflora

Hi

I use the 72 cell and have left the seedlings in there for longer than 6 weeks and they have done wonderfully. Space is always an issue. I only have some much room on top of the fridge and under the one light. Burpee sells them in a set and I have gotten them at home depot. I do know lowes has them also. I am not sure if they have the smaller sizes. They may be more cost effective buying them locally. I want to say that they may be $10.00.

Good Luck

Linda

Zinnias are not going to like being transplanted. Save some of the seed and throw it out where you want the plants. Bet they do better than the inside ones. My cosmos and zinnias reseed every year. In fact I've had snapdragons do it too.

Might want to try both ways.

Thank you all so much for the information. So much I didn't know...good to find out they need light to germinate. I'm looking forward to these pretty little plants in my garden.

I am trying to find seed of cooperi. Where did you locate yours. I am also looking for seed of delosperma John Profittt and sutherlandii.

Thanks Bill

Growing from seed in the numbers you are talking about will require much additional equipment other than just the greenhouse so there is that cost to consider.

And you have set yourself several major tasks to learn all at one time -

(1) learning to work with a greenhouse - each has its own personality and problems that have to be solved, its own set of demands, so unless you already have a great deal of greenhouse experience there are challenging days ahead on that one issue alone

(2)learning how to grow from seed - again do you have any experience doing so? I get the impression from your posts that it is no, correct? If so then pick a couple of simple ones to start like squash, tomatoes, zinnias, or marigolds and stay away from petunias, impatients, peppers, etc. You can research every variety online just by Googling "how to grow_________".

(3)growing for commercial production all at the same time?

Most of us who do all that and look back on any one of those learning experiences would advise you to slow down and back off a bit ;) as there is guaranteed frustration and disappointment going that route. So I add my encouragement to yiorges-z5il above - start small and learn first.

This year focus on getting acquainted with your greenhouse and get on good terms with it. You have to teach it who is boss! ;) Learn how to control and balance your light, shade, venting, heat and cooling controls, pests, humidity, storage, supplemental equipment, etc. In the process of doing that try growing say 50 of your needed tomato plants and a small variety of annuals just for yourself. That will be more than enough to teach you basic seed starting techniques, which will need supplemental heat and which don't, germination percentages, how to store seed (never in the GH), watering, staged transplanting, pest control, etc.

Then next year you will be in a much better position to know what you can handle.

Alternatively - install automated systems and plan to hire at least 1 full time or 2 part time helpers - preferably experienced - or put in 10 hours days seeding and re-seeding, watering, and controlling the environment and 16 hour days doing all the required interim transplanting. ;)

Good luck!

Dave

Thank you so much for that all that info. you are right I do not have a lot of seed growing experience. The only things I have succesfully grown from seed are tomatoes, spaghetti squash, impatients and several different annuals over the years but it was always to much of a challenge for me trying to do it in my laundry room. Last year we did not grow anything from seed b/c it was a very bad year for us with a lot of illness and 3 deaths of very important people in our family. Luckily we do have employees that have experience probably more than me to help and we have our kids which are cheap labor and do not know they need the learing experience.

I just wanted to try some of the colorful bell peppers this year. It was $1.07 for a packet of 'Carnival color peppers' and those cost more online (due to shipping). Only problem is there are 4 or 5 different colored varieties and all the seeds are mixed in the same packet. I tried to separate the seeds as best I could by color\size differences, but not sure if I successfully picked out one of each since the seeds are all very similar. I don't have much room in my garden, so I can't plant very many. Here's hoping I guessed wisely on the varieties, so I get a good example plant from each seed.

I thought Lowes seeds was high myself. I got a few packs but not many.

Haha my tomato seeds are sitting in their baggies in little newspaper cups I made. They're on the table next to my monitor. They are looking at me. Make them stop!

You can WS hardy annuals now.