6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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.
Tammy, it depends on the plant. Some perennials, trees, shrubs will need a moist chill to break dormancy, others do not, and you will find some that do best with a warm moist period, followed by a cold moist period to then germinate when brought back to warm again (much like would happen if self sown).
So different seeds have different germination requirements. Clothiers is a good database, or if you don't find what you are looking for - give us the names of the plants.
Here is a link that might be useful: Clothiers germination database
Tammy, if you winter sow the seeds, that removes the need to refrigerate them. The alternating freezing and above freezing temps will take care of it. Some seeds I winter sow (those requiring winter chilling), some I direct sow, and some I start the traditional manner in pots inside in late winter. As morz8 points out, only certain seeds need this chilling process for germination.
Poppy seeds are easy to germinate indoors. They resent root disturbance so transplanting outside can be a problem. I have grown them in paper pots, one poppy per two inch pot. Plant the pot whole in the garden. Most poppies can be seeded in place in the garden, depending on what zone you may live in. Al
Personally I don't like to use peat. While it is a nice light medium, it dries out too quickly for my liking.
Plus I don't care to contribute to the deterioration of a natural resource that take so long to produce.
I typically just use a premium potting mix.
Some times a seed will require a second cold period to germinate..... does require a soil temp 0f 65-70F & takes 114-60 days to germinate. Are you sure the seed was viable I also store the seed at 40F from harvest to ready to plant.
a paper bag etc will not increase the chances of germination.
I have good results with walls-o-water, which allow you to plant out a month or more early. Just have to wait for that one oddball warm day to plant and put on the wall-o-water. If you combine an early-type tomato with an early planting in a wall-o-water, you can have fresh maters pretty early. I have planted an early tomato in a large container with a wall o water for better results yet.
I only use them for eating tomatoes. It is not worth the effort for determinate plants that are used for canning.
Kay.
I'll add one other suggestion that may help as well. I find that if I continuously replant my tomoatoes (every couple of weeks) into larger pots, planting them deeper and deeper, they seem to grow faster as well.
I'll clip off the lower leaves (that would be buried anyways) and pot it up as deep as I can still leaving at least one or two sets of leaves exposed.
The buried stem then produces roots, allowing the plant to "grow up" faster...or so it seems.
I did this last year and I was clipping off blooms (I like to wait until they are planted outside to produce) weeks before I could plant them out.
If there is enough rain, mine will grown where they fall. But I wanted to see what kind of germination I would get, so I planted about 40 walnuts in regular soil with a bit of compost. I paid no attention to which end was up. No water. It was late fall. In the spring, 37 of them germinated. So my tip would be just make sure they are planted in reasonable soil and actually buried.
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.