6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I have grown cosmos lot's of times over the years and if memory serves me right it usually takes about 2 months. One important tip is never fertalize your cosmos they will become lush and green and will hardly flower. I have read this and have experienced it as well.
Good luck
Its more likely problems with disturbed roots. If you don't disturb the roots when you transplant, you are fine transplanting even seedlings that don't like it.
The best way to avoid this with sensitive seedlings is to either let them get good and rootbound before transplanting so the roots don't move when you pop the plant out in one chunk, or start them in peat pots or pellets that you can plant in the ground without removing them from it.
Playing Devils Advocate:
With cucurbits one of the things I've noticed is that you can take a plant that is 3-4 weeks old and transplant it out in the garden and then directly sow a seed next to it and within a month or two the direct sown seed will be nearly the same size because while the transplant was stunned and adjusting to it's new harsher lifestyle the direct sown seed was plowing away under full growth conditions.
That being said, so long as you don't disturb the roots starting cucurbits from seed is just fine and if you have a shorter growing period - and/or can really baby those transplants for the first week or two - it can help extend your growing season by giving you a significant headstart. Especially if your transplant is already 6-8 weeks old by the time you move it out. :shrug:
Cucumbers are one of the last things you'll plant in your garden because they like it to be warm.. Soil temps 65-70 to start. You can start indoors 3 to 4 weeks before last frost but wait til your temps stay warm, a good thing to purchase is a soil thermometer it helps with the guess work. I also get all the recommended soil temps for sowing seeds off the old farmers almanac web site.
Good luck
well i made 3 mistakes. I didn't transplant early and deep enough and i watered from the top.
I kept the lamp about 2 inches from the tops. The room was warm (72-75).
Do you think it would be a mistake to start somemore just for the practice and transplant them alittle later than normal?
Hi, I was interested in reading your post because I want to build some kind of structure out of materials that we already have. We have a few old windows and will have even more next year. If you look at the greenhouse forum, you'll see a long thread about building the Harbor Freight Greenhouse. I didn't read it all the way through but it looked good for someone like you who is wondering about the quality of HF items. Good luck!
Lori
Druse, Magnolia in general. Species are variable, in some, embryo matures during storage, in others inhibitors develop with ripening. Soak seeds 48 hours in warm water with liquid detergent, then clean of all pulp (it's oily and will inhibit uptake of water through the seed coat). Sow outdoors for germination in following Spring, OR moist-cold 120 days followed by sow barely covered @50F. Germination in additional 120 days or longer after the chill period. (My own note, magnolia wilsonii has taken 15 months from sowing purchased dried seed outdoors here)
Clothiers: Magnolia acuminata and other species , remove seed coat, sow 3 months @ 39ºF, then direct sow outdoors
I had to take a clean knife and nick the hard shell of the seed. You have to be carefull and not damage the embryo inside. I then soaked the seeds overnight too soften them. I planted them in a soiless mix of peat and vermilicite, and covered. They germinated within a 5-10 days....good luck.Have any extra?
There are a couple here -
Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Site, Celosia
It's usually a real bad idea to use any fertilizer on a seedling. Try to just water it normally, if you have a water softener, use rain water instead, it could be salts building up in the soil. Might want to repot it or plant it outside, just get it used to being outside slowly if you live in a hot climate.
I'm no expert in this area. . . . but we too are averaging in the 40's at night and the 60's during the day.
Yesterday, I started some domed trays of wildflower seeds outside. They will not be moved into the garage unless we have a frost warning.
I am thinking this will be okay. My thoughts are that they will be stronger if they start outside w/ limited protections.
You'll need to be very careful about introducing them to direct sunlight or they'll burn. Just a little bit more every day. I'd not use any plastic during the day, which may heat up too much. All of the plants that you mention can take cool temperatures just fine.
I am no expert but I grew shasta daisies from seed a few years ago. I knew less then than I do now... and I managed to keep them alive! From what I recall, I didn't use any lights so they just grew in natural light. If your seem spindly and too weak in the stem, I wonder of adding a small mound of soil around the stem would help? I had them in small pots and I'd put them outside on warm sunny days so they could get some real sunlight. I also put them in the ground as soon as the temps stayed away from low 30's at night. They survived very well...I may have killed a few but honestly I found them to be quite hardy and forgiving of my knowledge deficit! Good luck.
Lori
Thanks for all your comments. I've been wondering if there wasn't a bit of a conspiracy on the part of the nurseries with respect to fruit trees not breeding true. I mean, I don't doubt that the offspring don't resemble the parents, but that's not always a bad thing. Just ask my kids!
P.S. I just spotted a wild cherry tree which may have to be worked into my plans somewhere, if I can get the cuttings to grow.
I had a peach tree volunteer out of a compost pile. It bore fruit in its third year, the tree was already 9 feet tall! I only got to taste a couple fruits (it set 3 or 4 dozen), as most of them fell victim to oriental fruit moth. What I tasted was very good. The tree was a pest magnet....Japanese beetles ate the leaves, there were borers in the trunk, and the moth maggots in the fruit. On top of it all, it was between two bushes I had paid for, and rapidly shading out a small herb garden, so I cut it down.
The consensus on the fruit forum is that peaches and plums will probably turn out pretty good, apples have a very small chance of being as good as a named variety.
Alex