6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Thanks :) The only probelm is they're all outgrowing their containers and I still have at least 3 weeks til last frost. Grrr! With the way our crazy weater is going here, I'll be lucky if it's warm enough by then even!
I think yours will do great- mine grew way faster than I was expecting and I bet yours will love being able to be outside to grow!

Great job! next year you'll be a pro. :) Be sure to make yourself some good notes on all the what, when, and how's you learned this year so you'll have them to refer to next year.

Happy gardening!!

Dave

Hi macheske,

Thanks for the followup. So how cold does it get in the room that the setup is in? I guess I don't have a good sense of how much above 32F the new plants need to be at to live and secondly thrive. It's good to know about not needing to heat post-germination and according to my thermometer, it's approx. 60-65F under the lights right now. I germinate my seeds in me Jasmine growbox which has high humidity (70-80%) and temps that fluctuate between 70-85F. I think my husband will throw a fit if I try to plug any more electronics in to support my plant habit :-)
I have to figure out a way to sneak some small fans in though. His whole philosophy is that plants are hardy and want to live and I should just scatter the seeds to the winds - which has some merit but how would I deal with winter?

Thanks,
Amna

Amna,
I think that 60-65F would be fine for tomatoes and a lot of other veggies, lower temperature will keep them stockier but slower growing. It seems like peppers like it a little warmer but they would probably do ok but would be slow. I really don't know very much about flowers.
Rick

Thanks, that is just the answer I was hoping for! Now I just have to find room for all of them. I had way better germination than I expected and ended up having to thin out the majority of the seedlings for lack of space.

How long does it take coleus seedlings to mature? Mine have germinated. They have two leaves. Some are getting a second set of leaves. They seem to be slow growers or either I'm watching to much and time is sitting still.

Amna, it sounds like you are off to a great start, I'm glad you're enjoying the learning process!

As you can see from your own sowing, perennials started indoors can take a bit more research into their preferred conditions for germinating - there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. As suggested, you may enjoy winter sowing next winter, but since it's now Spring and you have seeds:

Bookmarking a good germination database is a great help...as well as posting here and asking of course. You'll need the botanical name of each seed, ie sea holly (eryngium), columbine (aquilegia), balloonflower (platydcodon)....you can find those simply by typing the common name into any search engine like Google, MSN.

The seeds you mention that you are having trouble with may benefit from stratifying (conditioning the seed by exposing it to a moist chill) or lower temperatures all around.

Don't be put off by the challenge, it just makes the results all the more rewarding.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clothiers germination database

Thanks dicot & morz8. I can't believe this but the flat of fungus ridden lobelia seeds has actually sprouted! Cannot believe it. I had taken it out of my grow box and left it on top of the counter in the basement until I could either figure out how to salvage it or bring myself to chuck it and yesterday I lifted the cover off to find a ton of newly sprouted seedlings. Of course that prompted me to spend the next 2 hrs manually picking off the fuzz and I have to say I got it looking a lot less nasty. Now they are back under the lights and I'm going to try to save them by transplanting as soon as they get a little bigger. Sounds nerdy, but it is totally amazing to me.

Thanks again for your encouragement,
Amna

thanks for the input guys...that helps a bit...All the seeds did look the same though.... Will the pollinators produce cucumbers as well?

Yes, they will. The pollinator seeds are usually larger and, as I said, most seed companies pack them in a separate little pack inside. But then that is Burpee for you. Just another poor quality reason why many of us quit dealing with them some time ago.

Dave

It's better that the floor where they also have to contend with the cold coming up through the floor. But the majority of the heat is going to collect up near the roof so the higher the better. In my GH I find as much as a 10 degree difference between the waist high shelves and the ones at 5'. But all you can do is work with what you have. ;)

Dave

Thanks! My growing shelves are all I have right now but, I'll see what I can come up with. At first thought I could use 2 saw horses with some old 2x4s to put the shelves on. I guess I'll think of something! Still learning as I go.