6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
They look really healthy and happy! When can you usually plant out in your area? I don't think you started to early.
Yes they need to be hardened off - any plant needs time to adjust to real sun and wind slowly - even things the were wintered over.
Dahlias, peppers and eggplant like heat, but everything else can start going out as soon as you have warmish (above 50) days. Petunias, agastache, viola and verbena can easily handle nights in the mid 30's. To much cold will slow them down, but won't really harm them.
It is the 5 days without water that I would be worrying about.
Good to know that all of my flowering plants (except the dahlias I guess) can go out soon. I'm thinking of transplanting the petunias (some have already started to bloom) in row containers in front of my house and bringing them in when temps are not favorable at night.
Spinach is one of the few vegetables that likes it cold - even for germination. And grows fast enough that starting inside and early is pointless. It winter sows well (check the WInter sowing forum). I don't know the weather in OK right now, but you could probably already sow it outside. I have about 30" of snow covering my garden beds, so it will be a while before I can start it. Use that kit to start tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, they need the head start.
Give them some cover protection. If in pots move to some shade, if temps are that cool, cover - even a gallon milk jug with the bottom cut out and the lid left off works like a mini-greenhouse. There are many things you can do to help insure their survival.
Dave
Thanks Dave. They looked awful this morning...it was windy and sunny...not too hot but I think the wind is hard on them. Anyway, I double bagged some paper grocery bags, cut out the bottoms, turned the bottom edges out (secured w/stones) and placed them over the milkweeds. They looked considerably more perky this evening! Phew! Daughter has calmed down (a bit) :)
Could you give me a specific plant example of what you are talking about and what you consider a "tiny pot". Different plants have different tricks. :)
95% of the plants one buys in a nursery were not grown in the container you buy them in. That have been transplanted at least once and usually multiple times.
Dave
Give it some time, newly germinated seedlings can be a little hard to identify, but I think most would describe crocus seedlings as looking more like grass....
Here is a link that might be useful: Saffron crocus seedlings/young plants
I have too many to plant, next year it will be best. Small veggies this year, next year mostly veggies. New to this home...have to get grounds ready. ( :
Have you had luck with peat pots? I hope with the underwater method to keep them moist enough...but know I'm on thin ice. Using them today for Oriental Poppies because I know the roots don't like transplanting. Will get them so moist at the end that I can peel off part or all the bottom (leave sides intact) when it is time to put them in the yard.
20 tomatoes is a LOT. Good for you!!!!! What do you do will all of them? I will only have about 4-6 this year. Sweet 100's and Cherokee purple and a roma for sauce. I will can some, make some sauce too, but I am wondering if it is possible to freeze any? What do you think? Nuts I know.....
No, I have never used peat pots and probably never will. I have heard too many horror stories, plus, the plastic ones are reusable year after year so it cuts down on cost. I understand the concern though, with plants that don't like transplanting.
I have found (for vegetables anyways) that as long as you do it when very very young they usually make it through. When I have transplanted things like cukes, beans, and squash, which are all notoriously poor movers, I have had the best luck before the true leaves appear.
It is? Shoot, there's people out there that grow hundreds of tomatoes a year! I will wind up giving away quite a few of them, but I don't thin any of my starts, I just separate the seedlings and grow them all (seeds are too expensive to just kill them after they sprout IMO). Never tried freezing any, though, if you were planning to use them for sauce and stuff I think it would be a perfectly good option.
Well, to me they donâÂÂt really look large enough to be outgrowing their container just yet. The medium theyâÂÂre in appears to be a little too wet and probably a little too shallow. Transplanting to larger pots later will definitely be beneficial. For now, IâÂÂd just try to straighten the seedlings up, add more of your growing medium (to cover most of the stems as Dave has suggested) and cut down on the watering.
Art
I think with the pods it was probably too wet, when using mix it was probably not pressed down enough to remove air spaces, or possibly I was dropped seed onto the mix, added more mix, then watered and or agitated which could have put my depth way off.
This time I premoistened the mix, gently pressed it down added the see and then covered with the appropriate depth followed by another light pressing.
I expect things to go better this time.
I re-planted in the cup, and used the fish emulsion to water them - same day. Didn't hurt them at all. I did try to keep as much of the clod of starter mix that was around the roots with it, to reduce the shock of being transplanted. It's been about 2 weeks since then, and they are all great. You will see an immediate change in them with the fish.
When is the birthday? If you want to give a cherry tree you have grown from seed you will need to start in the Autumn two or three of years ahead of the date. IF you can get the seed to grow and all goes well you will be able to offer a tree about two feet tall in about three years time. Also you will have no way of knowing what kind of cherry will grow from the seed unless you have chosen one of the wild species. You can't grow any of the ornamental flowering or good fruit bearing cherries from seed. In fact many of the double cherries don't even produce seed as the sexual parts of the flowers have mutated through hybridization into extra petals. These instructions tell you how to grow any of the wild species.
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing cherry trees from seed.
After all chance of frost which if I recall in zone 5 is mid May sometime. You should be able to find out your local last frost date online easily to be sure. Then check the forecast to make sure no late frosts predicted over the coming week and plant them.
If you don't mind covering them in case of late frost then you can plant them 7-10 days before the last frost date but the risk increases.
Dave
You can try it but you will have to monitor them closely for the first several hours. It is still a drastic change in environment of temps, wind, and sun exposure so it should be a gradual process. Cold-turkey very seldom works and most every time someone tries to get around the restrictions of proper hardening off they live to regret it.
Dave