6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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
Peppers are slow growers but part of your problem would appear to be overly wet soil and pots - which peppers don't like. The peat/cow pots are notorious for moisture control problems at best and peppers prefer to dry out a bit between waterings.
Overly wet soil causes the roots to have difficulty - slow growth, root rot, lack of sufficient air, poor drainage, etc. are all issues that can arise. Try cutting back on the watering and see if they don't perk up quite a bit.
Also with T8 lights - get the plants closer. Just a 1/2" hair above the top of the plants. 2" is definitely too high.
Hope this helps.
Dave
yep - I do my best to avoid any MG/ Scotts products for the same reasons, so I am with you there.
I tried the Dyna-Grow Fish /Kelp fert that I use in the garden on my indoor seedlings once - nothing quite like walking into a warm humid fishy smelling space - took a week for the smell to dissipate.
You do love to play semantics don't you Brandon? Pulling 1 or 2 words out of context to take issue with them really serves little purpose yet you do it repeatedly here.
The point was the different types of ProMix and yes, ProMix BX is Premier Hort's all-purpose mix (as opposed to their other mixes) or general purpose (which for most mean the same thing). It is and has been used by thousands of amatuer and professional growers alike for both seed starting, growing on with seedlings and yes, even for outdoor nursery stock growing. There are hundreds of discussions here testifying to that.
If you don't care for it or for its use in some cases that is your choice but the history of its and consensus of its value fall heavily in its favor.
Dave
"You do love to play semantics don't you Brandon? Pulling 1 or 2 words out of context to take issue with them really serves little purpose yet you do it repeatedly here."
I don't have time to play anything with you Dave. The comments weren't meant to be in response to anything you said or to solicit a personal attack from you. Professionals use the right media for the right purpose. BX clearly has lots of uses and there are also clearly uses for which it is not the best (that's why there are different mixes out there).
You just want something to argue about, and personally I don't have much more time for it. If you want to give your point of view, give it. Let others give their point of view. If the comments aren't addressed to you, try not to take them personally. Why don't we try to keep the discussion on a little more professional level?
This post was edited by brandon7 on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 23:10
Don't be afraid to separate and transplant them into individual pots once they get large enough to handle. That should be at 1-2 pairs of true leaves (discounting the cotyledons)
You don't have your zone posted, so we don't know when you can plant them out. But if you are up north like me, you can't plant them out for a while. If so they will need to be separated, so they have room to grow.
I am also growing snaps for the first time this year. Mine are in individual pots now and mostly 3" tall. I am just praying I can keep them happy and healthy for another 6 weeks inside. I plan on pinching them back soon to get them to bush out.
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
Funny story... I mislabeled my cup. It's a Florida giant watermelon.....