6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Thanks pottingblockguru. I knew they were a nightshade but had never heard those other names, just yesterday, today and tomorrow. Maybe I shouldn't give up on the others that I planted yet as it's only been a few weeks? About how long for germination?
Karyn

Karyn,
I have a bush if you want a cutting. LMK.

These haven't even really started to leaf out yet. They are just 3" long white hairs.

I have them in medium light, not direct sun as I don't want them all to shrivel and die.

I guess I'll just have to see what happens. If they leaf out, perhaps, when I transplant them I can plant them deeper so they won't be so leggy...

Schizanthus is what we call a dicot. It has two seed leaves or cotyledons. and no matter how leggy a seedling gets even right after germination, you should be able to see the cotyledons, no matte how small. your description doesn't sound like a dicot seedling.

All I have to say is WOW! Well said feldon. I have made lame attempts at growing from the seeds from produce from grocery stores or plant stands and have realized they may not be true to parent, but if they taste like garbage to begin with, and taste like garbage after I harvest them they are still garbage. If someone likes the tasteless produce at the store, they will like the tasteless veggies they produce. Case closed. I like to buy seeds, and have great plants or trade seeds and have great plants. I surely dont want what I pay the grocery store for.

OMG yes Feldon you were very kind to try to educated "squeeziemonkey" (what kind of name is that anyway?) and I'm sorry that there are people like her/him in the world that can be so ungrateful and rude to someone who is only trying to help them. I agree 100% with everything you said (as I have also tired squeezie's suggested method of saving some money and it was a massive failure) and i also agree with what "girlndocs" said. Squeezie if this is just a "stupid plantsite" then why are you even here? For God's sake, please try to control your temper and treat others with the kindness and respect that they have treated you.

I started my Alpine strawberries in seed starting mix in February and they are doing just fine. :)

Thanks so much, guys! I figured it might be something like that. Sla, how long did your strawberries take to germinate? The directions on my packet seem awfully long- ten days at the slowest! :) Also, these don't send out runners like local wildies.. are yours the same, or are they native North American?

This doesn't sound like damp-off, which is a fungal problem where you'd see the seedlings fall over or they would have blackish stems near the soil line, then die.

It may be a cultural problem in some way. Brown tips from your seedlings could be caused by overwatering or underwatering, too much fertilizer/salts, poor humidity, flouride in water, and poor humidity. If they are too near a strong light, the newly fragile leaves could be just getting burned.

Do you have a photo of your setup? The climate for your seedlings has changed because they are no longer in a biodome, and chances are the light has changed, too. What light source are you using? Have you used fertilizer? Side note with zinnia-use a small fan to circulate air near seedlings, not on top of them, to prevent that damp-off, but I think this is something else.

I agree that it doesn't sound like damp-off since it is the leaves not the stems, correct? Leaf tip-burn is almost always caused by over-fertilization or sun scorch. As tuscanseed said something has changed to cause this. What potting mix did you transplant them into? Direct sun exposure? Too close to lights if using them? Or too much fertilizer?

Dave

dragonplant - I know with mine I was trying to get some pepper seeds to germinate so I put their peat pots on a heating pad (in a tray) then threw in some others that hadn't germinated yet. It had been over two weeks on them so I had low hopes. Covered them all in cellophane to keep in the heat and keep out my cats. The top of the cellophane had a lot of condensation on it so I think my seed got a little confused on where the water was coming from!

Poor little confused zucchini! The happy part was that even if it was the only thing to germinate out of the bunch it's growing great now. And I'm re-trying the pepper seeds using a different method that will hopefully work. :-)

It certainly is a fun story though - breech birth is a perfect description!! LOL

The newborn has been returned to its proper position.
Mother and baby are doing just fine.
;)

I've seperated my Dietes twice and have sometimes had to use a hand hatchet to split difficult clumps. You do need the rhizome and I like to have groups large enough that it will look mature quickly, rather than split into individual rhizomes. I'm not beyond using a chisel and hammer either - it takes a lot of hand strength to get the clumps apart.

jThanks dicot, that is exactly what i needed to know.

mailmann22 - where did you get your trays? I just ordered some for the first time thi syear from Harris Seeds. So far, so good, my tomatoes have come up great. Have you used them in the past?

This is the first time I tried using the rows and not the individual cells. The trays I got from Johnny's Seeds.

If you have a lot of the little guys you could pick a "sacrifical lamb" to put out there first and see how that does. I always do this with my seedlings when first moving them to the greenhouse.

Wow. Christmas lights. It never occured to me!! That is a cool idea!

I usually have a pretty good grip on how much cold my plants can take before they suffer a set-back. If the advantage of all that real sun is offset by too much cold at night, I hold off until things warm up a bit. But Thunbergia is a new one for me. But I bet that a string or two of lights would safely keep the temperature in a better range for all the plants.

The "sacrifical lamb" is my usual method, but I will be transplanting them to fit 2-3 per pot and really did not want to risk more than one. With the lights out there, I can at least say I tried to make it better.

I like it! Thanks! This will help a lot!! Kay.

For smaller cells I use a utility knife for transplanting: I slip the knife down along the cell wall, gently hold the plant, and scoop out with the knife. granted, this only works on small cells and if the rootball is intact. it sounds to me like no matter what method you use, you'll still have some soil loss because the root system isn't extensive enough to hold it all together. this makes transplanting easier (and less messy), but you can still transplant now if you wish: 4 true leaves is the rule of thumb - if you wanted to wait longer and there's still room for the roots to grow, then you certainly could leave them where they are.

As for planting deep - yes for tomatoes and peppers and *some* flowers (the ones that will put out roots if they ste touches dirt), but I generally don't for ornamentals. Too much stem under the soil and you increase the chance of stem rot if no auxiliary roots are going to be produced.

Depending on the size of the cell a plastic knife or fork works great for me to scoop them out. I think it also helps to have the soil damp to wet so it sticks together when "forking" it out :)