6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Blanket flower-as in Gaillardia?
My American Hort Society book says 10 days. But when I sowed a packet of Burgandy gaillardia recently they popped up in about 5 days.
Sow at a minimum temperature of 60*. Four days after sowing, I placed mine on a heat mat of 70-75* and they germinated overnight.
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
Hi ccaggiano - I don't honestly think you can make broad general conclusion on germination rates between heirlooms and hybrids. Too much depends on the variety and seed quality.
Assuming good, fresh quality of both and equal conditions, I find little difference between germination rates/speeds, hybrids to heirlooms. But I do find a BIG difference from variety to variety of seeds regardless of whether they are hybrid or heirloom.
EX: cherry/grape varieties often germinate faster than do beefsteak types, early varieties will germinate faster than late season varieties, and RL varieties will often germinate faster than PL varieties.
So, given the info you provided I wouldn't give up on any of them yet. Hope this helps. ;)
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
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.
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.
This year I have done from your list so far broccoli, tomatoes and basil. All three sprouted withing 2-3 days sitting near my woodstove. I put them in soilless mix at day 4-6 in all cases. I can't advise on the others in your list.
Are you looking closely at the seeds? Open up a filter and check them out. The basil especially was hard to see germination when it first started.
Are you sure your seeds are viable?
Just thoughts, I too am a noob on the filter method but I've had great luck so far....too much luck, I've got far too many tomatoes.
The tomatoes, peppers and eggplant could take a good 2-3 weeks to germinate. I started my tomatoes and peppers on a heat mat and saw germination of the tomatoes in less than a week. The peppers were a little slower and generally took 3 weeks...a few straglers are still sprouting now almost 4 weeks later.
I also just started eggplant on heat mat at 85 and from what I read they will likely take 3 weeks to germinate. I've never had much luck with them but never tried them with the heat mat this warm so maybe that was the problem. The few times they have germinated for me they did take quite a long time (at least 4 weeks).
I'm waiting on my broccoli right now (only been a couple of days) but I generally give them all at least a couple of weeks before I get too worried about them :)
I hope that helps :)
No personal experience with one of these, jamjam, so take this with a grain of salt, ok? From what I have read about them, I'd share your fears of too much heat and possible damage. Went through all the lighting systems offered in my greenhouse supplier catalogs and found no use of them. Maybe no one else thought of it yet. ;)
I suppose you could try it and keep a close eye on them - see how it goes - could be great!
Dave
I've been doing some research, Dave, and I think this and grow lights are actually exactly the same thing. I'm going to contact the manufacturer and find out for sure, as nobody could give me a definitive answer. Some people in the PNW forum speculated that the lights might not be strong enough! But no one actually had one and had tried it. I'm pretty confident it will work now, but I'll try to find out for sure. BTW, the lights aren't "hot" to the touch at all when turned on, which I discovered the other day.
Hi happy - since you have a mixed bag of seeds go for 75 - it's a bit low for some and a bit high for others but should work. If you see the soil drying out too quickly then lower it to 70. Keep in mind that with a waterbed mat you have to have the temp probe stuck into a cup of soil too. I just fill a separate coffee cup with my damp potting mix and stick the temp probe in it and set it on the heat mat. It controls the heat cycle of the mat.
One other tip - sometimes setting the trays directly on the heat mat can melt and warp your tray. Small 1/4" spacers of wood under the corners help prevent that while still letting the soil heat.
Good luck! ;)
Dave
Thank you much for the depth, and more importantly, the tip on removing the netting. I did a web search on that and could find no info, not even on the Burpee web site!!!
I plan to transplant them Sunday....130 seedlings to transplant and another 150 to start ouch this is getting to be real work!!!
;)
Mark-
I got 2 in a trade recently. I don't know which variety of Mesquite Tree they were but both germminated quickly and are growing well. I'll check back through my emails and see if I can find who I got them from. Maybe they can tell you where they got them.
Karyn
I just germinated a LOT of heirloom seeds- three different kinds- and they all took longer than three days to germinate. But germinate they did! And even they germinated at different rates- the red heirlooms grew first, the gold was somewhere the middle and the black came up last and is a little more slow. Of course, the taste is worth it. Also, I didn't use the coffee filter, baggie at all- I just planted straight into the soil. I double planted some, thinking that they wouldn't all come up and it was better to be safe. Its been about a week and a half, and EVERY single seed came up. Some are an inch and a half tall and have large leaves. Be patient..
Now if only the same thing could happen with my wild strawberries. I am quite freaked.. the seeds were SO tiny and the germination is supposed to be ten-thirty days. I've always heard that perennials are more tricky! So technically it could be a month before I give up on them, and they might not come up at all. I have 250 seeds and I would LOVE to plant them all, but its such a gamble. And they're so small that I think presprouting them would be hellish, because, the sprouts would be so tiny that they could be seriously damaged transplanting.. oh the stresses of the natural world.. gah.. sorry- just needed to whinge a little..
(i planted them today, so its going to be a long haul)