6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

I agree with Paula that if you want to be moving the seedlings back and forth the best way to go is with Wintersowing and just leave them outside. It works quite well.

If, on the other hand you are talking about the more common approach of starting your seeds indoors with heat mats, lights, etc. (notice I didn't say better way just more common, ;) then no, moving the plants back and forth inside to outside is very risky. It is too drastic a change in environment and young indoor germinated seedlings cannot tolerate outdoor exposure unless they are first "hardened off".

Hardening off is a process - discussed in length in many posts here - that is required for all indoor germinated seedlings before exposing them to the wind, direct sun light spectrum, temps, etc, of outside and especially required before transplanting them to a garden.

Review some of the links below for more details and enjoy, but 'baby', your indoor seedlings or follow the Winter Sowing outdoor approach. ;)

Dave

Hardening Off FAQ

Hardening off discussions Scroll down to the ones with the blue borders.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Forum and FAQ's

I've found that most seedlings, once they're up, do just fine outdoors so long as night temps are staying above 40 degrees. Basil, peppers and tomatoes get pretty miserable when its that cold, though.

Lots of seeds won't sprout until night temps are higher. You can start the seeds inside and sit the trays out once germination has happened. If you get a cold snap, though, you may want to bring the seedlings in at night.

I've also heard that chamomile tea (cold) works as well, but I haven't used it. Also bottom watering and grit on the surface of the soil is supposed to work.

I have used h2O-h2O2 a couple times to prevent damping off

~Chills

Adequate ventilation and not overwatering are the simplest things you can do to prevent damping off.

Pelleting seeds makes them a uniform size which makes them compatible with machines used to seed trays for growing plugs. Al

Those durn pansy seeds are sooooo teensy that the pelleting process is a must for some of us! :-)

I linked another ongoing discussion on using sodium bicarb and potassium bicarb below for your info.

I have tried both baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and have had limited success with both - they work by changing the pH of the soil surface so that the fungus cannot grow as well.

I agree that trying to prevent it is best but not by microwaving your soil. That's a lot of work, only works for small amounts of mix for starting a few seeds, doesn't eliminate all the airborne fungi that can easily infect your soil, and is quite smelly and potentially hazardous.

And if you are using a sterile, soil-less seed starting mix as recommended, it also isn't necessary. It's better to increase the air circulation abound the plants with a small fan, reduce the humidity in the growing area, and avoid over-watering. Fungi exist all around us, nothing we can do about that, but we can control the environment of our plants and so prevent the fungi from growing.

Good luck with your plants. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Bicarb as an antifungal...

I agree that air circulation is necessary, but not just in the environment around your seedlings. The potting mix should be extremely aerated, too. You can achieve this by adding a substantial amount of coarse perlite to your mix before sowing.

I can't remember the last time I had a case of damping off occur in my seedling flats (over 20 years); creating a very porous mix is an important part of the whole scenario.

Good luck! Remember: prevention is the best policy. ;-)

With tomato plants I agree: one per container. My question though, do you cut and kill off some or attempt transplanting and risk all? Isn't there something to a bird in the hand...?

Thanks for the responses. I have already removed all but one tomato plant in one of the containers. The other tomato plant (& cucumbers) still have multiple plants in one container.

Fwiw, I may take a picture this evening to show how they're performing.

I have 11 trays (370 cells) of various vegetable seeds I just started - under fluorescent bulbs right now & will be transplanted outdoors in late April. The plants originally in question are an attempt to produce a crop indoors (these will remain under artificial lighting - will be switched to a HPS 12/12 setting in two weeks or so).

So I may not have a choice but to buy lamps?

IF you want to grow from seed indoors, then yes, some sort of lights, are required. 16 hours on and 8 off or 12/12 are the standard recommendations. Those who claim they can do it just using a window are misleading themselves or are content with far less than ideal transplants.

Most of us use inexpensive 'shop lights' - 4 foot florescents with 2 bulbs. They can be purchased at various stores for anything from 8-10 dollars or on sale for even less.

You'll also need some sort of sterile soil-less mix for germinating and to prevent the damp-off and a small fan is also a great help. As to starting containers, you can use just about anything and there is a long thread just a bit down the page full of suggestions for containers to use. Once the seeds germinate and develop their first set of true leaves they have to be separated, transplanted to individual containers, and fed regularly with a mild 1/2 strength fertilizer solution.

As an alternative, investigate the Winter Sowing forum for an alternative method of growing from seed and doing it outside. You may find their approach appeals to you more.

As to when to start - the usual recommendation is 6-8 weeks prior to your last frost date - info readily available from your local county extension or online. As already mentioned, gourds are usually direct seeded but in your short growing season you may wish to start them early and transplant instead. Broccoli is a cole crop and prefers cooler weather and can even tolerate frosts so it goes out much earlier than any of the others you list.

Check out all the FAQ's that exist (linked below) here for all the basic info and good luck with your garden. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed FAQ's

Hi Sunny,

Just a thought....

I have a seed starting mix that I use for germinating and then transplant the seedlings out to either recycled soil from last years containers or a different type of mix(maybe in your case a topsoil mix). I don't need huge quantities of seed starting mix because I use 4" pots for all of my germinaion containers. This saves me tremendous money and space for germinating seedlings....and I germinate many, many seeds.

Maybe this might be your solution?

good luck
m

Hi M. I just purchased 2 yards of potting soil so I have plenty of soil to use to pot my seedlings up in. It is so much cheaper buying potting soil by the yard. I use flats and put 2 or 3 seeds to each cell. When they are older and sturdy I then separate the plants and put them in larger pots.

Dave, I am just outside of Houston so bulk supplies in peat isn't a problem. Although I can only find small bags of perlite which is a problem. If I mixed one part peat to one part perlite then we are getting back to the expense again. I think it might be just a little cheaper then the premixed bagged seed starting mix. Today I just bought some more mix but went to Jiffy this time. It was around $3.15 per bag at Wally World.

Gardeners in the upper states have it made being able to buy Pro Mix by the bale.

We live on 2 acres so we are trying to raise from seed a lot of our annuals that we use for color and fillers. We are growing a lot of veggies for the garden to.

Even though the seedling mix is high we are still saving a lot of money by growing our own. Plus we know that our plants are healthy.

Thanks for all of your help.

Two places to find Gunnera seed is Twining Vine Garden Store & Whatcom seed company, This plant can survive with heavy mulching in your zone. I live in Z7 and it does overwinter here in NC>

That is good to know..perhaps I can get it to overwinter
her in Chatham Va. I want this plant so badly. Tried it
twice and lost...I had it much too dry. Thompson&Morgan
also has the seeds. The plant may be in the Wayside
catalog.