6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

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.

How moist is moist? Is placing them in the cold moist air of the garage enough or should they actually be wet as they would be if wrapped in a wet paper towel?

Moist is more moist than cold moist air, think along terms of approximately how damp a handful of wet sphagnum moss would be after you had squeezed it well in your hand, or even a kitchen sponge. I don't use the paper towel method myself so can't advise you there. What I have done - sown in moist (not soggy wet) seed starting medium or commercial potting soil, container then wrapped in saran, or seeds placed in a 1x3" zip lock with a tsp of moist sterile sand or moist vermiculite.

I'm perplexed about how you get it thoroughly wet (I soak) but final stage is like a wrung out sponge. Seems like you either have to let it dry for several days or not get it all that wet to start with.

Hi Ginny - I can only tell you how we do it in the greenhouse. We dump the bag of mix into a plastic dish tub-type container and pour on warm water while stirring the mix. Let it sit for 3-4 hours, stirring now and then. Once it is all well-wetted just pick it up by handfulls and squeeze out the excess water. The fistful of mix will now crumble a bit in your hand and gets packed into the seedling cells. Pop in the seeds and press them lightly into the soil, sprinkle a bit of dry mix on the top. If no dry is handy we sprinkle vermiculite on top (peat hardens into a crust so we don't use it). Spritz the cells, cover the tray or whatever container you are using, and the humidity generated in the flats will wet the top dry sprinkles and they will also soak up excess moisture from below.

I think it might help to think of the mix as needing to be "well-moistened" rather than as "well-soaked". ;) And don't worry about the 1/8th", as i said it is just a general guideline.

Dave

Thanks for sharing your method Dave. I needed to be reminded how to accomplish that state of dampness and now I see. I really appreciate your help!!

Ginny

guess i'm still stuck in the aquarium plant lighting lingo, where can i read up more about indoor lighting.

what are cold and warm flourescent, cuz i also have a 25 watt 36" flourescent single strip light (this one's not compact flourescent as you can see in the wattage)

This light comparison chart might be helpful.
Karyn

Here is a link that might be useful: grow lights