6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

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

I use the peat pellets to start my seeds. I put them inside a milk carton (cut in half and then taped back together) or something else with some kind of lid, this keeps them from drying out, usually on top of my refrigerator or freezer. After they get a good start I carefully remove the netting and plant them into a styrofoam coffee cup under lights until I am ready to transplant out into the yard. I've had pretty good luck this way.

Happy Gardening,
gemfire

I grew over 50 sunflowers in them last year. This year I have 4 different types of sunflowers in them, radishes, dahlia seeds,marigolds, and others types of seeds. I have never removed the out side rap. I get them growing then plant pellet into dunkin donut cup full of potting soil. Last year I had a sunflower that was over nine foot tall. Some smaller seeds may be effected by the netting, but I have not had that problem.

Since you are zone 9 you could actually sow outside---last frost date is mid to end February...you might want to wait until March 1st to be safe...Indoors you can start now for sure.

thanks to all,i'm going to give it try

Thanks for both your comments.

naturemitch, I'm not so sure that worm poop is the cause because the seedlings were started in a mix of worm poop, vermiculite and screened peat moss. One would think from the moment of germination they should 'know' the stuff by now. What I failed to mentioned was that in transplanting I also added two more light fixtures to my growing apparatus.. not to mention the new foam cup 'pots' are higher up than the plastic tubs the seeds were originally started in, so the tomato plants are in much more closer proximity to increased light. Also when I transplanted the very leggy tomato plants, I buried them quite deep. I think I just all-around shocked them.

The plants look about the same as they did yesterday. It must be quite warm under 8 cool-whie T8s because the soil in the smaller 6-packs where I have marigolds, brussel sprouts, broccoli and varieties of lettuce was nearly completely dry (again) today. I'll need to water them daily or cut back on the duration of the light (16 hours/day). What do you think?

I am hesitant to really "mess around" and just observe the next several days. I'll see if they start looking better.

Hello again,

I would hold tight to the light schedule, i usually keep mine on a 14-16 hr. cycle. I would just water more if you are seeing the soil get dry that quickly. You might want to lay a thermometer next to your seedlings or stick one into the soil medium and see just how warm the area is. I buy the fish tank ones(couple of bucks) and they give information on how warm my seed plunge is or how warm a specific container is(I actually stick it into the substrate). Works great.

Did your seedlings actually touch the bulbs...then i could readily understand them being burnt. If it was me i would be curious just how warm it is or isn't under those lights. I've only burnt some coleus and that was when they started pushing themselves against the lights.

I too would hold tight and see what happens...burying those seedlings was good too:)

m

thanks for sharing your experience. the 50-55F is easy in my basement so germination is no problem. Springs here in mich. are cool and damp so they should be ok but that's when they die. i'm going to keep trying tho.
woody i have some red orientals in my garden too and at there peak there quite a sight.why i want the blue just to see if i can do it i guess.

These wintersow very, very well. It seems it's the only way I can get good results with poppies, period.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Forum