6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Have no idea who praxxus is but like some others, perhaps he just doesn't know any better. Which is odd as any experienced nursery grower knows and there is plenty of science-based info about it available on the web for the layman.

Dave

Hi.. thanks everyone for the feedback. I guess I will have to be more careful with the tranparent cups.

I had seen Ray (from the praxxus channel) do this but also thought that it was probably ok b/c soil blocks are an acceptable means of growing seedlings as well and in that the root are pretty open to air as well. I guess you keep those pretty close together and don't let it too much light.

It is simple enough for me to just place my cups in another opaque cup... so I may do that. Waste of cups but oh well you live and you learn.

Us Landscapers call it Girgling. They do the same thing if you dont remove the wire baskets from the larger trees. They actually done some research on it at Ball State University here in Muncie Indiana.

...'tis that time of year.

Rick

its really not dependent on the seed once it sprouts yes it has energy stored in it for the seedlings to use that why some seeds sprout faster than other because some have more energy in them. that why when the first one sprouts on most of the bigger plant seeds you pluck the second or third out. Because that first one is the best and most vigorously bursting with energy therefore the winner.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

The oldest mature seed that has grown into a viable plant was a Judean date palm seed about 2,000 years old, recovered from excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada in Israel. It was germinated in 2005.[4][5][6][7] Wiki

Still has a little pep, doesn't it?

I will be following this with interest, as broccoli seems to be the plant that I have the most trouble with in my zone 6.

Spinach and lettuce grow great. Tomatoes and peppers vary a lot year to year. Carrots and onions are so-so, but I often ignore them so I can't complain. But broccoli -- never got a single bite of anything in the four year I tried it in my 14 years of gardening.

Maybe I should treat it like spinach and plant it a number of different times to increase the chances of success.

Some followup questions now that my seedlings have really gotten big since I transplanted them into my 3.5 durapots. Another week or so and I will probably take them outside.

1) Is there a hardening process for broccoli?

2) Is the root system of broccoli very large? Will a 5 gallon grow bag be large enough?

3) For the 5-1-1 mix that I'll be using for the broccoli, after adding the dolomitic lime, would I use the same amount of Dynamite 15-5-9 CRF that I would for tomatoes?

4) Does broccoli need a lot of sun like tomatoes do?

5) Do I need to protect the broccoli from animals of any sort? If not, then I may not need to put the grow bags in my fenced in garden.

6) Should I dust with Bt as a preventative or only at the first signs of cabbage loopers?

Here's what the seedlings look now (inter-mixed with Dahlias):

Along with some pics of my new basement setup this year:

This post was edited by njitgrad on Tue, Mar 18, 14 at 13:32

Ah, and the peat pots retained a llooooot of water. thank you, this helped a lot and we've made adjustments. The ones we put in our drip tower are doing way better than the ones still in the peat pot.

haha, we bought what we found to be the best LED for our price range and it has done wonderfully!

Looks like a mixture of over watering and legginess to me. I would think LED would be fine for light. However, i have seen way more benifits personally to the gas lamps even though they cost more. I have seen 1000 times more dark green leafy growth under my HPS lights than my florescent or LED lights. Granted i have nothing against LED just think it has a little ways to go before its a wonder light for indoor plant growing. I would highly recommend spending a little more on power and on a 400watt hight pressure sodium or metal halide i think you will be amazed by the results.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

This post was edited by Jonathan29 on Mon, Mar 17, 14 at 23:33

Jiffy Seed Starting Mix works fine and easy to hydrate if you do two simple things:

1) microwave distilled water to 130-140 degrees fahrenheit or max hand hot temperature. Using a liquid measuring pitcher place 1 quart of Jiffy SSM in a clean container like a one gallon zip lock bag. Then add 1 cup of hot water to the bag or container. Expel any excess air and zip bag up.

2) Using your hands grip and massage the bag. This step takes 2 minutes max.

You will now have hydrated Jiffy SSM.

Want to do a whole bag? Add 4 cups hand hot water. Wash and dry your hands and one arm up to elbow. Plunge hand and arm into mix and grip and squeeze Jiffy SSM. Be sure to get all of mix fully hydrated. Remove hand and arm and wash.

This step takes 5 minutes max.

You now have Jiffy SSM fully hydrated at the correct hydration. When you add the water to the mix it will seem like it is not enough but after 2-5 minutes of mixing you can squeeze a handful of the mix and just barely get a little water out.

I only use Jiffy SSM. I have had trouble with some of the other seed starting mixes ( Schul.. et al) over the years. I have not tried the other expensive mixes mentioned above. I go cheap. Works great.

I grow plants from seeds under lights most years 50+ flower varieties as well as some bushes and trees etc.

Rick

My suggestion to you is make you own mix from coco peat or called coir you can by a big block at a hyroponics store for 20$ then some vermiculite which is 20$ with about 5 gallons of compost or one bag of compost added. that alone will give you 2 20 gallon storage totes full of plant starting mix. more than enough for one season then maybe another if you recycle you soil a lot. It may seem like alot more money but per cubic foot of soil its much cheaper than a plant starting mix.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

So peppers and tomatoes then. Everything else on your list is best direct seeded anyway.

Peppers are slow growing so those might work for them depending on how far in advance you start them. If you use the standard 8-10 weeks prior to transplanting to the garden and transplant them into the 3.5s when they are 2 weeks old they should hold until garden time.

But 4" pots would be better and the square pots always work better than the round ones as they fit in the standard trays. The round ones waste tray and shelf space..

Tomatoes need deep pots to go into. SVD 355 @5" deep work much better for them (or you can just use 16 oz. plastic drink cups like many do).

You can also find better prices than the site you linked. Several gh supply vendors sell regularly on ebay this time of year with big discounts on bulk orders and often free shipping. Novosel Enterprises.com also has better prices. Check them out.

Dave

For the tomatoes and peppers definitely need a square 1 gallon container when they get bigger like the size of mine that is just transplanted today into a 1 gallon pots. to keep them for the next week or two until i get my greenhouse that i ordered here. if you would like you can check out my youtube channel i am just starting out myself but have a lot of hort background from school. I don't have very many videos up yet but i will be adding how to's and such very soon over the course of a few months.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

While that makes sense, last year, both seedlings in a lot of the cells looked fabulous, and it was hard to choose which one to kill. I think for me, I'm more okay with having an empty cell than removing a perfectly healthy seedling to discard it. That is just me of course lol. As long as 1 to a cell is not detrimental to the plant somehow, I'm happy now that I chose the 1 per cell method. Thank you both so much for your answers.

No need to kill the extras. Just transplant them into other containers..

Dave

I posted this under the seed starting thread as well.

Jiffy Seed Starting Mix works fine and easy to hydrate if you do two simple things:

1) microwave distilled water to 130-140 degrees fahrenheit or max hand hot temperature. Using a liquid measuring pitcher place 1 quart of Jiffy SSM in a clean container like a one gallon zip lock bag. Then add 1 cup of hot water to the bag or container. Expel any excess air and zip bag up.

2) Using your hands grip and massage the bag. This step takes 2 minutes max.

You will now have hydrated Jiffy SSM.

Want to do a whole bag? Add 4 cups hand hot water. Wash and dry your hands and one arm up to elbow. Plunge hand and arm into mix and grip and squeeze Jiffy SSM. Be sure to get all of mix fully hydrated. Remove hand and arm and wash.

This step takes 5 minutes max.

You now have Jiffy SSM fully hydrated at the correct hydration. When you add the water to the mix it will seem like it is not enough but after 2-5 minutes of mixing you can squeeze a handful of the mix and just barely get a little water out.

I only use Jiffy SSM. I have had trouble with some of the other seed starting mixes ( Schul.. et al) over the years. I have not tried the other expensive mixes mentioned above. I go cheap. Works great.

I grow plants from seeds under lights most years 50+ flower varieties as well as some bushes and trees etc.

Rick

In fairness to Jiffy Mix, I have used it for years and have never had a problem. I search it out over other brands. I Use the deep woods method described in the previous post. Just pour in some hot water and mix. Don't even measure, just guesstimate. Jiffy Mix and Pro Mix for potting up have been my favorites. I direct seed most flowers and veggies but use the two mentioned for starting peppers, tomatoes, leeks and some flowers. Dried out peat will repel moisture. That's why it is not recommended for a mulch. Good Luck.

I use a potting mix with a wetting agent in it...Pro-Mix. Even then, I knead water into it till just moist. Not the whole bag at once, just the amount I'm using that day. After filling the pots/paks, and planting seeds, I bottom water in a tray for about 2 minutes.That's all it takes when pre-wetting the soil. Too much longer and your soil is waterlogged.

I'm not that concerned about it being water logged because my cellar is has bone dry air and the mix will dry out in a matter of a day or two anyway.

But yes I agree, next time I shouldn't bottom water once I've wet it with the use of the bucket.

Sorry but yes, they are very leggy. All that stem is due to too much heat and not nearly enough light.

Depending on what they are some might be able to be salvaged by transplanting them deeply now and burying all that stem to just a hair below the tops.. Better yet, start over.

Dave

Agree... Way leggy... but I've been there too. Here is what I've done from experience that seems to work:

>> CFL or T5 TOUCHING the dome on your seed starting greenhouse cover right at the start of day 1 (this way if you miss the germination because you're at work, etc...)
>> SOIL-LESS mediums such as ROCKWOOL are SUPERIOR to soil for GERMINATION PURPOSES.
>> Use a heat mat WITH a thermostat controller. Regulated 77F gives me about 75% germination in 3 days, and THIS season, 100% in 7 days (has to be a fluke, but still pretty good!).
>> As soon as you see the first seed break the top, open all vents to MAX and discontinue use of HEAT MAT.

It is NOT too late to start again! But start to harden off asap and see what makes it.

Good luck,

LC

Dave, good thing I read your reply just before going to bed last night. I went back downstairs, turned the heat mat off and removed the dome cover. One of my pepper varieties hadn't germinated yet so I hope it still does. I made the mistake of mixing varieties in six-cell packs. The yellow peppers on the LHS of the cell packs germinated but the orange peppers on the RHS of the same cell packs did not germinate yet. Yet another lesson learned.

Yep - no mixing varieties in the same cell packs. If necessary just cut the cell pack into 3 packs.

Dave

How do I create low light in a dark cellar? Perhaps I could raise the ratchet carabiners on my lights so instead of being inches from the flat, maybe 2-3 feet from the flat?

What could be said for the seeds themselves (since I depleted my suppy). Are they ruined? Or still waiting for the right germination conditions?

The assumption is that you purchased the seed, it wasn't collected? You could have just received bad seed. The other thing that comes to mind is that you "cooked" the seed, or the seed dried out after it imbibed water, then died.