6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I have grown geraniums for years and I've seen plants that look like yours before and I know it's from keeping them too wet.
Those ones that have red leaves probably have blackleg and are rotting from too much water. Your mix might be off this year and holding on to too much water. Turn off your drip and let them dry out before you lose them all.
Always err on the side of keeping geraniums too dry. They can stand periods of no water but too much is a death knell
yeah someone already said it but i water my seedlings with either a 25 or 50% water soluble organic fertilizer if you want to do it every watering give them a 25% if you only want to do it once a week then do 50% strength. I invite you to join my youtube channel and ask me question watch my garden vlog and general how too's.
Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden
CUgal, not on this thread, and I can't remember which. you asked about sowing small seeds. Well, I did a bunch of snapdragons yesterday. What I did was sprinkle the seeds on a sheet of white paper, then heavily blow on my finger (for moisture) and then touch the seeds. Then i could disperse them as I wanted, or so I think :)
All the best
SCG
Putting them outside all depends on your weather but they would have to be hardened off first.
All of the plants are very leggy due to stretching too far for too little light. The stems should only be no more than 1/2 that height. Check out the FAQs here on how to grow seedlings indoors. Supplemental lights are required. Window light alone is never sufficient for young seedlings.
Cucumbers are best direct seeded in the garden, not grown with transplants. Not only do they not transplant well much of the time but they grow far too fast for most indoor set-ups to cope with them well enough until they can go to the garden. They tend to stunt if transplanted after the 3-4th true leaf develops.
Dave.
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed FAQs
The symptoms sound like damping off.
Here is a link that might be useful: Damping off
Agree with floral - you describe the classic symptoms of damping-off. In addition to the resource floral linked there is a FAQ here and numerous discussions about what causes it including photos. Just type 'damp-off' into the search box here or on Google.
Unfortunately the plants are usually not salvageable.
Sorry.
Dave
if you are interested in growing these year after year I would arrange these so you can easily rotate your nightshades (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers)... I would put those in one garden bed.
You need to specify what kind of tomatoes you want and how many... 4 indeterminates would easily fill one 4x8 bed alone if not pruned/suckered.
I would put others in the second bed....
Okra is very tall grow those so they are not shading the others. (although you habe some cooler crops which might like the shade)
We'd need much more information please.
First all of these things are not planted at the same time. Second, some are direct seeded and others grown from transplants. Third, as mentioned there are many different kinds of tomatoes and they come in all kinds of plant sizes.
Fourth, with only 2 4x8 beds your planting space will be very limited so you might consider eliminating a few things from your list unless you plan to only grow 1 each of them.
You might want to check out the Sq. Foot Gardening forum here as a way to maximize your limited growing space as much as possible.
Dave
Last year was my first year growing tomatoes from seed (that is my disclaimer I have grown tomatoes for a few years just never from seed)...
I tried san marzano redorta from seed... out of 24 seeds I got TWO plants... my brandywines and other non-tomato seedlings all sprouted. I admit I did the newbie thing and overwatered them... once mine grew I transplanted them out and we had a very wet spring-early summer and I got millions of green tomatoes on it but very few red ones (they were very difficult to ripen off the vine).
When I asked around it sounds like San Marzano redorta's like hot dry climates and do well that way.. all the rain didn't help.
This year I am giving Opalka's a try. But just sharing my experience (for what its worth.. I am a relative newbie)
I grew San Marzanos from seed for the first time last year. Mine did take such a long time to germinate, I thought I had gotten some bad seed. But they did well and I had some of the best fresh salsa I have ever made. Well worth the wait. BTW after the seeds sprouted, they seemed to grow at a "normal" rate. I am looking forward to growing them again this year.
Daily misting should not be required for any reason until after the seeds germinate. This assuming the potting mix was properly wet when the pots were filled. But cow and fiber pots are notoriously bad for wicking the water out of the soil and into the pot material. Unfortunately misting doesn't solve that problem, only direct watering of the soil does.
The humidity dome is removed as soon as germination begins of course but until then if excess moisture is collecting on it then things are too wet inside. So cut back on the watering and prop one end of the dome open a couple of times a day to allow moisture to escape and fresh air to circulate. If necessary, remove it completely and leave it off for a couple of hours a day - it isn't required anyway and excess moisture and wet soil can do more damage than good.
Once germination begins be sure to get that dome off and leave it off.
Hope this helps.
Dave
Manual just assumes you're cooking directly in the PC.
What you are describing won't work. The flat containing the pots has to float or be suspended above the flat holding the water.
All you need is a standard flat with no holes, a piece of capillary matting cut to fit it on the long sides of the flat but left longer in length so it can drape over into another container sitting end to end with the flat that contains your pots. Another flat filled with water works well. Simple and easy to do.
However you also need to understand that capillary matting has problems of its own. It tends to way over-water many plants, especially young seedlings. And it will wick water as long as water is available regardless of if the plants need it or not. Fill the water flat with water and you will come back later to find most all that water sitting over in the flat with the pots and the pots will be soaking wet.
The wicking material used in the commercial set-ups of this kind are much thinner than standard capillary matting, made of a different material, and do less wicking to try to avoid just this problem. They also use spnge type mediums rather than potting mix so they dry out faster. Even then they are only partially successful at eliminating the problem of over-watering.
Standard capillary matting works ok for well established plants that need to be left alone for a few days for some reason, They are old enough to tolerate the over-watering for a brief period of time as long as they are allowed to dry out some when removed from the matting. Germinating seeds and young plants are not so tolerant.
Dave
Please see the FAQ below.
Here is a link that might be useful: There is something growing on my soil FAQ
Green algae doesn't actually harm the seedlings, unless it gets so thick that it seals the soil and no air can get through. Algae needs light to grow, when growing in pots you can top the surface with fine grit to keep it from forming. With those peat pots you would have to bury them. (but take that netting off!)
It seems like every store in the world sells those damn peat pots - which makes anyone new to seed starting think that they are the way to go, but they can be very problematic.
I haven't seen anyone on this forum use peat pots more than once or twice - almost no one who is experienced recommends them. If you are going to start again - get a bag of seed starting mix and use pots or plastic cups with hole punched in them. Uncover seedlings as soon as they sprout and keep that fan running. Tomatoes need to be transplanted to deep pots or 16 oz cups so that their roots can have room to develop.
Thank you for the replies,
on the strength of which I dismiss my tentative thought of trying it.
( Before I posted the question, I had searched GW for information. I cite the
following only as a for-whatever-it's-worth perspective, given the different condition.
"...sawdust (several years old).... seeds germinated, and within a couple of weeks were 6 TIMES (Yes I measured them!) larger than the seedlings in the flats"
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/seed/msg0214050315097.html )
Comments taken out of context can often be very misleading. As was pointed out in that discussion of potting mixes, that individual was having a number of problems with their methods.
The important distinction in that thread is that it was well rotted sawdust - several years old - mixed with compost.
While we don't have anyway of knowing the ratio of compost to rotted sawdust that one person used we can guess that it was predominately compost as it was used to fill an in-ground bed.
The primary point was how well rotted it was. Any sawdust, over years of time time, will break down to the point where it no longer binds up nitrogen and becomes a neutral soil amendment. Does that mean it should be used to start seeds? No,
You didn't stipulate the age of the sawdust in your original post.
Hope this clarifies.
Dave
Hi kiwisago i have been growing inside for several months now and had some practice in the off winter months to know that just one florescent tube is not going to be enough light. I will provide a link to my youtube channel where you can take a look at my set up and what size lights and distance i have from plants.
Just as a basic seedling starter i would suggest CFL bulbs in the high wattage what works best for me is a 200watt 5600kelvin CFL bulb with a mogul base. now i also use a second CFL but at a 2700k spectrum right next to the other 22watt to give a mix spectrum of night.
Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden
When seedlings are leggy it means they are not getting enough light. You say you have 1 tube but does your fixture have reflectors on the sides. Without the reflectors or wings that direct the light downward you are losing most of the light for the plants to the rest of the room.
I use a shop light--actually I have more than 1-- with T-8 daylight bulbs and keep them an inch or 2 above the plants. I have 1 fixture without reflectors and I've stapled a mylar blanket that I cut to fit on the shelf where my fixture is placed. It works to direct the light downward. I bought mine at the dollar store. It is meant to be an emergency blanket to keep you from freezing if your car breaks down.