6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

I missed the clue for tuberous then...I assumed the easier wax :)

Shirley,
I grow them every year. Instead of starting in the greenhouse I begin indoors under lights so that I can monitor them. They are not difficult to germinate but as soon as they do you have to get them in good light quickly.
Don't be in a hurry to pot them on. They grow very slowly for the first six weeks and if they don't get the required light they just disappear. Keep them close to the source. Once they get past the tortoise stage I move mine into the greenhouse, but they should be fine indoors too if you have room to grow them on.

Hi digdirt - don't know if you noticed this is an old thread originally from March 2012 which has been revived.

No I sure didn't. Thanks Flora. :)

Dave

I know this to be true, but is it true even for plants like tomatoes and peppers that languish in cool night temps?

BTW I'm 36 and have been gardening since I was 10. Wasn't as good of a way to pick up girls when I was younger as I thought it would be...haha.

but is it true even for plants like tomatoes and peppers that languish in cool night temps?

Again the important distinction is between AIR temps and SOIL temps. Tomato plants don't languish in cool night temps IF they are growing in warm soil - one reason why using black landscape fabric mulch on the soil for example can allow for much earlier transplanting.

We all try to force top growth as it is the most visible sign of plant development. But we have to remind ourselves now and then that the focus early in a plant's life isn't top growth. It is root development. Bodacious top growth without the root development needed to support it only leads to stressed plants with all sorts of problems and poor production down the line.

So while a plant may appear to be languishing at times - in that there is minimal top growth to be seen - that doesn't mean it isn't thriving at the root level.

Dave

SEED STARTING FOR THE HOME GARDEN
I have discovered a cheap, simple method of starting flower and vegetable seeds for the home garden. It utilizes the principle of capillary action and a moist newspaper mat. To construct such a device, the following items will be required:

1. A roller paint tray obtained from the paint department of a box store.
   2. A 5-foot length of 1ü inch PVC pipe obtained from the plumbing department of the same store. This needs to be cut into 25 2-inch cylinders and then filled with a good seed starting mix.
   3. A 6-inch piece of I-inch PVC pipe to be used as a plant ejector.
   4. A half dozen sheets of newspaper.
   Lay the newspaper on the sloping part of the paint tray with several inches immersed in the paint holding well. Fill this well with water and watch as the newspaper mat slowly becomes saturated as it draws up water. Plant a few seeds in each mix-filled cylinder and tamp lightly so the bottom of the mix is in contact with the wet newspaper. It will soon start drawing up moisture via capillary action and become damp. Keep adding water to the well as needed.
   Using short pieces of an old venation blind and a lead pencil, identify each cylinder with name and date of planting.
   In a week or two, the seeds will germinate and green leaves will appear. When about 2 or 3 inches tall and ready to transplant to a larger container or the garden, use the 1â ejection tool. Place this over the green leaves of the sprouted seedling. It will telescope nicely into the 1üâ planted cylinder. Pull up on the planted cylinder and the seedling will be bottom ejected without disturbing the roots. Add fresh planting mix around the new, larger container and place in a bright-lighted window for further development.

thanks for the info Billyoscar :)

For me a little to complicated because the house is on remote and almost deserted Island haha. I will have to do it directly into the soil.

But thanks for the input.

thanks for the response =)

thanks for the response =)

Isn't it better to pasteurize than sterilize? The reasoning, as I understand it, is that you kill pathogens, while not destroying beneficials. Usually this is done at 140 F in the oven for 30 minutes to an hour, I guess a bit higher than just pasteurization into 160-180 F for killing weed seeds. (I also think that smaller batches could be done in a pressure cooker inside of mason jars or similar, some people complain of the smell of pasteurizing soil, never bothered me). Killing the soil's beneficials is a bad idea since the baddies can come back faster than the good things finding their way back in, whereas if you just pasteurize and maintain the good things, they suddenly have even more medium to grow in faster, without competition from the bad guys.
Hope that explains it and that I am not wrong.

I will be posting my own seed starter question soon (making one's own veganic seed starter w/o peat, vermiculite or perlite),, hope others can help out.

With the starter mix you don't need to have beneficial micro organism. They will get all that when planted in the garden or container. So the point of sanitization is to help the newly germinated seedlings untl they develop their defense system.

Another reason is to avoid trying to fight bugs, fungi etc in an indoor condition. This is probably my most important concern.

BTW: has anybody used camomile tea to fight tiny bugs ? I have tried. It seems to work.

Will do - soakings were completed yesterday and each sample was drained, rinsed, and drained again to keep any residual effects of the acid/base to a minimum. Now they're sealed up and he's just waiting for them to start germinating.

Sounds very interesting. I too, will be watching for your results. I try to do the best thing for my pole Limas.

Thanks
Jim