6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
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.
Hi wertach,
Well, usually a little heat is helpful for seed germination but not necessary after germination. After the seeds have germinated, they usually grow better at lower temperatures (about 65 to 70 degrees F.) Heat will cause a plant to grow faster, requiring more light to balance that rapid growth. Unless you feel that you can supply lots of light, youâÂÂll be better off keeping things on the cool side. Keeping the temperature cooler will help to prevent weak and leggy plants.
Hope this is helpful,
Art
Agree with Art.
After germination, that area might be too hot, for the starting container to have contact with the top of the heater. But you can check it with a kitchen thermometer. After germination you will need a temperatures of about 55 -65F. Warmer temperature encourage faster growth.
Hi summervin and welcome to GardenWeb!
Sorry to hear youâÂÂre having problems with the celosia. Actually, itâÂÂs hard to offer any suggestions because there are just so many possibilities and you have given so little information :-) Are these plants something you started inside? Under lights or in a window? Or did you start them outside? Where are the plants now? Have you fertilized at all and with what? Are they getting plenty of sun?
IâÂÂve grown celosia for years, starting them inside under lights in very late winter. They have always been very fast growers. The only mistake I made (first time I grew them) was to move them outside too early. Celosia can not stand cold weather, they love the heat. If put outside too early they take forever to recover (if at all).
If you could explain in more detail, maybe someone will have some ideas that may be helpful. Personally, there just is not enough information here to even give me a clue.
Art
seedlings ended up long and spindly
That particular issue is caused by insufficient light and overly warm ambient air temps, primarily lack of light, and not by the growing medium used.
Seedlings require intense, broad-spectrum light from the instant of germination for a minimum of 12-16 hours out of 24. Low intensity and/or lights too far above the plants causes them to stretch toward it and ultimately fall or die as the stem cells are stretched. Other than over-watering, it is probably the most common problem associated with starting seeds indoors.
Overly warm environmental temps (air, not soil temps warmer than 60-65 degrees) only make the problem worse.
There is a FAQ here and many discussions about the various types and amounts of lights to use including plain old shop lights kept no more than 1" above the plants but the bottom line is that you literally cannot have too much light and if plants get leggy then they aren't getting nearly enough.
keep them in the dark until they sprout
Only a few flower seeds require darkness to germinate. 90% of seeds - flower or vegetable - do not.
As for medium to use, Rapid Rooters or any similar product works fine for an ebb n' flow. I personally prefer rock wool cubes but only because they retain their form better and aren't as fragile.
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:
- A roller paint tray and plastic liner 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.
First, "largest" does not necessarily equal "healthiest". Nothing but a very marginal correlation has ever been established.
Same holds true for size of the seed. Vigor of the seedling is equally dependent on the DNA of the seed and the growing conditions provided. Smaller seeds can have superior DNA definition over larger seeds just as easily as the reverse. It is the conditions provided that will make all the difference.
Dave
Given the choice of seeds, I would choose the larger more uniform in shape to plant. The stored energy in the seed provide the cotyledons or seed leaves as well as the radicle or root. Once germinated and initial root and seed leaves produced, and able to feed the seedling, then the DNA or basic vigor of the species is paramount, in my opinion. Al
Since no one replied to this thread, I'll link a duplicate thread (from the Trees Forum) that got a few responses.
Here is a link that might be useful: duplicate thread in another forum
Wow! I had never heard of these places. You learn something new every day. Thank you!!!
I'm starting a couple Quercus muehlenbergii (chinquapin oaks) this fall. It is interesting that white oak family acorns germinate free-fall before they hit the ground (aka - very fast, smiley face).
Shell should be dried, brittle and brown. Easily opened. Seeds should be dried and hard and brown.
If they are not too green, you can dry them in a window sill. Use an anti-desicant pack if you have one. Drying greener seeds with a hair dryer facilitates drying.
Sand paper them and boil for a few minutes and soak overnight. They have one of the thickest seed shells I have ever seen. :-) I did a test with 4 scraifying techniques and the combination works best for KY Coffee bean seeds.
No need for cold treatment.
Plant and they should be up in ~ 1 week @ 75 degrees F.
Will then grow easily a foot in a month or so. Zone 5 b.
Very mature trees should bloom and set seeds every year, assuming you have more than one plant. They seem to pollinate better that way. My brother has several hundred some > 60 '. They all set seeds most years.
An aside - shipping is never free. All you are really asking is which sellers factor in shipping costs when they set their seed prices. It can actually be cheaper to buy from a seller that lists shipping prices than one that doesn't.
(There are charity seed sources that donate shipping costs as well as seeds, but that doesn't seem to be what you are asking for.)
I have to agree with the others that it isn't clear what you are looking for? Seeds are seeds so what do you mean by "complete kinds of sees"?
Do you mean one place where you can order all the seeds you want? If so, that would depend on what you want.
Free shipping? No. Sell and ship all around the world? No, that isn't possible as there are too many agricultural rules that vary from country to country that prevent that.
So instead, tell us exactly what seeds you are looking for and where you want them shipped and we can help.
Dave
I did as you suggested, actually - after 24 hours one was still floating. I weighed it and it weighed about half the others.
So, out of curiosity, I decided to cut it in half to see. The cotyledons were white, but almost hollow. It may or may not have sprouted.
I use "Float Test" when selecting seeds that I save from tomatoes. After fermentation, I pour them in a tall glass and stir. The best one sink right away. I pour most of the water and floating ones out. I do it few times until I have just the ones that sink right away. Those are the ones I save. This way , not that you will have an improved germination rate, but you select the BEST seeds that will grow most strong and healthy plants. That is how the nature does in the process of NATURAL SELECTION.
Paulownia (sometimes called kiri in Japanese or princess-tree mostly by shyster Paulownia salespeople) is a weed that can be fairly invasive (environmentally destructive) in many locations. There is a paulownia tree industry out there that spends a lot of effort on promoting this piece of botanical trash, mostly by bending or covering up the truth. It should not be hard at all to germinate the seeds, but I definitely wouldn't waste my time.
If you have fresh or properly stored seeds of the other two trees, germination should be fairly easy. Keeping the Franklinia alive for many years, may be an issue (they are notoriously difficult to grow, but not impossible).
"Can anyone comment on this?"
I'm not sure what you want to know. Sheffield's provides instructions for each type of seed. If you want a second or third opinion, just google the scientific name of the particular plant along with the word germination. Chances are that you'll be able to find multiple sources of info. You can also directly check these sources:
The Seed Site
Backyard Gardener Seed Germination Database
Ontario Rock Garden & Hardy Plant Society Seed Germination Guide
Tom Clothier's Germination Database
B&T World Seeds Database
"For the first three, is 120 days right? That's four months stratification - seems long."
Lots of seed types need extended stratification periods. I'd go with the recommendations of those that have done the research.
"For the A. nigrum - am I likely to get decent germination rates from these 1 year old seeds?"
Sheffield's rates don't always reflect the germination rates you will achieve. They represent what they believe could be achieved, in ideal conditions, based on their viability tests of that seed lot. Acer seeds are notoriously more difficult to germinate than many "easy" types of seeds, so results will depend on how well you can give the seeds the conditions they need (especially including proper stratification).
Brandon7
This post was edited by brandon7 on Mon, Dec 2, 13 at 22:13
thanks for the response =)
thanks for the response =)