6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
In which case neither the Asparagus nor the Uncinia will live through your winters. It might be best to grow them in containers which you can bring under cover. The Uncinia is slow growing so it would be some years before you had a decent clump and you'd need to keep it going through several Winters.
You don't want to pull healthy plants out, but if you mean that you don't want to KILL healthy plants, take some and separate their roots from their twins and re-pot them. Many people do that all the time and have great success. Size is an issue, though, so don't wait too long.
Every sort of plant has a suggested spacing from others. It's not chiseled in stone but it's a rule of thumb that one ignores only at peril unless one is experimenting or knows a whole awful lot. So in a way you can say that the tom seedlings are healthy but they won't stay that way without some serious work. 99%+ of gardeners wouldn't plant them out while so doubled and tripled up.
Yeah, normally tomatoes are grown in clusters :) so those needed to be transplanted to individual containers some time back. This assuming you want most of them to survive.
If you don't then just snip all the extras off and then transplant the remaining ones into a larger containers individual 4" containers - they are already rootbound in those 72 cells as those are intended for germination but not growing-on.
It's going to be very difficult to separate the root balls now without doing damage but you should be able to save most.
For future reference the term "thinning" normally applies to direct-seeded vegetables, not those grown as transplants. So while it is possible to germinate several tomato seeds in the same cell you cannot grow healthy multiples in the same cell.
And when you transplant those to the new containers be sure to plant them deeply burying most all of the bare stem.
Dave
patchwork, please use a very light hand with the corn meal. Corn gluten is a natural germination inhibitor. Pure corn gluten is sold as a weed and crab grass preventer (pre-emergent) for lawns, I don't know how much is present in amounts of corn meal.
It means the stems are stretched (aka leggy, etiolated when pale or yellow) disproportionate to the amount and size of top growth. This stretching is due to "reaching" for/seeking light. Not only can they not support the weight of the top growth as it develops, they cannot adequately provide it with nutrients and water. The cellular structure of the stretched stem becomes distorted, twisted, resulting in sluggish circulation at best.
You can see it easily in most all your plants. The stems are easily 3-4x the height of normal seedlings, 3-4x as tall as the tops are wide even at this point. And the situation will only get worse, get more imbalanced until the plant stem finally breaks.
You can Google any of these terms for many photos and much information but you can't get around the need for adequate light. It is the single most important factor when growing plants indoors. Which is why as I said above, even in the greenhouse with all sun exposure it has we still have to use supplemental fluorescent lighting for growing seedlings.
Thank you for all the help, I've only got a few questions left. Do you think I should I start over? and would it be better to buy florescent lights now and try again with the inside garden, or start my garden outside since it's warming up? And if I do start my garden outside will they become leggy while trying to reach for the sun?
I started all sorts of seeds using this method; mainly the older seeds in which the germination level had been rather low. This method was very effective.
Seeds such as:
Lacinto Kale, Lavender, Zinnias, Lunar white carrots, Heirloom sunflower seeds etc
You can either trim the plug trays to fin into a 1020 or you can set the plug tray on the mat without a 1020 as long as you use some sort of 1/4 to 1/2" spacer so there is no direct contact. Small shims of wood work, plastic coat hangers, etc. It is easiest to just trim the plug trays to fit a 1020 before planting them or you can buy flats that fit them but they aren't inexpensive.
Dave
Well you can but as a professional grower I will say that the quality of the plants won't be as good. Not necessarily "too leggy" but more leggy. It is the act of transplanting that triggers the development of fibrous feeder roots in the plants. And transplanting them deeper eliminates any leggy development.
But some do it the way you suggest and get away with it. If you don't fill the cell packs more than 1/3 way when seeding then fill it more as the plant grows so that the stem is buried each time you can eliminate the leggy appearance. Won't do anything for the root development though. Your choice.
Dave
Perfect.
I knew better (thanks to info on here) to do tomatoes with peppers but when I was dividing my Patio Princess and my BushSteak tomatoes, I used a spoon to scoop them out and, inadvertently, had to deal with tangled roots...
Again, thank you.
I will have to wait and see what becomes of what I did! LOL!
I don't use heat mats at all, but use just a 60 watt light bulb under my seed trays. (I built a germination cabinet from a standard resin utility cabinet.) that generates enough heat for germination. If your basement is really cold you might need to use a 75 or even 100 watt bulb.
I agree about the self watering "mat" systems, however it definitely keeps the seedlings from dying from forgetting to water or being away for a weekend. I also added a fan on a timer to turn on several times a day to get air circulating and help give the seedlings stronger stems. After germination I mix a weak solution of miracle grow and add that to the watering tray, because potting soil has no nutrients, However I did but Miracle grow SEEDING soil this year and the plants seem ahead of schedule. It is still too cold in Connecticut to even think of putting them outdoors.
This is for transplanting to their final growing place or are you talking about just potting-ip to a bigger container?
Adding Tomato Tone in small amounts to small seedling pots won't hurt anything but the long time required for it, or any solid/granular fertilizer, to benefit the plant makes well diluted liquids muh more effective.
Also keep in mind that dry granular "organics" when used in containers are of limited if any benefit as there is no active soil food web, no bacterial colonies present (as there is in the ground soil) to break them down to a form usable by the plants. Organic liquids have the added benefit of being in usable form already.
Dave
I would just be potting them up to a 3"-4" pot from what I had them germinating in.
Also, after I thought about it for a little bit, I would think there would be enough food (fertilizer) in the potting soil - enough to get them to the point of getting them in ground???
This is the first time I've grown from seed... And, it's... Fricken awesome!!!
Thank you Dave! I appreciate what you've written in past posts that I have read.
I want to "pretty up" the area but know the deer will probably feast on all of them like they have my tulips last spring. The soil is pretty moist and gets partial sun/shade. More shade then sun. I just am looking for something to grow from seed that will look nice and not have eaten away. I might buy a bunch of seeds as you mentioned and plant and fingers cross.
It's Dianthus barbatus, Sweet William.
Oh my Lord, I do remember planting this. I CANNOT BELIEVE it came up. Thanks so much for playing detective!