6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

mori - it's hopeless. overdrive's preaching is so circular and convoluted that it defies logic much less resolution. It's like a game of 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Dave

Thanks Dave, its the scientist in me. I guess ignorance is bliss.

I would give up on the lettuce and basil. Pull those seedlings and reseed the pots. Then, drop the light closer. I would keep them inside under the light for a few weeks and then start hardening them off for outside.

I agree with what Sara said. As for the lights, if the bulbs are T8 or T12 move them to about an inch or two from the plants. If they are T5s you might want to keep them a little farther away because the T5s get a little hotter.

It's good that you're now feeding at half strength.

Art

PS - There's an older post on GardenWeb about growing petunias (see link below) that you might find helpful. Be sure to scroll way down to a post by 'triplediamond' and view his petunia pictures!

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Petunias

This post was edited by art33 on Sun, May 12, 13 at 1:28

I agree that they are red aphids and they are sucking the good from the plants. A forceful spray with cold water helps or try insecticidal soap. Mix with water as per package instructions and spray the plant. The soap will also kill any eggs and it is completely safe. Then watch to see if you've missed any.

Did you find any ants among the aphids? Typically, ants act like dairy farmers and use the aphids as "milk cows" moving them around to good feeding locations and mil;king them of the sweet juices.

Yeah - sorry - but you need to just compost those.

Even healthy radish doesnt transplant well - it will grow but it wont bulb up. The seed for radish and lettuce is cheap.

I'm also in zone 4 - it should be warm enough to start both of those outside now, they like coolish weather.

I would recommend doing a little research on this forum before you start anything else - pretty much everything you need to know is here somewhere - read the FAQ's and use the search engine.

This is only my 5th year - and I have learned most of what I know reading through old posts here - that and trial and error :)

I am a beginner gardener and this is my first year out of three that I have successfully grown seeds indoors. And I have been using the same Jiffy peat pellets each year as well. The first year everything became moldy and the second year everything became too leggy. This year I have been keeping my seedbabies close to the light gradually each week moving them an inch further away from the light, starting with them at 2 inches away and now six. My horticulturalist friend told me never more than 6 inches away from the light. In my first year of growing mold I learned to take off the plastic dome once the seedlings have sprouted. My friend says she never uses a dome but she has a way greener thumb than I. Hope that helps!

Thanks! I will do what it takes to create greenhouse conditions...

While I am largely ignorant of this whole vegetable garden thing, I am pretty stubborn, and i will conquer this! I will, I will, I will!

LOL

And I will post this question in the other forum, thanks for the recommend!

Tomatoes not grown in full sun, do not produce well. As you know light will be your problem, look into how you will get the number of foot candles of light produced by the sun, into your inside location. Al

I once heard that if the cucurbit starts flowering in the starting container, then you may as well start again. They grow so fast anyway.

I had 4 squash started early this year, but with the long wait for spring, all 4 started flowering in the cold frame. For the heck of it, I planted them in the yard to see how they would fair. They're still alive and flowering (still only male flowers, of course), but I'm not sure that they'll get much bigger. By that, I also mean they probably won't get big enough to create and support fruit.

So it's a fun experiment but I won't be depending on them to produce. I direct seeded squash into my allotment last week and they're already up and looking as pleased as Punch. I won't bother to start them inside again next year...

-Noel

I direct sow cukes in early-mid June. They are super easy to sow in the garden, and sprout and grow quickly. Sometimes I sow a 2nd batch a few weeks later so they are staggered a bit.

I don't mind that they're sown late because I want the cukes to mature when the tomatoes come in. Love cucumber and tomato salads! The only time of year that I eat them, and they have to be fresh from the garden (or the farmstand).

I grow Thunbergia every year, and Sweet Peas every few years. Sweet Peas don't transplant very well, but are easy to start by planting them directly in the soil. They'll germinate in cold soil or warm soil. I usually plant them in October here in northern California, when the temperatures are pretty warm, and they seem to take a few weeks to show up (trying to remember). One year, though, I planted them late, and we had some really cold temperatures, and up they popped! So maybe colder temperatures hasten germination. If I had paid more attention I would likely have more specific information. Anyway, I plant Sweet Peas about 2-3 inches apart in soil enriched with plenty of compost. I always cover these seeds with enough soil to block out light, not because light is an issue, but so that the large seedlings have more of an anchor.

Thunbergia seeds are generally pretty speedy germinators when given heat, much slower to germinate (can take a month sometimes) at lower temperatures. I would plant these more like 6" apart than closer because eventually they will branch out. Once they get going they can be pretty aggressive, but it takes a little while for them to get their rhythm, so to speak. I've never grown them on a lattice, but I plant them with cukes growing on long tomato trellises, and they twine around the trellis and the cucumber plants very nicely. I've also had some pop up in odd places where there is no support, and they are full enough to look nice sprawling over the ground. This is another seed that I cover with enough soil to block out the light for the same reason I do the Sweet Pea seeds.

Thanks for the info!

It sounds like I shouldn't expect much more from my Thunbergia seeds. I'll try to ignore them for another week or so, and not hope too much.

I hope the Sweet Peas will be okay -- I was planning to plant them directly in their peat pots (I am putting the pellets in pots as they get going), with the bottoms cut out. Same for the Thunbergias.

We have a short growing season, here (Montreal, Quebec), so I don't know if I plant more, if they will catch up, but I will perhaps try some.

I'll use twine to help the Sweet Peas on the arbour.

Im in Zone 7a I have been hardening

Here are my seedlings

This is the plant straight from the rainforest. The pods contain the seeds. You can see what resembles pellets by his hand, which are the seeds.

A close up of the leaf. The plant bears no fruit, btw.