6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Let me tell you about an experiment we did with cukes years ago. I had only had my greenhouse for a couple of years and every year I started my cukes in the greenhouse. The year we did the experiment I started them as usual. My husband set them out in the garden and 2 feet away started some seeds. 3 weeks after the seeds sprouted the plants in both plots were the same size and they started producing at the same time. Since that time we have always planted them from seed. The only veggies we set out as plants are Tomatoes and Peppers and sometimes things that take longer to grow or that we are experimenting with. Almost everything we grow is direct planted

You will be learning this shortly any way as your tomato transplants are planted too shallowly and as the plants grow those cups will start falling over since they will be very top heavy.

But if you have more tomato plants to transplant

1) the cups do not need to be full to the brim and it is better if they aren't. Use the sides of the cup/pot to support the seedling.

2) nothing requires any plant to sit right at the top of the cup or container.

3) it is better for the tomato plants if all that exposed stem is buried.

Fill the cup about 1/3 to no more than 1/2 full and put in the seedling burying most of the bare stem. Then as it grows add more mix to the cup so the bare stem remains mostly buried. That is where all the new roots will develop, all along that stem.

Dave

thanks lynn! i never have good luck keeping the green ones on the plant until they turn red anyways :(
i'll give these a try.... like you said, maybe they will still be yummy :)

Most bell peppers available are hybrids. Doubt you will ever buy an open pollinated pepper in a grocery store.

Saving pepper seeds, even if you plant open pollinated varieties is chancy, as peppers, unlike tomatoes, are mostly insect pollinated, not self pollinated. If you grow more than one variety of pepper, you will likely get cross pollination, or poor results from planting seeds of hybrids.

Thank you so much that's very helpful. The route right cubes produce germination so fast, but I have noticed that they stay very wet.

Thank you
Zach

I would not worry about it. I have experienced that often with pepper plants. They have always turned to a nice dark green before long, and always go on to do well, barring plant murder, accident, or natural disaster.

I already checked the middle of the plugs, and they are moist.

That's your answer. If the middle of the plugs are moist then they don't need water. In pots of soil you stick your finger down into the soil. With sponge plugs you have to check the plug at the root level.

Dave

One tool that has been helping me with this problem lately is a pump sprayer. It just mists the tops where seeds are needing moisture to sprout, but doesn't provide enough water to saturate on down. I've been misting daily and only watering when the container gets lighter. It seems to be helping altho I don't have it down to a science yet.

Sara,
Thought a lot about that also.
Always felt that seeds that need dark, germinate under the fully leafed out mother plant before the mother plant dies. I concluded that was it. But then I read that there are other seeds that drop in dark places like swamps, etc. They need dark.
Maybe others naturally grow under tree or plant leaves that have fallen.
But as you say, "For seeds planted under the soil, it's dark anyway. " Certainly think that makes sense.
Don't think that dark means dark, rather shade. But then I am still experimenting. May change my mind tomorrow. :-)

I've never had success either way. In the shade they will sprout, but then grow sooo fast that by the time you uncover to check them in the morning they are 2 inch long threads that never recover....I find vinca hard to grow.

So far,my experience with chilling involved only the seeds. I put them in the back of the refrigeator for a few weeks, then plant them as soon as i take them out. I've only had a few varieties that need this, and I was successful. I keep a simple notebook/journal each year telling me when I sowed, where I intended to plant, what the germination time is, size of plant, etc. When sowing the flats, I do my best to keep the germination times together. As I watch the germination progress, i note in the journal when the true leaves form, when I transplant into pots, and anything else I think might help the next year. I try to time the transplanting so i can get them into the greenhouse when the night temps don't drop below 50*. Being New England it doesn't always work out that way, and the pots stay in the basement under the lights for a while. My greenhouse isn't heated right now, so it's more of a really big cold frame.

Well, I could not help myself. Just received another order of seeds. Gotta get busy sowing. I'm building a new hoophouse in the back yard. Not enough room in the existing greenhouse lol. I'll use my benches in the greenhouse as a transplant station, then move everything into the hoophouse. If I can ever get to that point.

Now that seems more believable! Either way, it will be interesting to see what it produces. Be it a narcotic or awesome Heirloom tomatoes. Thanks for the information and the humor!

Definitely, haha. Be sure to separate it and save seeds from a couple fruits if it turns out to be a tomato. Have a hell of a great time if its the other! ;) lol

I have never had a grass take over another grass it just gets patchy unless of course you want to plant st augastine which really sucks due to being a weed itself and weeds love it.

u just need to go to the local walmart - they will be selling the correct type of seed for your area, and the bag will have instructions on it - that's what i would do

I don't use a heat mat, I have kind of an improvised setup right now. Distant Incandescent bulbs turned on in greenhouse until emergence, then I put fluorescent lights on the emerged seedlings. Kind of a pain, but I don't have the cash at the moment for the more professional equipment.

As far as my current seedlings, it's not that they're wispy, but rather that many have already totally died (Thanks to being trampled by animals) or have lost leaves (Insects, but I'm not sure which kind. Never seen it in the process!)

Trampled by animals will do it. :)

Got a cardboard box you can line with aluminum foil? Set the container of seeds down in the box and stick an incandescent bulb (40-60 wt) in the top and lay a towel over top of the box. Good heat source.

Dave

I don't like planting seeds, I don't like transplanting, I don't like gardening, but I start loads of seeds every year because I love flowers, herbs and vegetables. I try to minimize transplanting by sowing the seeds into 9 oz. opaque plastic cups filled with organic potting soil for everything except the greedies (i.e. squash family), which I sow into 18 oz. plastic cups. Beware of clear plastic; you can't read what you write on clear plastic backed by dark soil. Then later I transplant directly into the garden.

Once they germinate, I put trays of the cups out in the sun during the day, as long as it isn't too cold, and put them on my windowsills at night. I don't reuse them, I recycle them instead. I haven't had a problem with damping off, so I'm afraid to push my luck by reusing them.

As far as what all these plastic cups with seedlings look like shoved into every sunny spot, the answer is: cool! It makes my house look like a greenhouse.

I use numerous free containers from assorted sources. Many types and sizes of leftover nursery pots and 6 or 12 packs, plastic jugs, lettuce boxes, 1 and 2 LTR bottles, and cups of all sizes. Even the styrofoam cup-o-noodles cups that my son used to eat! This year I had to toss a couple, because they got torn, but I've been using those crazy cups for at least 5 years.

I do re-use containers for years, that is very important because it saves resources, and I am lazy, I do not want to search for or prepare containers every year.

I found a couple dozen brand new Solo cups along the side of the road once, and scooped those up. They make great containers. Some of the Solo cups I've been using for almost 20 years, and sometimes I will tape them if they tear a little to make them last a little longer.

As for transplanting, I kind of like to transplant, it's pretty easy to transplant seedlings, the hard work comes when you have to tend the seedlings out in the garden and keep them alive long enough to become grown-ups :).

Daylily seedlings in Cup O-Noodles cups that are lined up inside an old refrigerator drawer -

I think It just might be to early for pumpkin I useally plant mine in mid June. But I'm in California. They might be stressed from the transplant. I would try putting them in a dark area for a couple of days. might promote the plant to search for light and increase growth a bit.

If you are using an orchid mix that dries out incredibly fast that is most likely your problem. It dries out before your plants have a chance to take up the moisture. Under the humidity lids the moisture hangs around until the plants take up the moisture it needs but once out of the lids it can't get enough When you transplant put them in a good soilless mix that has good drainage like pro mix. Damp off doesn't come if you water properly. It comes if you overwater.

Cucumbers do not have to be started ahead. In my zone 3 they are fine growing from seed. One year I planted my greenhouse grown Cukes and next to them I planted seed. 3 weeks after the sprouts from the seed were up both were the same size and produced at the same time. Now I never prestart Cukes

Whoa, just trying to get you the best help. I note you are new to the forums and many don't realize that there are hundreds of different topic-specific forums.

Just a quick browse of this forum reveals the discussion focus is indoor growing; flowers and vegetable transplants from seed. While the Lawn forum focuses on grass growing and it's associated needs and problems.

But you are free to post it where ever you wish of course.

Dave

Unfortunately you have to plant the same grass most grasses will not take over another. I just redid my lawn ripping out all of the saint augastine. It depends on your area and what time grass you have. Where are you located and temperature. If temparture is above 70 then you could easily reseed yard and rake in.