6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Just wondering,could they be getting too much light. ? Remember impatiens are shade plants & wouldn't be grown in same light as tomatoes.
Rose

Is it possible they are infected with the downy mildew that was devastating impatiens last year? It is apparently not passed on through seeds, but it can be passed on by soil and containers. It stunted my impatiens in hanging baskets last summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Impatiens disease becomes hot topic

The cells are 1 3/8 inches square and 2 inches deep. Its a Burpee seed starting, self watering kit with a plastic "roof." My seeds just started to sprout yesterday, they have only been in for 6 days.

I am growing them in my office under my flourescent desk lamp. I am not sure how long they can stay in the seed starter before I have to transplant them.

Silly question, but are these 4 inch pots the kind you plant into the ground?

You'll have to transplant them. 4" pots are any plastic pot/cup with drainage holes in them. Next year you can start them in bigger cell paks. At this point in the growing season, you can transplant them into 3" pots because you'll be planting them out soon. They sell these pots in packages at nurseries. Over the years you can collect a lot of pots and cell paks and reuse them.

Hi, Grace. Just wanted to point out that 1/2 teaspoon Foliage Pro per 40 ounces is not weak. The package suggests 1 teaspoon per gallon (128 ounces) once a week for adult plants. Half strength would be more like 1/8 teaspoon per 40 ounces. Also, the package suggests 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per gallon for foliar feeding. I don't like to foliar feed seedlings because of the risk of burning them, especially if they are exposed to sun with dried fertilizer on the leaves.

Ohio, sorry - typo! I actually do around 1/8 tsp -- but I am not measuring, really -- I use like two little droplets into the spray bottle. It's ABOUT 1/8 tsp, give or take. I hadn't made this to foliar feed, really, though that was a side effect; I use the spray bottle to actually water the soil. I'd guess it takes around 5-6 squirts per cell on the days I water.

I dunno -- this whole "planting in Turface" is new to me! It just seems to me that compared to other mediums, it contains nothing so I feel like I should supplement.

I did notice, especially today, that the growth is very strong and erect compared to the first batch which was in a peat + perlite mix. Those turned out nice but I can't say they were particularly lovely seedlings, I pulled one out of one cell which had two pop up and there's one really thick, white and straight root I stuck that one into a pot of shiso already going.... So far, impressed with Turface fines!

I should start by saying this is my first year trying peppers from seed.

I am growing: mini bells, mini red bells (two diff traded seed sources), king of the north, peppadew, and Doe..which are all sweets. For hots I'm growing: jalapeno, orange habs, thai orange, and chinese 5 color.

I soaked all my seeds overnight in camomile and then started them in a Park biodome. within a week (with no bottom heating) most of the varieties had visible roots coming out of the seeds (you can peek down into the hole in the park sponge). Within 10 days the jalapenos and mini bells had green sprouts.

So for what thats worth, maybe the camomile is good for getting things going.

The other experiment I did was with using a crock pot to generate bottom heat. I put 3 C of water into the crock pot, covered it with a towel, then put a thick metal tray on top and the biodome on top of that. I put the crock on "warm" (not high or low) and using an air thermometer timed how long it took to get to 90 degrees and how long it took for the time to coast off. On warm it took about an hour to an hour and 20 to get up to 90, then I would shut the crock off, and it would stay warm in the biodome (above 70) for up to 4.5-5 hours afterwards.

Because it all depends a bit on your crock pot and your ambient household temps, its probably worth doing it while keeping an eye on a thermometer if you want to try, and it probably only works if you are doing small scale seed starting, like one tray that needs bottom heat, rather than an industrial set up. But it is cheaper than buying into the heat mats, and after your've timed out your temp cycle you can regulate the crock pot using a $5-10 regular outlet timer (like the type people use to turn lamps off and on when they are away from home) to cycle the crock through on and off to keep temps within the 70-90 range.

Too much to read to know my $10 heat mat does peppers, Sorry.

well i started it about 2 weeks ago and i want to put it outside in may

This post was edited by John_JJ on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 19:09

how much times do i feed my plant till i put them in the garden

Tommyr, I'm using a heat mat set at 75 degrees and spring onions started coming up in 4-5 days.

Thanks for the tip dsb!

I used peat pots last year when I started from seed. Had every seed sprout & they all survived outside when I moved them. They are a pain to keep moist & I've had the white mold issue too, but it never affected any of my plants. They are cheap & biodegradable so I will continue to use them.

I have very good results using peat pellets with a heat mat and thermostat set at 75 degrees. I'm currently using the black plastic pots and styrofoam cups when I pot up, but I've been tempted to try the peat pots. Geneo74, any idea what the brand is of the peat pots you describe?

This post was edited by dsb22 on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 0:52

Basil and most other herbs will probably bounce back with new grow as long as the root ball wasn't damaged. They will sprout new growth from the rootball if it is just kept lightly moist.

The peppers are another issue. Some of them 'might' sprout some new growth if there is an unbroken/undamaged node left on the stem. But most of them won't and if they do it will take quite a while to do it and the growth of the plant will always be stunted.

We often take cuttings from pepper plants in the nursery to root new cuttings but the original plant never fully recovers. Woody stem plants like peppers usually switch to a short bushy growth form and any peppers it produces are very small. Honestly I would plan to replace them.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Thank you very much Dave! I was afraid for the peppers, I'm swimming in Jalepeno but the Habeneros pretty much got crushed. I'll look into buying new plants, since it's a tad late in my zone to start them from seed again.