6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

I couldn't make out the picture for "early signs of toxicity", but I can tell you that my marigolds last year had spots and I was worried about it. I posted about the problem and I got tons of conflicting info.

All I can say is that I still don't know what it was. The spots were perfectly spaced on the leaves and if I had not known better, I would have thought it was the normal design of the leaf.

I kept them quarantined and they all grew up normally, produced normal flowers and did no harm to any plants I planted them next to.

I am still curious as to what it is, but frankly as long as the plant remains healthy, I would assume it is harmless. Of course, if the plant changes colors, yellows, dies or gets stunted etc.....I'd trash them.

I grow marigolds from this company (link below) which are the finest marigolds I have ever grown (their marigolds like Narai and Bali, not the others they also provide.) Click the "Pest Management" tab to a link to their descrption of problems. There are three tabs at the top of that page.

It is funny when I say that I grow marigolds people many times say, Yes, and I hear that marigolds chase pests from the garden. (something like that). You only have to look at the pests that commerical growers face to realize that only a very few ward off pests, like Guardian.

Here is a link that might be useful: Best Marigolds

The way I started was by reading a book called Seed Starting. Books have all the info. Then I found a list of seed starting needs of all plants, annuals, perennials, that gives adates before last frost, light, depth, temperature requirements, etc. for each seed.

Start reading and taking notes.

" a simple and complete A to Z guide"

Believe it or not that is just what we tried to do with the FAQs here. A great deal of time and effort went into writing them. Are they perfect? Of course not. Just as with raising children, a perfect guide would be impossible. But they do cover all the basic questions that come up her.

Yet some just don't want to use them much less use the forum search button to review all the info here about how to use heat mats, the problems created by domes, why using the kits over-complicates the process, what lights are needed and why, how and when to thin, how and when to transplant, how and when to fertilize, the effects of air temps on seedlings, etc. etc.etc.

Instead they prefer to have us take the time to rehash all that info just for them, and some points have to stated multiple times for some reason.

And that is fine IF they first at least make the effort to review all the info that is already available and make sure that their question has not already been answered in detail.

No one has been "hit hard" but yes, sometimes impatience bleeds through in posts. Sure it takes time to do research, but it also takes time to rehash something over and over. And time has the same value to all of us.

Dave

Hi Danielle,

I am growing broccoli and cauliflower seedlings. Regards to the first two leafs going brown. I though it was the result of dampening off. As the base stem started to go white. But after I added a fan the first leafs didn't bounce back. I am now wondering if the led lights might have been too close first up.

Regards,
tim

Start over with fresh, bagged seed starting mix. Keep plants in separate cells to begin with. Water from the bottom and don't feed till they get some leaves (follow Dave's info above). Don't add anything but water. Remove from heat after germination.

Set the lights about an inch away from plants and don't cover them. Too much love isn't what they need. lol.

This post was edited by susanzone5 on Sun, Mar 31, 13 at 12:18

I would like to clarify I had the trays in the kitchen

"Windowsill" is just a term used to distinguish between trying to grow using only natural light vs. providing supplemental lighting.

The distinction is between any sort of window light - light just from outside sources vs. using supplemental indoor light.

Even greenhouses use supplemental lighting this time of year.

Dave

I live in Melbourne , Australia , I decided to grow some seeds purchased from ebay , I bought some cuban mahogany , ylang ylang and poinciana . All tropicals , its getting into mid Autumn here and temperatures are ranging from about 10 degrees celcius to about 24 . ( too low for germination ) So out from the garage I brought my "ecko hostess carousel " food warmer . After soaking the seeds in small medicine containers with water, I wore these so as to stay warm with my body heat for 24 hours. Then put them into small trays with potting mix , into the hostess carousel . Due to the fact there is no timer or thermostat , well I think I might have cooked them , the temps must have got up around 50 degrees centigrade . Anyway I just had a look , the potting mix is erupting ! I can see a poinciana pushing its way up through the soil. It took 3 days to germinate . Is that normal ? these poinciana's are very tough cookies .

The funniest thing happened at the potting bench today. As I was doing things like getting these baby Oregon Irises into pots to grow on, I found a couple more starts..but not in the original pot I've been saving all this time. Apparently I either dropped a few of these seeds nearby, or maybe another years seeds ( normally saved in the same location ) got in the 'to be used soil' mix ( my soil mixes are in 33 gal garbage cans), or ? No idea what happened or what vintage the newly found starts are, but they are smaller and just germinated in the last day or so.

The original ones I told you about are now spread out into little pots, and the interesting thing is how long the roots are. They were all about 6 inches long, with the shoots of the plants varying from maybe 1/2 " to 6 ". Bright white, strong, and looking like they want to be in a damp environment. Interesting since the mother plant is in well drained, moist but sometimes dry soil. And each and everyone of the new babies is holding on strongly to it's seed. Shoot, seed, root.. like they each are holding a little purse. :) The seeds never budged as I split the plants apart and fussed with things.

Plus, I found this is my old bookmarks, that' I'd forgotten about, and not looked up irises before.How did I miss this ? It's very specific for temps etc.

Quote:
Iris barbata, bucharica, bulleyana, chamaeiris, chrysographes, foetidissima, forrestii, graminea, hollandica, illyrica, kamaonensis, kaempferi, lactea, laevigata, magnifica, missouriensis, orientalis, paradoxa, pseudacorus, pseudocaucasica, pumila, reichenbachii, sanguinea, sari, setosa, sibirica, sintenisii, spuria, tectorum, tenax, variegata, versicolor, virginica, and xiphioides ,

Impervious seed coats. Shake in dry sharp sand or nick carefully with a file. Sow at 18-22úC (64-71úF) for 2-4 wks, move to -4 to +4úC (24-39úF) for 4-6 wks, move to 5-12úC (41-53úF) for germination

Here is a link that might be useful: http://tomclothier.hort.net/page03.html#i

I'd also be interested in any replies you get Nico girl, just starting veg last year, and curious from my reading about using loo rolls, newspaper pots or fibre/peat pots. All of which have been given to me over past few months. Esp wondering if planting any or all of these into ground avoids transplant shock? Eg if peat pots are ripped?

This is the second year I've tried strictly peat pots and I've had so many issues with my seedlings thinking the issues were something else. I came across this post and realized I've seen all of the problems described above.
I used to use plastic pots and thought I remembered not having to baby seedlings as much as I have been lately. It's good to know I haven't lost my touch! I am currently in the process of moving everything to plastic and will hopefully save the youngsters!

If you have a good container you can place all your "pots" into then why buy? Just find yourself a good even drinking glass and make your own pots from newspaper? If they are packed together they would not need any added support. You just roll the newspaper around the lip end of the glass with as much depth as you like and then tuck the left over end into the glass and slide the newspaper off to make your pots. I copied this off the web it was not my idea. There was a time I did make mine almost the same way but by wetting strips of newspaper but they no longer have any "glue" that made them firm as they once would.

How long would it take to make 800-1500 newspaper pots?

Most of my containers are on a drip system outside, and I get all kinds of things growing in them!

I have wine grape seedlings in 2, a fig seedling in one, and many weed seedlings! I grow figs and wine grapes and know the leaf patterns.

I just pull the weeds once i figure out what they are.

Good luck and I hope you have a real plant there!

Suzi

Look at the attached link. As flora UK says, "possibly a morning glory of some kind".

Here is a link that might be useful: Cotton Morningglory: Ipomoea cordatotriloba

This post was edited by bugbite on Sat, Mar 30, 13 at 22:08

I think you may be mixing together a couple of unrelated suggestions. First, many large hard seeds will benefit from pre-soaking and it is a fairly common practice. However it is done with just lightly warm water and for a period of 12-24 hours.

A brief soak in a peroxide mixture (10:1 of water to peroxide) is recommended by some seed savers as a way of disinfecting saved seeds before drying them for storage. Some also use a diluted peroxide mist for stopping fungus/mold growth on soil. But adding it to a pre-soak isn't a common practice and while it might disinfect them it really serves no other real purpose.

Since you only soaked the seeds for such a short time I doubt the peroxide hurt them even though it is a stronger mixture. But how fast those seeds will germinate will all depend on the soil temperature used.

Most melon seeds will germinate in 4-8 days if given soil temps between 70-75 degrees, 3-5 days if provided with warmer soil. In cooler soil it can 10-14 days.

Let us know how yours do.

Dave

Please, could I ask where you got the 3 to 1 mixture and the 5 hour number?

That's good to know! I think I may have sowed my seeds a tad bit late, but we'll see how it pans out.

You're in zone 5? So the winters here in 9 would be less severe than there, but I'm wondering about the summers. Anyway, regardless of the details, here in 9, should i plant in containers or the ground?

Given an option I would definitely plant in the ground. Even planted in the ground I was needing to hand water, in addition to the irrigation system, once or twice per week. But the summers are hot here and humidity levels are often around 10% in the summer.

If they weren't going to make it you likely would have seen that within 48 hours so it sounds as if all went well. How long until they can go to the garden?

Dave

My "guaranteed" last frost is the beginning of May. I'm in South Jersey and the weather is still pretty cold here. I was planning on starting to harden them off in a few weeks hopefully if it warms up some. Also, I was going to make self watering containers for them instead of planting. I like the idea of the plants having water to take as they need and the freedom to move them around my yard. My garden got a little crowded last year.