mandystenger
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Seed Starting - what, why & how?

Ok...last year was my first year having my own garden & it went pretty well for the first time I thought. My biggest mistake was taking on too much the first time & my second biggest was I overwatered a few things. But overall things turned out pretty good. So far, indoors I planted jalapenos, banana peppers, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, brandywine tomatoes & strawberries. The strawberries died first, then the jalapenos, then the cherrys, & then the brandywine. They started looking wilty after they all got about 1 & a half to 2 inches tall & then they fell over & they all died. So now all I have alive is my banana peppers & bell peppers. The banana peppers have almost reached 3 inches, but three pods are already looking wilty & I'm afraid the same thing is happening to them. What is causing this? I'm using Jiffy seed starting mix, Jiffy pods (the kind that you rip apart & put the whole thing in the soil when you transfer) & I use a misting bottle to spray them with & they are next to a South facing window & they are all seeds packaged for 2010. Any help would be much appreciated!

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rainbowgardener
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Seed starting is trickier than it sounds. It's not hard with some basic equipment and experience, but it can be frustrating for beginners.

Pictures would help, but without that I'm going to make a guess, based on you saying they "fell over and died." So they end up lying flat on the soil? When you look at them closely can you see a little pinched in area of the stem just above the soil level, maybe with a little brownish ring around it? Those would be confirmation of my guess of damping off. It's a fungal disease that baby seedlings are very vulnerable to, especially in conditions of too much moisture and humidity and not enough air circulation.

You didn't say, but by any chance were using one of those greenhouse dome cover things with your jiffy pots? If so get rid of it immediately! But next time, skip the jiffy seed starting mix and jiffy pots entirely. The pots and the mix are all peat and tend to hold too much moisture, keep the soil too damp all the time. Regular potting soil in little plastic pots (or plastic drink cups or yoghurt cups, etc, with holes in the bottom) works better.

The misting bottle to spray them is tricky too. It's really hard to mist enough water to really get the roots damp enough. Finally it's iffy whether things like tomatoes and peppers will get enough light just with a window. But if it isn't enough light, that would not cause the falling over, that would just cause them to get tall and spindly.

Skip the strawberries which are quite difficult to grow from seed in the best of circumstances.

Type seed starting in the Search the Forum feature and you will find tons that's been written here and pictures people have posted about how they do it. But generally tomato seeds need to be started 8 weeks before planting out date and pepper seeds 10 weeks. So you may just want to chalk this one up to learning experiences and buy plants for this years garden and try again with the seeds next year.

mandystenger
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Thanks so much. Yep, flat on the dirt. I will check them for the ring you're talking about. Is there anything I can do if the rest of my plants start doing that or anything I can do to prevent it from spreading to them?

mandystenger
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Oh yeah...I was using one of those dome thingys...& for the ones that I didn't have domes for, I was using suran wrap until the plants started coming up. I will be sure to ditch that though! & if the spray bottle isn't a good idea...how should I water them without damaging the small plants? Just pour the water in? Thanks!!

GardenJester
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I swear those domes do more harm than good. As for watering, put the the pods in a tray, then fill the tray with 1/8-1/4" of water. Let theose fiber pots soak and become soggy, don't' worry about it falling apart on you, it will last long enough to serve its' purpose(provided you aren't constantly molesting the pots). don't mist the seedlings, it does them very little good, and it might cause fungus problems. you want the seedling work to pump the water from the roots to the leafs anyway, that's how they grow.

mandystenger
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Awesome! You & the other person who responded pretty much covered every angle (I think, lol) that I need. Thanks!

DoubleDogFarm
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First I had to look up what is in Jiffy seed starting mix. Well, it looks fine.

"A premium blend of sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite and lime"

I'm using a peat moss, perlite mix. No lime. Peat moss takes some effort to get the water to soak in. Wicking up from the bottom is a good way to go. Tomatoes and peppers like to dry out a bit between waterings.

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rainbowgardener
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Once they are flopped over, they are goners, no way to save them.

Prevention is to lower the humidity and moisture levels and increase air circulation. Bottom watering as Garden Jester suggested is the way to go.

Also you can put A LITTLE bit of cinnamon and chamomile in the water you water with -- natural anti-fungals. Don't overdo the cinnamon, it can burn your plants.

The Jiffy is soilless mix that is mainly peat. Potting soil has some actual soil along with the peat and doesn't hold the water so much. The peat pots just aggravate the situation. Hard to get all the peat to wet, and then once it is wet, it stays wet. If it finally does start to dry out, it wicks the water away from the plants.

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tn_veggie_gardner
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I just caught Double's bold part above. Jiffy seed starting mix is great & has a lot of the key ingredients of most permanent container mixes. I use it a lot myself, but it still has one drawback, IMO, the water-repelling peat. If mixed in with some perlite & pine bark or your preferred medium ingredients, it would do excellent though! =)

mandystenger
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Wow, you all are great! I really love this site! Ok...Rainbow...how much cinnamon to how much water? I just wanna make sure I don't overdo it. Also, where can I buy chamomile? Also...I found out last year that if you put peppers together they will cross with each other...I had banana peppers & cayenne peppers side by side & they made cayana peppers, lol. Is there any plants that shouldn't be near one another for whatever reason? Here's my list of things I want in my garden...
jalapeno peppers
banana peppers
cayenne peppers
bell peppers
brandywine tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
squash
zucchini
cucumbers
lettuce
green beans
turnips
corn
crimson watermelons
cantaloupe
pumpkins
decorative gourds
I also had all these things in my garden last year (& then some) but I had no luck with my green beans (they never came up), turnips (I think I planted them too close together b/c they pushed each other out of the ground & I ended up with dead turnips), crimson watermelons (one plant survived & died when its melon was about the size of a softball), pumpkins (all plants died) & cantaloupe (all plants died). Is there anything special I should know about any of the above? On a lighter note...my corn went absolutely insane even though a big windstorm knocked them all over the place. They slowly picked themselves back up straight again. My tomato plants did that too...I felt as though I could hardly keep up with the 4 brandywine tomato plants & the 4 cherry tomato plants. I was giving tons of tomatoes & corn away.

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rootsy
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What are you watering them with? City water? Well water? Water that has been through a water softener?

Those domes are ok for holding moisture in and creating a mini atmosphere to help seeds germinate.. after that get rid of em... Seedlings need air movement to keep from damping off...

I always initially soak soil for seed staring by placing my trays with starter mix in a non-leaking tray and filling that outer tray with water... when the inner tray saturates I remove it...

After saturating the starter mix I make a slight dimple in the top with my finger, lay seed in dimple, sprinkle vermiculite on top...

I will water the same way as initial soaking but not with nearly as much water as I don't want to soak the soil... The soil will take up what it needs...

Seedlings need A LOT of light and a South facing window generally isn't enough...

mandystenger
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I'm watering with city water, no water softener. What is vermiculite? Should I use an East or West window instead?

kgall
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South facing window is the best for those not using grow lights. They will get the most light there. There are some who will tell you that you need a grow light, but my south facing seedlings are doing great! I did need to pot up my tomatoes and bury them up to their seed leaves but they are beautiful and happy now!

Chamomile- you can just get some chamomile tea bags and steep them in the water. I just keep a teabag in my watering jug overnight.

Cross pollinating- You don't have to worry about this unless you are saving seeds. the fruit of this year will not be affected.

mandystenger
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Ok, thanks!



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