lettuce seeds won't germinate

[mikesmomferrell]

My lettuce will not germinate..I just found out about the allelopathic effect of mulches. I used cedar and cypress where I planted the lettuce seeds. If I rake off this mulch, and re-seed, will the lettuce germinate??

[soil]

id start them in cells and transplant to the garden rather than direct seed from what you have said.

[mikesmomferrell]

Thank you SO much for the quick reply. Think I will do as you advised. You learn something everyday, I've gardened for years now, this is the first I've heard of allelopathic effects of mulches. Think I'll not use cedar or cypress mulch every again in my veggie garden!!!

[soil]

sticking clear of pine bark mulch helps too. or black walnut chips.

[gumbo2176]

Mike, instead of using cypress or cedar for mulches, what I do is go to City Park in New Orleans and take away truckloads of oak leaves. But first, I put cardboard boxes I get from the local supermarket between my rows then pile the leaves on top of the cardboard. After my plants come up, I'll layer newspaper around them on the rows then cover with leaves for a more esthetically pleasing look and good stuff for the garden as it decomposes.


In one day, I can get all the leaves I need for my garden with a little sweat equity. Some call me cheap------------I prefer frugal.

[mikesmomferrell]

I have learned more and more today...I have alot of leaves here in the midwest once the trees shed theirs...I bag them up in big black plastic bags, store over the winter, then come spring they are wonderful leaf mulch. And then I get neighbors bales of straw from their decorations after Halloween. No more cedar, cypress, pine, hardwood mulch in my veggie garden. Thank you for all the helpful info.

[garden5]

If wamth is the issue, your best bet would be to just start them indoors. However, if it is too warm outside, they will probably just bolt to seed once you get them in the ground, anyway. What's your average temp. right now? lettuce is a cool-weather crop.

[mikesmomferrell]

I just re-seeded lettuce AGAIN!! But in a wooden crate/box that wine comes in..it looks good, use it to grow my microgreens in, so will see if that works. It is cooling down alittle here is St. Louis, so feel good about this time. Once up I will transplant into garden (once I've raked away all my cedar/cypress mulch!) and then I can put up my hoops and cover when the weather gets really cold.

[jal_ut]

Sunflowers and walnut trees are allelopathic.

I don't know if that is your problem or not. Lettuce doesn't like to germinate if it is too warm. Try putting a couple of thicknesses of damp paper towell in a dish with a lid, then sprinkle some seed on the towell, put the lid on and put it in the fridg for three days. Now go plant the seed. Cover it 1/2 inch and mulch it with grass clippings. Sprinkle lightly daily so the soil doesn't dry at the level of the seed.

Just for fun, leave a few seed in the dish and set it on the counter for a couple days to see if it will germinate.

[garden5]

Sunflowers and walnut trees are allelopathic.

I don't know if that is your problem or not. Lettuce doesn't like to germinate if it is too warm. Try putting a couple of thicknesses of damp paper towell in a dish with a lid, then sprinkle some seed on the towell, put the lid on and put it in the fridg for three days. Now go plant the seed. Cover it 1/2 inch and mulch it with grass clippings. Sprinkle lightly daily so the soil doesn't dry at the level of the seed.

Just for fun, leave a few seed in the dish and set it on the counter for a couple days to see if it will germinate.

Do you put them in-between the paper towels, or just on top?

[gixxerific]

Being near St Louis myself I think you should try again and even start some indoors. I just started some today indoors (though I should have done this a lot earlier). The lettuce I planted a few weeks ago didn't come up so much. It has been too warm. I was hoping for the best but that didn't come. I did a few than again a week or so later did some more. So far out of the 3 areas and many different types of seed and different planting dates only one is showing signs of growth and that was planted 3-4 weeks ago. At least something came of my work but I'm not going to let it get me down. Like I said I was hoping for the best but not expecting much. It is getting cooler, at least I think it is. So now would be a good time to try again. I will be direct seeding again as well as having the indoor starts as backups.

So onto the next round. We normally have good fall crops around here but this year has been so crazy I am not sure what to expect.

Good luck. To us all.

Oops I didn't see you last post in this thread. It seems you already have started again. Well there you go, everything I said still rings true though.

[garden5]

Sunflowers have the same effects as black walnut trees? We're talking about the roots, I take it.

I planted a row of beans about 1 ft. or less from a row of sunflowers and got great germination. Perhaps alleopathic effects are more of a concern with very small, difficult to germinate seeds .

[mikesmomferrell]

Well finally my lettuce seeds have started to germinate in those wooden wine crates I wrote about before. They were perfect all summer for my microgreens allowing me to put a screen over the top when they were small, to keep the $#@*! squirrels out of them. But now I finally have some lettuce coming up. I've raked away all the cedar, cypress mulch, from my small veggie plot, added some new organic garden soil and some compost, so that when lettuce gets alittle bigger, will transplant into garden. Whew.

[Alfred]

I agree with the comment plant them in cells first and then when they have grown three to four inch"s plant them in the garden and keep them well watered.I prefer to buy them in punnet's of six about four inch's high and plant them out,depending how many you require you could do the same every four to six weeks.