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TheWaterbug
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Overheat seeds in a seed starter/greenhouse thingy?

Nearly three weeks ago I put a bunch of seeds and Miracle-Gro garden soil into one of these Jiffy Seed Starter/Greenhouse thingies:
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/JiffySeedStarter.jpg[/img]

I put in some arugula, broccoli, cauliflower, and sunflowers, with plenty of water.

Three weeks hence, I have nothing, nada, zilch, bupkis. I have a very short attention span, so yesterday I actually ripped into a few of the pots to inspect the seeds, and they're doing absolutely nothing.

Then I realized that I'd left the seed starter outside in 85-degree heat all last week. Cook I have cooked the seeds to death?

edit: corrected the date of planting

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Fig3825
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I'm no expert, but the kits I use say to start indoors out of direct sunlight until germinated. I use the kits that have a tray and the hard pellets you add warm water to and they expand. Easier to plant as you can simply pluck up the entire pod and drop in a hole in the garden that is, conveniently, about the same size a shovel handle.

I also normally wouldn't start leafy greens (like arugula) in a kit like this. Normally, you can just scatter them on the ground and cover with a thin layer of soil.

I've also learned that if you leave them indoors for too long, they'll grow long stems rather than start to grow foliage. Most of the seeds I start in my kits get planted shortly after the sprout.

CharlieBear
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You have to keep the seed mixture moist during germination, whether it is in the ground or a starter tray. Note it is much harder in a starter tray. If there is not enough moisture the seeds will not even try to come up. If they start to come out of dormancy and then dry out again, they generally will not come up. That is why when people use those trays, many of my gardening friends put them in a large plastic bag and seal it as well as put on the top. If you did not water it after planting then just start watering regularly and see if the seeds are still viable.

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TheWaterbug
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CharlieBear wrote:You have to keep the seed mixture moist during germination, whether it is in the ground or a starter tray. Note it is much harder in a starter tray. If there is not enough moisture the seeds will not even try to come up. If they start to come out of dormancy and then dry out again, they generally will not come up. That is why when people use those trays, many of my gardening friends put them in a large plastic bag and seal it as well as put on the top. If you did not water it after planting then just start watering regularly and see if the seeds are still viable.
Hmmm. The starter tray has a plastic cover (clear), and they were wet the entire time. The lid kept the moisture in, and I added water very few days.

I still debating whether to start over or whether to just wait with fingers crossed.

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soil
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you don't need the dome to start fall weather crops. its already warm enough outside. start things like kale, broccoli, cauliflower in the shade.

sunflowers can be directly planted in the soil

arugula seeds can be started directly or in the tray with the other crops.

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TheWaterbug
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soil wrote:you don't need the dome to start fall weather crops. its already warm enough outside. start things like kale, broccoli, cauliflower in the shade.

sunflowers can be directly planted in the soil

arugula seeds can be started directly or in the tray with the other crops.
I'm actually using the tray to protect the seedlings from critters. I direct-sowed a bunch of broccoli and cauliflower a while back, and all I ever saw was little gnawed stems :(

They never even got a chance to grow leaves.

I also direct-sowed an entire row of sunflowers, and only 5 of them actually came up. I'm suspecting they got eaten, too.

I'm hoping that, if I can get them to the 2-3 inch size, they'll grow faster than the critters can eat them.

That approach seemed to work with my pumpkins and melons.

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rainbowgardener
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But yes, if you have a clear plastic dome outside in direct sun, it gets very hot in there, very fast and you probably did cook your seeds.

If nothing has happened in 3 weeks, I doubt anything is going to happen. When I start broccoli seed indoors, the seeds sprout in just a few days.

I hate the seed starting kits like you got. I think it is just something to get people's money. The peat pots are seedling killers, keeping everything too moist (until they finally dry out and then they wick all the moisture away from the plant) and while humidity domes MAY help germinate seeds, once the seedlings have sprouted, they keep too much humidity and promote damping off.

I would suggest starting over with new seeds and fresh potting soil and plastic pots, no dome. If you are worried about the critters, start your seeds somewhere close to your house (do you have a deck?) that the critters won't come to. Or start them indoors if you need to, the same way you would in winter. Either way just transplant them into the garden once they are outgrowing the 3" pots.

I have the same trouble with sunflower seedlings... resident groundHOG loves them and chews them down to stem nubs.

Susan W
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I just started anther batch (12) basil seeds. These are peat pellets in one of those tray things with dome. I left off the dome. The tray set on a shelf on the deck, under the eave. It gets bright shade, no direct sun, and out of rain water (I monitor the watering). Seeds sprouted in 2 days, 5 days later thinning. In a week or 2 will move to a bit of sun. Like the last batch (9) I'll put in 4" pots, dappled shade. From there figure if they'll go into pots, fill in where others failed, in ground etc.

I need to check the stores for more peat pellets this size. They come in small, med, large. I like this 12 pellet tray for convenience and my limited set-up.

Hope this helps

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TheWaterbug
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rainbowgardener wrote:But yes, if you have a clear plastic dome outside in direct sun, it gets very hot in there, very fast and you probably did cook your seeds.
*Le sigh*

I think I am going to start over this weekend. My wife is getting impatient. I keep regaling her with wondrous tales of corn and pumpkin growth, and she asks, "Where's my arugula?"

I do have a deck-like area where I can start them. It's where I started my pumpkin and melon seedlings, which seemed to work out pretty well.

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TheWaterbug
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^^
so I sowed seeds into the starter cups again on Sunday the 24th, and I have emergence already on two types! They're either the arugula and broccoli or they're the Brussels sprouts and the cauliflower. I put them into the tray alphabetically, but I can't remember which way is up :D

Pix later . . . .



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