Pagan_Pride
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Location: Grand Rapids, Mi

Rooting Seeds Under Grow Lights - When to Transfer to Soil?

Okay...I had bought a package of dwarf snap pea seeds a while back and have tried/failed numerous times to grow them. I planted them, watered them, wait weeks (2-3) only to dig through the soil and find a rotten lump of icky. I decided to buy a little plastic greenhouse seed starter (assuming that the problem was that I was over watering.)

I put the whole setup under my grow light and withing a couple of days, the seeds shot roots and they are growing QUICK. I now have rooting seeds and and little bits of green showing, so what I am now asking is this; should I go ahead and transfer them into soil, or wait until they grow a little more?

I have heard that exposing roots to light is not really good, and the roots are growing fast and pushing the seeds up, exposing the root, so I would like to know if I should go ahead and transfer them to separate pots or wait until they sprout more.

Dillbert
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peas and beans are not fond of being transplanted.

that said, wait until they are about 2" tall.
using whatever implement you can think of to get them out of the cells (I presume) and into the pot with minimal root mangling.

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applestar
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Are you planning to grow these indoors? It seems to me Michigan is too cold for winter peas outdoors.

There have been various recommendations for sowing peas for growing in spring -- as early as tossing seed peas on soft, fresh-fallen snow over fall-prepared garden bed to as soon as the spring thaw soggy ground has dried out enough.

In my area, sowing them when sugar maple tapping at the heritage farm an hour north of me is finished seems to be about the right time to start sowing peas. I can keep sowing them until about a week before planting potatoes. No matter when I sow them within that timeframe, they all seem to come up around the same time.

If you don't have a rapid transition between spring and summer weather, you should be fine sowing them outdoors. In my area, we have very short spring and temps get hot too quickly. That would be the only reason I might try to start peas early indoors. If I pre-germinate them so they have a tiny tip of root showing before sowing them, I can get them growing a week or more earlier. This will help avoid spoiled seed peas as well.

If you have not successfully grown peas before, be sure to get rhizobium inoculant for the seed peas.

Pagan_Pride
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Location: Grand Rapids, Mi

I have to grow the plants inside, as I live and work at the same apartment complex and have done so for over 3 years now. I have to take emergency call after work hours, four days a week and started growing plants of all kinds to spruce up the apartment and help with the depressing confinement of my job. I have built an pretty good light fixture and will be looking to add more lights in the future, but they way my apartment is situated, I don't get much sunlight, at least not as much as any of my plants seem to want.

The crazy thing about these peas is that they started growing so fast that 2 of them kind of forced my hand last night. Within 3 days of planting them in the cells, the roots grew fast and forced the peas up out of the cells. They fell over, into the side of the tray, so I went ahead and transplanted them. Like I said before, I was having trouble getting them to do anything at all, so I tried several different experiments. I also put 2 pea seeds in a coffee filter, wet it and set the whole deal in an open zip-lock bag. They ended up sprouting a root about 2 days after the ones in the seed starter.

rhizobium inoculant - what is this?

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ElizabethB
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Location: Lafayette, LA

Pagan - really can't give you much advice other than to say that peas and beans do not take well to transplant. Even if you get past the gemination stage you will have problems transplanting your starts. They do much better sowed from seed in and outdoor garden. Since you live in an apartment either stick to veggies that will grow inside or if you have a balcony or courtyard plant garden boxes outside in the spring and summer. Personally I do not try to force plants to grow outside of their natural environment. Of course I am blesed with a very long growing season. I have been seriously impressed by the efforts of northern growers to grow out of season plants indoors. I am sure that you will get lots of good advice on the subject of indoor winter gardening from some of the experienced members of this forum.

Good luck!

Pagan_Pride
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Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 7:15 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Mi

Elizabeth, thank you for sharing you honesty, wisdom and time with me!
I will continue to try growing these little peas as long as I have seeds left, but now understand the limitations that exist. Even if the season allowed it, my apartment is first floor and between the kids that run around destroying everything, and the lawn crew that destroys everything left, I have pretty much no hope of growing anything outside. I have tried.

I am somewhat new at growing, so this is all a series of trial and error experiments. Oh well, maybe my tomatoes will prove to be a more fruitful endeavor!

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ElizabethB
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Try container gardening. Get some low window sill boxes for your peas. Plant them in the spring or whenever planting is recommended for your region.

Good luck



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