2014 Seeds Started!

[Cola82]

Hooray! Your garden always sounds cooler than mine. ;p

ETA: as for old seeds, I tried to start some left over california wonder peppers and they didn't sprout after nearly two weeks, so I dug them up and they didn't look any different than when I planted them, so I replaced them with fresh seeds. I've also noticed reduced germination in my yellow cherry tomatoes and thai basil which were also planted from 2013 leftovers. You win some, you lose some, but it's worth the effort.

[rainbowgardener]

Last year's seeds should have been fine. How did you store them?

Older seeds can be more dried out, so it often gives them a boost to soak them over night before planting.

I bought most things in bulk last year, so much of what I am planting is at least sold for 2013, if not older. I have some seeds a friend gave me that are from the 1990's, which I am giving a try.

[ReptileAddiction]

How do you store seeds? I have always just stored them in a box at room temperature but I have found that a lot of seed is not doing to well. I have purchased a lot of seed now so I need to find a way to keep it longer.

Anyway, this morning I can see the first sign of sprouting in one of the tomatoes . I will not put it under light though yet because it is just the bend stem sticking out at the moment. Today I will move it to either the greenhouse or a south facing window. I might set up a fluorescent light, I will have to decide later.

[rainbowgardener]

I store seeds in paper envelopes inside bigger paper envelopes or cardboard boxes in the freezer. No plastic, which holds moisture. You want cold and dark and dry. I have kept seeds in the refrigerator which also worked, but now that I have a lot of seeds, it takes up too much space.

Applestar taught me that the first little stem loop that appears, while the baby is getting together enough energy to lift the cotyledons from the soil is called hypocotyl loop. It's just a geek thing, I like the fancy words.

But yes, once your tomato baby has leaves, it will need light.

[Ozark Lady]

Inspiring!

Okay, today is sort seeds, moisten soil in preparation of seed starting, decided since reading this subject.

If in doubt of whether a seed is still good, I do sometimes test germinate in baggies, and I watch them and move them into dirt quickly. Untangling a lot of too long roots usually costs me a lot of seedlings.
Once I have tested a few seeds of the date and species, then the rest get planted directly in soil. I use the top of my refrigerator to start mine. It is dark, since they are stacked up, so I have to watch them daily to move them to the light.

I am already running out of time for cole crops, onions etc if I want to use plantlets to plant these!

Starting plants is a for sure way to find out if mice have sneaked in to your house. They will bite the tiny leaves right off... been there, done that. So, my suggestion, keep an eye out for mice signs. It amazes how they find ways in, and we fix all entries (?!) But, they find or create more entries. Even low profile, sneaky mice can't seem to resist seedlings.

Does anyone know their zone, so that they can help newbies in starting their seeds?
I think my zone is 7, but my seedlings always take longer to reach a stage large enough to plant out, so I start a bit too early.

[Cola82]

I did like ReptileAddiction and just kept them in a shoebox in my office inside their original envelopes with the tops folded over. That could very well be it. Temperature does fluctuate in here.

Most of the seeds were fine. I'd say out of 16 thai basil seeds, 10 came up, and out of 8 yellow cherry tomato, 7 came up. But it was 100% last year. I'll see about putting the seeds from this year in the freezer this time. I have so many left over and no idea what to do with them all.

[ReptileAddiction]

I have always heard about storing them in the freezer but have been kinda lazy about it so I will move them there tonight. I actually decided to set up some fluorescent bulbs right above the tomatoes until they get their first true leaves. Once that happens they will be fertilized and moved out to the greenhouse!

[rainbowgardener]

Last night when I was looking at all my cute little seedlings and turning the lights off, I said, "gee it seems like tie for something else to sprout!" This morning parsley, dill and chives have shown themselves, 9 days after planting.

[ReptileAddiction]

So far all of my tomatoes are up but one. The first ones are starting on their 1st true leaves. I started more because I didnt think that some of them were going to sprout but if I had waited a day longer. I moved all the ones that have sprouted off the heat mat because I need it for other things. Once the jalapeños are up I will move them off the heat mat and out to the greenhouse then take the california wonder bells in because I think that the greenhouse is to cold for them to sprout but it should be warm enough after they are up. I am also planning on moving the tomatoes out as their true leaves develop. I have a bunch of other things that need to be started but I do not really know where to go with them. My Texas Blue Bonnet that are out in the greenhouse still have not come up yet and I do not really know why. They should be able to sprout and grow in the cooler temperatures and it was fresh seed. I definitely do not have the means to put the entire flat of them inside on a heat mat though. Have any of you guys ever grown them?

[rainbowgardener]

On the tenth day, cilantro popped up!

This evening I will move all the broccoli and cabbage plants into individual cells off the heat mat. That will be most of one tray worth. That will free up spaces on the heat mat (so far I am only running one) and I will plant purple basil, Anaheim peppers and California Wonder bells.

I failed to mention back there that the anise hyssop sprouted in 4 days. The broccoli, cabbage, spinach, and anise hyssop are all showing the first signs of true leaves, but tiny, not opened up yet.

(Later) I did move the broccoli and cabbage, 27 of each (the cells are in blocks of 9). That meant I trashed about a dozen of each, perfectly good seedlings. But I know I won't have room if I keep them all, so I hardened my heart. After all these years, I still hate to do it.

[applestar]

So jealous! Sounds like you're all off to a great start!

I might start the cold season stuff in the house -- 60's/no heat pad or 70's/top of the shop light. But nothing can go out in the garage until this deep freeze (tonight's forecast is now 7°F ) is over. Should be back to bearable (hovering at freezing (low 30's) temps in the garage this weekend.

[rainbowgardener]

Oh it is super cold here too, going in to negative numbers tonight. I've only started cold weather stuff and the slowest of the warm weather stuff. Actually, I think it is jumping the gun on the green peppers. Hot peppers are slower. And it is all in the heated basement, which is a bit cooler than the rest of the house, especially in weather like this.

[rainbowgardener]

The first begonias sprouted today after 14 days. Spearmint never showed. It is 14 days for it too. It is not beyond the pale that it could still sprout, but it is some of my friend's seed, dated 1996. So I gave up on it and planted impatiens in the same soil. If something comes up I will have to figure out if it is spearmint or impatiens, but that shouldn't be too hard. Today I will get the parsley moved off the heat mat into individual cells. I'm doing that quicker this year, not even waiting for them to have much in the way of true leaves. I just frees up space on the heat mat sooner, for starting the next stuff. Means I can go a few more days before I plug in the second mat.

[ReptileAddiction]

You could also try the baggie method to help free up space on the heat mat. As long as you check on them every 1-2 days it works great. What I did was put the bags underneath the trays on the heat mat then as soon as they developed 1/4 inch roots I planted them and 3 days later had little plants poking through. I am not surprised your spearmint did not sprout. I have heard it is very hard to start from seed and probably even harder with that old of seed.

[imafan26]

Do any of you keep records on what you started and what grew well and what did not? I am not that great at keeping records but I would like to know if you have a system that is easy to keep up with. I am trying to better determine the best times and dates to plant seeds, make cuttings and time how long it takes from seed to harvest so I can plan the rotation of the seedling plantings and maximize the use of the space in my garden and plan my gardening year.

[ReptileAddiction]

What I do is just enter the date and then what happened on a document on my computer. I am horrible about keeping up with it though. Most things do not make it on it...

[rainbowgardener]

I have usually not had any trouble starting spearmint from seed. Since the seed is very fine, it is hard not to end up with hundreds of them. But I'm thinking this 18 yr old seed that was not refrigerated, just isn't viable any more.

I've always been terrible at record keeping too. Mainly here is my record keeping. That's why I put a link to last year's thread like this at the beginning of this thread. But I'm trying harder this year. I made myself a spreadsheet of seeds I plan to start with days to germination, need heat, need light, need any special treatment, how many weeks ahead to plant them, cold tolerance. To ease the transition back to the computer, I printed it out and it is staying in my plant starting area, so I can easily make notes on it about when the seeds were planted and how long they actually took to germinate. Then I can add that stuff back to the document any time.

So today the basil is sprouted, on the 4th day, the first begonia sprouted on the 14th day. I planted lobelia (1996 seed). I planted impatiens on top of the lavender which was more of that 1996 seed batch. It is at 15 days without sprouting.

[rainbowgardener]

California wonder bells sprouted at 7 days. Anaheim chilis are visibly getting ready to sprout, so probably tomorrow. Everything else is moving right along. Next to be planted will be coleus and marigold.

[chriswimmer]

I'm on round two... I attempted to grow some basil in a 2 liter soda bottle but it died after it germinated. I realized later that the 'really sunny' place in my condo was also oddly drafty and cold.

I've found a new spot (in my extra bathroom with a DIY grow light.)

I'm doing basil, chives, rosemary, cilantro, and chard.

Planted them 2 days ago so I hope to see them pop up very soon

[wolfwalker]

I'm weeks away from starting my outdoor plants in doors,My indoor lettuce is now a inch high... have the lettuce under my spare shop lights.

[rainbowgardener]

I did plant the coleus, but not the marigold. Instead I planted salvia, tarragon, caraway, ageratum.

The anise hyssop, while still pretty small, has true leaves and it is about time to move it off the heat mat, into individual cells.

I plugged in the second heat mat. To have space for the anise hyssop, I will need to turn on the second set of lights. This is the season where the seed starting operation just keeps getting bigger.

[applestar]

Yay! Can you post pictures yet?
My accidental premature sowing of Cherokee Tiger Striped Plum f7 tomato seeds are starting to show germinating loops so I put them under good light.

[skiingjeff]

Well I have to admit to being an intense record keeper. Maybe it has to to with being a former accountant but I have developed a spreadsheet on excel to plan and track my plantings. It is probably too much for most gardeners but can possibly be adjusted down if you wanted.

It uses the projected harvest date and works backwards towards seed planting time. The first section (brown headers) of the worksheet is the "Plan". Since we know the "Plan" doesn't always work, the second section (Yellow headers) is where I adjust based on actual germination, etc. and get an adjusted transplant date, harvest date, etc.

Then because I'm an uber geek the next green section is where I log in home many plants germinate each day after planting (P) and calculate my % of germination. I usually print out the current date range from this section and keep it down in the basement so I can log (in pencil) the information to later transfer into the spreadsheet.

Here is the Planning section:

This is the first half of the Planning section

Annual planting schedule #1a.png (124.54 KiB) Viewed 3420 times

This is the second half of the Planning section

Here is the Actual Section:

AND Finally the germination section:

Whew! until I created this post I don't know if I knew how geeky this/I am Unfortunately I could not attach the XLSX file so I had to do pictures. If someone wants the actual Excel file...lol....just message me with your email and I can send it to you.

[imafan26]

Wow, that is really detailed, I like some of the columns you had. I tried to do that on computer, but I would forget, so I got a notebook and write it in when I plant. Problem is that I plant multiple seeds or transplant multiple plants on the same day so I am missing some.

I am thinking maybe I should do what I do with the orchids and keep the record on the back of the tags. Of course that means I will have to get different labels or start sanding plastic knives.

I wish I could start peppers now, but it is too cold and wet. I have to wait until March.
I have planted kale, cilantro, green onions, Joy Choy, tatsoi, spinach, beets and romaine.
I finally harvested my ginger. I planted some back in the pot and put the rest in a bucket with some damp soil in the lanai. That will be what I will use to cook with and backup in case the rain rots the ones that I replanted. I have taken rosemary, bay leaf, Mexican oregano, Meyer lemon, lemon verbena and marjoram cuttings. I had to retake the rosemary cuttings because it was very windy and the new cuttings dried out too much.

[ReptileAddiction]

Wow! Awesome system.

I am at that stage where you realize that you planted something early and it is sprouting and now I have no where to go with it. My tomatoes are not doing to hot though. One of them looks phenomenal. It is growing super fast and doing great. The other ones planted on the exact same day are smaller and looking kinda yellow. I think once they get their first true leaves though I think they will be looking much better.

I also still have most of my ornamentals to plant but they are not my priority.

[rainbowgardener]

I planted petunias, salvia, coleus, marigold, chamomile, caraway. So I now have seeds for 28 different plants planted and a long way to go yet. The coleus which is listed as 10-20 days germination time, sprouted in 4, with heat and light.

Nothing else will get planted until the tomatoes and green basil around the 20th of Feb.

The first broccoli seedlings got potted up into the 3.5" pots. If we were having normal weather, I could start taking them outside already. Running out of potting soil, because all the materials I ordered for this year's mix haven't come yet, including the rice hulls.

[skiingjeff]

RBG,

Are you planting cauliflower this year? Even though it is a cold veggie, everything I've read about temperature indicates it is not as cold hardy as broccoli???

Broccoli says soil temp of 40 degrees but cauliflower says soil temp of 50 in most of what I'm reading.

I'm trying to figure out when to start it in order to get a spring crop. Does anyone in Zone 6a do cauliflower? If so, any ideas??

Unfortunately I can't start my seedlings until the middle of February as I'm away from home until then so I'm working on what I will plant and when and getting anxious to start.

I'm also trying to do more succession plantings this year.

[applestar]

Your post prompted me to look for my last year' seed starting thread because I had first time success with cauliflowers last year... And it turns out I did have similar thoughts as yours and staggered broccoli and cauliflower starting -- with broccoli in early Feb and cauliflower around mid-Feb

should have checked before sowing BOTH broccoli and cauliflower.

> I mentioned planting the broccoli ahead of the cauliflower in this post about planting out the cauliflower last year, but didn't note when I planted the broccoli. There's a picture of how I covered the beds against the cabbage whites.
>> Looking at my garden log from last year, I planted broccoli on 4/8 and cauliflower on 4/17, covering both with insect netting on 4/17, but noted that the broccoli could have been planted earlier based on performance.
>>> one more link to a thread about harvesting the cauliflower last year

[rainbowgardener]

One thing I still have trouble with is managing the things that have teeny-tiny seeds like dust.

I started transplanting celery even though it doesn't have true leaves yet, just because it was so crowded in the cells. I planted 18 of them in individual cells, thinned about 50 of the least thriving, and probably still have 100 in the 9 little cells they were started in. I will let them do their survival of the fittest thing for awhile longer, then probably transplant another 18 and trash the rest. Seems so wasteful.

And I have hundreds of little coleus and tarragon seedlings started, that will need the same kind of treatment.

Incidentally the coleus, which is listed as 10 -20 days, sprouted in 4 and the (Russian) tarragon that is listed as 7-14, sprouted practically over night, maybe 2-3 days.

Any tips people have to avoid over planting the dust-like seeds?

[applestar]

I tried two methods last year.

• Pick Up with Moistened Tip •
- only take out as much seeds as intended to sow and spread on a plate
- dampen tip of bamboo skewer with water, barely touch the scattered seeds
- twist the tip on surface of the prepared (pre-moistened, filled and lightly tamped) seed starting container mix (no I can't see them either -- just trust that they are coming off )
-- the tip is now moistened from the mix so just repeat picking up and twisting off at 1/2" to 1" intervals -- or in my case, next soil microblock.

• Pick Up with Eyedropper •
- soaked seeds in water or weak tea few hours to overnight until the seeds sank
- used Eyedropper to mix up and then suck up water and seeds and then squeezed/dropped suspended seeds where I wanted to sow

Both methods worked fairly well though *typically* my personal "Murphy's Law of Gardening" applied even here and I ran out of seeds before completing the seed starting container.

[rainbowgardener]

Nice, thanks! I should have asked sooner!!

[skiingjeff]

Applestar, Thanks for getting back on the Cauliflower and Broccoli plantings. I plan to put cover over them to try and avoid the dreaded caterpillars as well.

If I read the threads correctly, your cauliflower did pretty well with the April planting. I have two Spring transplants planned for April 17th and the 25th so I'll continue along with the plan. I'm planting Snow Crown as well.

I hope to get a couple succession plantings in for the fall but will be planting Amazing and a purple one. I have transplants scheduled every two weeks from June through July. The purple is supposed to have lots of vitamins in it so it will be interesting to see how it tastes if we get it growing.

Based on everyone's comments on the threads it seems cauliflower can be harder than broccoli to get growing

I hope to get the broccoli out by mid March so it will hopefully not bolt like it did on us last year.

We love both veggies and really would like to get them fresh from our own garden!

Once we get going, I'll let you know how it worked out.

[rainbowgardener]

what zone are you in? I'm in zone 6 (A I think) and mid-March is my target date also, for getting the broccoli in the ground. Course it varies a bit depending on how the weather cooperates.

[skiingjeff]

I'm right on the border of 6a, so some years (probably like this one) we tend to be colder than others. I have a May 1st frost free date but last year we had frost problems until late May.

So this year I planned most of my crops for May 15th frost free.

I'm going to be a little late starting my broccoli since I'm away until next week. I was looking at your thread on broccoli plants and I'll be about a month behind your schedule.

[skiingjeff]

When "up potting" are you using more of a potting soil or the same starter mixture? Last year we started our seeds in the 3.5" pots and didn't transplant into any other container until they went into the ground.

We did this because it seemed we were constantly "up potting" something and wanted to eliminate some of the rework. But I'm wondering if everyone's using more of a potting soil when up potting if I'm hurting the little guys because they are staying in the starting mixture????

Any insights would be helpful

[rainbowgardener]

When I say up-potting, that is to the 3.5" pots. They stay in those until they go in the ground.

But I don't use seed starting mix, which is sterile, without nutrients. People use that because it is very fine textured. But it isn't necessary. When plants are in sterile mix then as soon as they have true leaves, you need to start providing nutrients or move them to regular potting mix. I avoid all that by just starting everything in regular potting mix. I make my own which is described in my sustainable potting mix thread:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 48&t=56511

So I start seeds in this, very crowded in little cells to conserve space, especially space on the heat mats. Once they have true leaves, they are moved to one per cell. When they outgrow that, they are moved to the 3.5" pots where they stay.

[rainbowgardener]

@skiingjeff : How did you post your spreadsheets? I wouldn't mind showing my much simpler version, but I don't know how to do it. I have it in dropbox, but that still doesn't give me anything like a link to it, not like having stuff in photobucket. Thanks, RBG

[skiingjeff]

@skiingjeff : How did you post your spreadsheets? I wouldn't mind showing my much simpler version, but I don't know how to do it. I have it in dropbox, but that still doesn't give me anything like a link to it, not like having stuff in photobucket. Thanks, RBG

I saved the spreadsheet as a PDF and then I took a "screen" print (picture) of each one. Then I used the attachment function in the Forum to browse for them on my computer and posted them.

It took me awhile to figure it out because the Forum wouldn't accept spreadsheet; then I tried the PDF and that wouldn't work; then I discovered the capability of screen printing in my PDF preview software.

I have a MACAIR laptop that I'm working from but I know that there is a screen print software for Microsoft products as well.

I hope this is helpful

[skiingjeff]

Thanks for the info on your up potting process RBG. I was using the Miracle Gro starting mix which has some fertilizer in it but figured that I was missing out on giving my plants some nutrients as we went along the way somewhere

I need to rethink my potting process. Thanks!

[imafan26]

I finally moved out some plants that have been on the bench since November and have some space. Now, I can pot up the kale seedlings. I started pulling the broccoli out to plant out the lettuce and pak choy. I am still getting side shoots from the rest of the broccoli. Pak choi and Romaine are harvestable. The meyer lemon is flowering now. Unfortunately with all of the rain, the weeds are monsters too. I am going to have to weed whack soon.

Yesterday, I planted a bun long taro (Chinese taro) and mioga. The mioga is still dormant but should be coming up in the next couple of months.

Now that I have temporarily more room on the bench I can start more seeds of green onions, nasturtiums, cilantro, parsley, lettuce, spinach, and more pak choi.

The night temperatures are still in the 60's and it is still raining every few days so I will have to wait a little while more before I plant the peppers.