Finally! Off to a haphazard start for the 2014 season

[applestar]

at 1:15 in the morning?

how long did it take for you? Mine started sprouting on the 14th day.

Couldn't sleep -- and remembered I didn't report about celery.

It was 8 days.

[applestar]

Leeks: they were sown a little too densely -- I was unsure of germination since these were collected in 2012.

Leek seedlings in 4" pot

[applestar]

Swiss chard "Feurio" sprouted. All sprouted cold hardy seedlings are moved out to the garage v8 nursery. (Not celery or MMM)

Re-seeded microblocks of broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi that didn't sprout. (Sprouted ones were moved out to v8n)

Wintersowed
• Cabbage, Late Flat Dutch
• Cabbage, Red Acre (old commercial seeds from 2009)
• Onion, Red Whethersfield (collected seeds 2010)
• Spinach, Tyee hybrid
• Tatsoi

...not sure if Tatsoi is as cold/frost/freeze hardy as others...
-- Not an issue for germination which is supposed to occur "naturally" but for later after they germinate in their cozy little micro greenhouse containers. Still new to wintersowing and am unsure of what happens if they germinate in the warmth of the enclosed environment then we get a sudden freeze or something.

Also started parsley root Fakir above WWL light fixture.

[applestar]

Started pepper seeds on 2/20 as mentioned in the 2014 pepper variety thread
Recycled k-cups with filters (could be a mistake -- we'll see) 2 keurig-punched holes on the bottom and two Xcto knife slits on the side. Placed in vented clear salad container on the heat mat in WP and double covered for extra warmth.
• AJI CRISTAL
• ANAHEIM M
• BOLIVIAN RAINBOW
• Cuneo yellow bell
• Donkey Ears
• Purple Beauty
• Ramiro sweet pepper
• SIVRI BIBER
• TOBAGO SEASONING
• Corno di Toro Red [xtra]
• Peppadew or Scotch Bonnet Red [from unlabeled fruit]

Spinach and Swiss chard as usual is giving me problems.... (too warm?)
I have maybe 3 or 4 cardinal chard seedlings with true leaves growing. Leeks are growing well and stood up overnight -- I had to get them off their risers so they won't be touching the light.

Some of those little babies I moved out to the garage got socked by sudden chill in the 20's last week or something and they stunted and then died. So I re-seeded the yoi choi sum and the Swiss chard Feurio. Apple mint and stevia are not coming up -- gave up on those and sowed some flower seeds today.

Except for the blue angel salvia, these are my first try with impatiens, petunia, and balsam. Also started eggplants. I brought the lavender inside to hopefully germinate.

SALVIA BLUE ANGEL (microblocks in fridge for two weeks )

microblocks in Chinese food tray on heatmat
• Eggplant Orient Express (Ellie)
• BALSAM DOUBLE CAMELIA MIX
• IMPATIENS ACCENT STAR MIX (F1)
• PETUNIA DOLCE FLAMBE

[applestar]

TODAY is the day I will start/drop tomato seeds this year

Last night's armchair noodling has yielded a viable plan, so here is my map for six 20 microblocks -- that's 2 to a Chinese take out tray so only three trays, but actually 120 seedlings if they all grow....

ML01-ML20 which are the varieties reputed to be smack dab "mid season" will be started in the next round so I can compare their DTM's

...funny how posting makes you review your plan one more time. I made a few changes since I first posted, and finished the 4th tray map. I think I will just start the two trays of four 20 microblocks (compacts, dwarfs, extra earlies, and very lates) today.

The plan is to ONLY sow one seed per microblock. I won't re-seed if no germination or seedling failure. Hopefully this process of "natural selection" will decide which of these "absolutely cannot leave off the list" varieties will actually make it to this summer's tomato garden.
...wish me luck

[applestar]

WINTER PARADISE (not closing the front flap this winter because the banana tree is in front of it needing as much light from the shelf lights as possible)

Peppers in k-cups inside salad container, Flowers and two trays of tomato microblocks in Chinese food takeout trays. I decided last year that peppers take too long to sprout and it's too difficult to keep the microblocks from being too soggy but not dry out so I'm trying community sowing the peppers in the k-cups. Once they germinate and get growing, I can unblock them into 2" mini blocks. I checked on them a little while ago and Balsams are starting to germinate (I may have started them too early....)

Peppers, flowers, and tomatoes on heat mat.

Celery tray not getting the best light and the seedlings are stretched out, but they can be planted deep when they are uppotted into filter less k-cups.

Celery seedlings

GARAGE V8 NURSERY

Overview of happy leeks, seedleaf broccoli/cauliflower/kohlrabi, and pak choi/kale/chard with true leaves at far end

V8 Nursery

Slow growing brassica microblocks and lettuce community k-cups. Feurio Swiss chard to the left

You can see the front community pot seedlings died. I started covering the front of the shelves with a plastic sheeting and that seems to be helping now. Last couple of years, I covered the front of the shelves with Mylar covered foam windshield reflector but I have overwintering rosemary, jalapeño, citrus, and fig in front of these shelves making use of the the lights this year

Red pak choi, dwarf scotch blue kale, Cardinal chard

[applestar]

Two more days until I can plant the main tomato garden seeds....

...I couldn't help myself... Sowed another batch of cold weather leafies seeds in a plastic egg case:
Onion Evergreen Long White Bunching
• Spinach Tyee F1
• Swiss chard Ford Hook
• Mesclun (lettuce, arugula, radicchio)
• Swiss chard Rainbow (5 color silver beet)

This group will sit in the upstairs bedroom in upper 60's lower 70's room temp.

...also sowed 16 saved Roselle seeds from 2012. Nine out of the sixteen sank in the weak coffee pre-soak, so we shall see if that is a good indicator of viable Roselle seeds. After saying I intended to sow them in the above mentioned egg case and contemplating sowing them in 2" mini soil blocks, decided instead to sow them in microblocks. No more room on the heat mat so the little aluminum pan for these went on top of the two-tube 24" HO T-5 fixture in the Winter Paradise.

Did I mention that I'm putting all the microblocks on a layer of wet sand this year? I should post photos.... Oh! The celery seedling and brassica seedling photos in the previous post show examples.

...7 balsam and 3 petunia microblocks sprouted and have been moved to a brighter location. I can't keep them on the heat mat but am keeping a loose cover on to ease the transition. Anaheim and peppadew/scotch bonnet seedlings are up already and their k-cups have been moved out of the germination chamber.

[applestar]

LAVENDER seedlings are starting to pop UP

...also more petunia and re seeded Feurio Swiss chard, lettuce, yoi choi sum

Not sure what's wrong with the broccoli, etc. but reseeded ones won't come up still. Maybe sign that I have sufficient and should concentrate on other stuff.

Anaheim was saved seeds from 2011 grow out so I sowed extra.... They're going bonkers!

Feurio hypocotyls in the k-cup on the left. And -- oh BTW -- the succulent at the very left of the photo was given to me as a single leaf "cutting" last May. Can't believe how much it grew from just that one itty bitty leaf

...BTW2 do you see how SAD the pineapples in the foreground and the background look? I had them in these shelves dubbed "Winter Paradise" last year and they did very well. But this year, I don't have the front flap closed as explained above. So I think it's gets too cold here -- downstairs near the front door by the NW window.

Look at how happy the bigger pots of pineapple upstairs in the SE window are:

Upstairs pineapple jungle with lemongrass and poinsettia

[applestar]

Take a look at these four egg cells of mesclun seeds from yesterday (uploading at full size for clarity -- tap/click for magnified view)

Sprouting seeds

Is it just me or are these fascinating? Even the seeds that haven't quite germinated look fully swollen and ready to "pop"

They seem to like this little light for germinating -- one of a set of IKEA lights that I never got around to mounting on top of the wardrobe.... The egg case is occupying the space normally reserved for my bedtime mug of herbal tea.... LOL But it DOES make it easy to peek at them now and then to see how they are doing

The light is not nearly bright enough for them to grow after they sprout, so they'll be moving out soon.

[applestar]

Hm... I said the light isn't bright enough, but these -- I assume arugula though they could be radicchio -- are doing pretty well so far....

Seedlings under IKEA wardrobe light

I thought I'd post about the balsams I upblocked today:

Roots have outgrown the microblocks -- extending into the moist sand below

Getting ready to gently push the extended roots and the micro block rootball in the cubic hole made by the mini soilblocker insert:

Tomato seedlings have started to sprout. Plastic wrap has been cut apart to keep the rest of the microblocks covered.

First to sprout tomato seedlings.

image.jpg (19.5 KiB) Viewed 3336 times

Haphazard seedlings crowding under the lights

Balsam microblocks used to be in the covered round aluminum pan to the right -- now just holding sprouted petunia seedlings. Will put impatiens in there too -- they are just starting to sprout.

Uppotted celery micro blocks in used K-cups -- 5 with filters intact and 7 with filters removed to see if there is any difference. (...filter may lock up N... Filter limits volume to 2/3 to 3/4 of filterless K-cups... Filter will raise bottom so soil mix won't sit in water in drip pan.... Better or worse?)

Uppotted Tango celery seedlings

Went to visit MIL yesterday -- she had tomato seedlings started and gave me some to take home she uses an interesting technique of double and triple potting -- the smaller nursery pot is slipped inside a quart soup container with holes, which in turn is slipped inside a quart container without holes and she has excess water barely touching the bottom of the nursery pot. These were in her kitchen and bedroom windows -- NO SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTS. (I think they are looking pretty good -- She DOES move them from window to window with kitchen facing one side of the house and bedroom facing the opposite side.). I believe the multi-pot must heat up the soil quite bit while they are in the sun, and the extra water that is trapped in the bottom evaporate, condense, and drip back down to keep the soil moist even when the water is not touching the pot with the seedlings planted in it.

[Cola82]

Very much enjoying watching your garden progress. Glad I'm not the only haphazard indoor gardener.

Don't feel bad about holding off on tomatoes. Mine are running rampant, getting huge, and it was sunny the other day so I started putting some outside to harden off, and, WHAT OH NO RAIN FOREVER. Rain for the rest of the week. Temperatures falling again. Augh. Augh Augh Augh.

If only I'd been patient.

[applestar]

Thanks, Cola I love seeing how everyone else's seed starting is coming along, too. There's always an idea or two that inspires me to tweak things here and there.

...I did end up sowing the 80 main tomato garden microblocks -- two Chinese food take out trays. These microblocks take up so little room that initially, it feels like I could start a lot more. I don't really have room of the heat mat until I re-organize a bit, so I put the plastic wrap and lid covered trays inside a large clear bakery clamshell box.and set it on a low table above the vent in an upstairs bedroom. With the snowstorm coming, the heat should stay on for a while.

[applestar]

Lost one of two Chibikko and one of two Prudens Purple tomato seedlings as well as a lavender seedling to damping off.

I know it's was from Saturday when we were going out so even though I saw that they had sprouted at morning inspection, I didn't take the plastic wrap cover off of them -- by the time we got home, the plastic wrap was draping heavily with condensation.

REMINDER TO SELF -- check the seedlings at least twice daily and take the cover off any that have sprouted.
I should know better.

oh! I should keep some toothpicks there to lift the covers up from potential sprouters

...I promised myself that I won't replace failed tomato microblocks, but I'm thinking of drenching them with peroxide then sowing basil and dill and see if they make it. Damping off is pretty potent and universal so maybe not.

[Ohio Tiller]

As cold as our winter has been I just can't bring myself to start yet. I guess I will get the lights set up this week. The weather man said we are going to se 40 degree weather next week So I guess it is time to get them started. I got a new small green house this year so I am looking forward to seeing how much I can get going in it when it warms up!

[applestar]

It seemed like as soon as I took the plastic coveres off and switched to plastic wrap only, the tomato seeds slowed down. Looking back at last year's records, I realized I moved the sprouted seedlings out of "germinating" trays to "growing" trays. As stated earlier, the WP germinating area is cooler than last year, too, due to the front flap being left open.

So I moved the ten germinated seedlings to their own tray and closed up the germinating tray again. Hopefully, I'll see some seedlings have sprouted this morning.

Sprouted tomato seedlings so far:

Map of Sprouted tomato seedlings in new "growing" tray

I put Rainbow Dwarf on the non-dwarf side because it wasn't very "dwarfy" in growth this winter. But I'll move it to the compact/dwarf side if it is obviously different from the regulars. Eventually, the dwarfs will be in their own tray and I may even have to segregate the compacts because their growth rates are dramatically shorter compared to the familiar tomato seedlings and will affect how far up to raise to the light.

I also took the plastic wrap off the three little lavender seedlings. The rest of the seeds rewarded me for the good move by sprouting some more . But one has succumbed to damping off for sure

Lavender seedlings

[applestar]

OhioTiller - if your warm set up isn't ready, start with the cool tolerant crops. My unheated garage "V8 Nursery" where I have the 3-tube t-12 and 4-tube t-8 lights is too cold still to put the tomato seedlings out there (35.8°F ATM) but as the tomato seedlings grow up, I will have to move out the cold tolerant seedlings to make room.... Anything that requires 50's and above will need to stay inside.

[applestar]

Sprouted and transferred to growing tray tomato seedlings so far. It's a pretty nice assortment already

...Very slow to germinate. I think it's because overall, house temp has been much colder this winter and I don't have a thermostat regulated germinating system. I'm noticing more sprouted on days that have been warmer (like today )


I've replaced removed microblocks with new microblocks of basil and marigold seeds.

[applestar]

Berkeley Tie-dye [heart] and a basil microblock germinated today.

Brought out the Salvia Blue Angel out of the cold strat fridge. Hopefully, they will be more willing to germinate in the cooler room temp than the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and impatiens. (balsam BTW are growing way too eagerly ). Celery and petunia seedlings are doing well.

Upblocked the brassicas that have been sulking with only seed leaves in the garage all this time. Maybe they just need a good shot of nutrients. Tomorrow, I have to upblock the first to germinate Stump of the World tomato seedling which is outgrowing the microblock and sending a taproot out along the moist sand.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, your brassicas have been sulking. Mine which have been going in and out and in and out all this time, are sturdy transplant size plants with six true leaves. They could go in the ground as soon as they are hardened off enough and I have some ground ready for them. Tonight and tomorrow night they will stay out all night, but Wed it goes down to 15 deg and I will bring them back in -- with any luck for the last time.

[Cola82]

Yeah, gettin' real tired of this roller-coaster weather.

[applestar]

Hang in there, Cola

The brassicas are already sending up true leaves.
One Roselle that sprouted shriveled up (too late removing the plastic film cover) but another one is germinating.... Saved marigold seeds and basil from last summer are very lively and are popping up almost as soon as I sow them in miniblocks to replace sprouted tomatoes.

I have GOT to upblock some of those earlier sprouted tomato seedlings today -- am going to try making my own block maker that can set the microblocks deeper if I can.

I mentioned in another thread that I went outside and pottered around yesterday, cleaning up a bit, and rebuilt the compost pile. First look around to assess where to plant what this season, and what's needed. It's also time to prune apple and pear trees outside. Busy early spring season is unfolding.

[applestar]

Since last fall, I have been using paper -- newsprint type typically used for packing -- to line bottoms of my containers (to keep soil mix from falling out) and also have used k-cups without removing filters. I think the slow growth and stunted growth I'm seeing is due to nitrogen lock up in the area especially when the feeder roots grow up to the paper. Repotting/uppotting in fresh growing mix or heavily fertilizing once to kick them back into growth seems to be working.

Lining the container with paper worked perfectly fine last spring when the containers were going out for the season -- I think because the direct contact with the soil meant the earthworms etc. moved right in and started breaking down the paper right away. But I think I won't be doing this for indoor and isolated from the ground containers any more.

...

I couldn't help myself -- I re-seeded some of the tomato seed microblocks 3 days ago
Most of the compact/micro and dwarf tray that I put on the TV DVR box in the entertainment cabinet are sprouting. . Oh. Just checked and the other trays I put in a salad container on top of the TV box upstairs are sprouting in a smattering kind of way too. Yep. Constant warm temp is definitely a key factor.

Hmmm... for people who practice lunar planting cycles, does the impending full moon explain the 3 day germination?

...

Ladybug patrolling the pepoer seedlings

[applestar]

I love seeing the seedlings pop up like this
These are some of the re-seeded tomatoes

Tap/click for close up of the sprouting seedlings

Here's the map in case anyone is interested

[applestar]

Tomatoes!

image.jpg (43.12 KiB) Viewed 3063 times

...really good germination within 3-4 days for the 2nd try tomato seeds so I think the previous batch was gardener error -in judgment among other factors but- controlled temperature being most likely as I mentioned above. Another slight possibility for the previous failure which I want to explore at some point is that I tried spraying hydrogen peroxide when some of those showed signs of mold.

I'm finding recycled K-cups perfect size for celery starts. These are a little limp from needing a bit more light and lack of fan activity which I need to set up.

Adding photo of the cool weather early greens in the garage V8 Nursery. Found some aphids on them today so I woke up some ladybugs from the fridge.

[applestar]

Reorganized the sprouted tomato microblocks. I have a pair of tongs of exact width to hold the microblock and I was intent on carefully positioning and lifting a microblock out from among others when one DD asked me something so I shushed her. She looked to see what I was doing and said -- " Oh! are you playing 'Operation' ?"
___ETA___ These are a bit more stretched out than I consider ideal -- a problem due to the haphazard set up this year. But you can see they have colored up nicely and look pretty sturdy. Ordinarily, planting deep to just below the seed leaves when uppotting would make up for it. The one very pale seedling in the front left corner is a Brazilian Beauty seedling that was discovered in the unlit germination salad container atop the TV box 8 hrs too late. Very weak looking in this photo immediately after transferring, but it was hard to see the difference after 12 hrs under the lights and overnight uncovered in the cooler air___

Upblocked some:

Eclectic mix of other seedlings... Upblocked overgrown microblocks -- their roots had grown 2-3 microblocks over and neighboring seedlings were getting stunted -- in some home made soil blocks that lets me drop the microblocks down an extra deep deep hole

...one issue I have with these soilblocks is that I can't plant them up to the seed leaves when I upblock the first time. But the soilblocks are designed to make them grow concentrated root system inside the 2x2x2 cubic space, and after they outgrow the miniblocks, I will put them in the bottom of a deep cup. last year I used 18-20 oz beverage cups, and they will have chance to grow some serious roots along the stems.

[baileysup]

This makes me happy! Thanks for all the great posts applestar, and rainbowgardener It's exciting to see all of the seedlings coming up, and getting ready for spring!

[lexusnexus]

We're expecting more s*^& (grrr) next week. Enough already!

[applestar]

Yeah, but daytime high will be in the 40's or above for the most part, and above mid-20's overnight lows. So, I'm going to start hardening off my cold leafies (lettuce, Swiss chard, etc.)

Also to note -- yesterday when I checked (since a few days), the gallon jug wintersown tatsoi and at least one of the cabbages had started to sprout so I moved the jug out of the sheltered front porch to the front of the garage where it will get some sun and removed the cap. -- I hope that was the correct thing to do. I have very little experience with wintersowing.

[applestar]

Looks like this right now:

...I may have been late opening the cap. I think I see some signs of dampening off. I'm not surprised there's no sign of the Red Wethersfield because they were old seeds from 2011 or so and I believe onion seeds don't keep well.

[applestar]

This makes me happy! Thanks for all the great posts applestar, and rainbowgardener It's exciting to see all of the seedlings coming up, and getting ready for spring!

Thanks for the positive comment! I appreciate hearing that people are enjoying my ramblings.... . What I like to do is try to do things so you could see that anyone could garden (I sound like that chef in Ratatouille ... ). You don't have to have special equipment or professional set up. But I like to try things using all kinds of available tools in between to see what degree of set up is minimally necessary and how much you can get away without.

Good luck with your garden, too.

[applestar]

First time growing Lavender angustifolia seedlings, and the gorgeous Bolivian Rainbow pepper seedling

[Cola82]

Huh, I've been wondering if I should start the lavender seeds indoors. Is that a good way to do it?

[rainbowgardener]

I think so, just because lavender is very slow to get started. It benefits from cold stratifying - planting and then refrigerating for three weeks. Then it needs heat and light for germination and takes 2-3 weeks to germinate. And then the little seedling is very slow growing.

I think it is hard to provide the appropriate conditions of warmth, moisture, etc for as long as is needed, if you plant the seed outdoors.

By the end of my season, the lavender will still be a seedling, maybe 6" tall. Then it goes dormant and then in the second year it will turn in to a real plant.

applestar, your lavender looks quite healthy. When did you plant it?

[applestar]

Glad to hear that, thanks! I wish more of them had sprouted, but I'll take what I got. There are two seedlings in the picture and a third smaller one hidden behind the sidewall of the berry container.

My lavender notes:
Lavender English Munstead
02/05/14 1pt berry container V8 (unheated garage) to stratify until 2/23
2/23 top of octarium (indoor - room temp)
2/27 added plastic wrap/moved to WP (indoor plant shelves) above 30"T-5 fixture for extra heat
02/28/14 first sprouted 23d from sowing

I did sow a good number of seeds -- maybe 24 or so? There were three more that sprouted but died.

I'm thinking of trying to propagate some branch cuttings from the existing plant outside --- I've vague memory that I should have done that back in February though... or was that the schedule for root cuttings?

[applestar]

Upblocked 50 more tomato seedlings to 2" mini soilblocks (well I think one of them was a marigold and a few eggplants, too )

Some of them -mostly ones that germinated 3/16- had massive roots already, so a little late. But they are mostly still in seed leaves -- I was initially only going to upblock the ones with true leaves, but it occurred to me to try lifting a few of the earliest ones. It seems like they have been growing more roots than tops -- I'm thinking probably because of the lower overall growing temperatures.

The cut-off top of a vitamin bottle works great for adding a little extra soil mix after pushing the microblocks in the hole.

Maps of growing tomato seedlings so far (the miniblock map would normally be scaled up, but I wanted to get them all on one page)

[applestar]

I was just looking at last year's thread to compare
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 50#p291650

-- yeah, a big difference... But last year, I was struggling with huge plants that had to be shuttled out and in towards the end, so maybe this will work out better. Not many super early harvests this year though, I guess.

[applestar]

This is what happens if you give up on a tray of seeds and leave them in a salad box germination chamber atop a TV box without checking for three days in a dimly lit bedroom because you are too busy to watch TV

3 day old sprouted/neglected seedling

...trouble is, this one turned out to be a Faelan's First Snow -- a variegated Cherokee Purple segregate that I particularly wanted to grow every sprouted seedling because the level of expressed variegation is quite variable between plants.

-- so --

Faelan's First Snow -- will it make it?

-- and after 4 hours under the lights --

It's greening up a bit :)

[rainbowgardener]

beautiful job of saving the tiny seedling!

I got busy and managed to not water all the seedlings under the lights for something like 36 hrs. Most of it was fine but the stuff on the heating pads that dries out faster was totally dried out and some of it was all collapsed from wilting. I watered everything from the bottom and the top to rewet the soil and almost all of it came right back.

[applestar]

Haven't talked much about my other peppers because they have been failing to germinate -- most likely too cold since last year's successful germination took place in 80°-85°F conditions which was not happening this year. . I re-seeded Cuneo and Aji Crystal just one more time. Donkey Ears germinated after the 2nd seeding. But I'm out of three of the unsprouted variety seeds. I'll keep them in the germination chamber on the heat mat, but I'm not hopeful.

Here are my pepper seedlings so far:

Anaheim peppers

Up/Repotted peppers and the recovering Faelan's First Snow

Those Anaheims did sprout from the initial early sowing and are farthest along, already growing roots out of the 2" miniblocks.

I removed the filter paper from the K-cups and re-potted the little peppers yesterday. If you look closely, the rescued Farlan's First Snow is lined up with the little pepper seedlings.

My conclusion about the re-purposed K-cups is that you definitely need to remove the filter paper before repurposing the K-cups because the soil mix is suspended in the filter paper inside the K-cup holding only about 2/3 of the total volume, and these had barely started to break down. The pepper roots had entangled in the filter paper or penetrated depending on their root vigor -- Anaheims have vigorous taproots. I lost some precious roots until I figured out that the trick is to trim the filter paper off the cups along the edge first.

I'm going to have to deal with the celery seedlings in w/filter K-cups at some point.

[applestar]

More updates -- please feel free to comment if you think of something or have constructive criticism because I'm always looking for ways to improve techniques.

Wintersown gallon jug -- took a peek today and the spinach row has started to sprout!

Wintersown apple cider gallon jug