2015 seed starting thread!

[imafan26]

When I have to cover my trays to keep the birds from eating the seeds. I put the knives under the pot. When the seedlings come out, then I put the knife/label in the pot and hope, I got the right one. Actually, I try not to put two different varieties of the same plant next to each other like different kinds of peppers. I would do instead one each of papaya, tomato, pepper, eggplant. They look different enough that I can usually tell what they are when they sprout. When they come out, then I can do other varieties.

[applestar]

I found the same thing about those knives. One thing -- cheaper plastic knives are shorter. Brand name, sturdier knives -- especially ones intended for "Dinner" are longer with better grip and balance that are completely unnecessary for using as labels. I prefer spoons anyway and they are usually shorter than knives -- cheaper ones of those are shorter as well.

I'm also using cut up Rice Milk carton panel covered with clear shipping tape. If you feel like spending a little time, aluminum foil ducting tape (not duct tape) folded twice makes a nice silver/reflective label. You can write with marker or write with pencil or pen for an embossed effect. I'm not feeling up to doing little fiddly work with the labels since I'm doing enough of that sort of thing with the seed bag germinating experiment, but I did like the effect last time I made labels with the tape.

I divided the Golden Self Blanching celery into individual K-cups. Last year, I started the celery seedlings in 3/4" micro cubes. That was actually easier to uppot into the K-cups -- It was difficult to handle the tiny seedlings a pinch at a time.... 1/2 of an ice cream sample "spoon" works well for K-cups, but I usually just write on the side of the container.

I got tired of it after 10 K-cups and divided the rest of the seedlings between two pudding cups:

-- I also divided the Peacock Purple Gene Pool Broccoli (I've no idea what this means but that's how they were calling these seeds at Fedco) that started out in one pudding cup community.

You can also see an onion bottom from yesterday's lunch being rooted in a K-cup. Once the roots start growing, I'll uppot it and put it out in the garage V-8 Nursery.

[applestar]

Waaah! With the rush of seedlings sprouting everywhere, I lost track of the lavender that I'd brought inside from cold stratification, and, unbeknownst to me, they had sprouted a few days ago while under humidity cover and lower down from the lights!

Hopefully they can still recover and I can put some more sandy mix around the hypocotyl to bury them after they get a little stronger and hopefully straighten up a little bit.....

...the lavender used to be back there where the black Echinacea seedling container is now...

[rainbowgardener]

I did the first potting up today - half of the broccoli seedlings are now in pots. I will get a pic for the broccoli seedling thread. The other half need to be and all the cabbage. I have to make up more potting mix to do all that, and I'm almost out of mushroom compost.....

I keep wondering when spring will be this year. We are within two weeks of when I have been planting in the ground other years and my garden is still deep in snow and ice. It went down to about zero last night, but looking at the forecast we have a big warm up coming and no more single digit temps. Weds will be 15 degrees and snowing though ...

[applestar]

Last night I was scrambling to get some sprouted seedlings in soilblocks, and posted this after midnight:
Subject: Starting pepper seeds >> spoon in zip bag germination

Tomato seeds love this. They demonstrated one objection I have with this kind of pre-germination method. I was busy yesterday and today -- this evening, came home to a mess of sprouted, cotyledons fully extended... MUST BE POTTED seedlings


This meant starting my first tray of 2" mini soil blocks

...I also already have three 8 miniblocks @ 2 1/2 gal rice milk containers of peppers and eggplants, another 4 and 6 miniblocks of tomatoes, plus one more block... 30 tomatoes in miniblocks and 17 peppers and eggplants.

I promised them I would find them a place under the lights in the morning, but I didn't wake until nearly 8AM and was too tired to play musical lights wih the seedlings, so here they are in temporary holding. They will be OK like this until I have to add mor soilblocks to this tray, since the desk light only covers these 20 blocks.

They'll get a little setting sun from the window too, when it's sunny -- it's NOT today...it is SNOWING

[NJ Bob]

March 1

Started today, 6-packs of:

3 banana pepper
1 bell pepper
1 eggplant

plus another round of:

1 mint
1 common chives
1 italian oregano

plus some up-potting of oregano and parsley

outside it's cold and icy, inside it's beautiful

[rainbowgardener]

March 1

Started today, 6-packs of:

3 banana pepper
1 bell pepper
1 eggplant

plus another round of:

1 mint
1 common chives
1 italian oregano

plus some up-potting of oregano and parsley

outside it's cold and icy, inside it's beautiful

Very nice!!

Don't you love it.... we have had piles of snow on the ground through most of February and now continuing in Mar and bitter cold some of that time. All my little seedlings under the lights keep me sane!

[River]

I just don't have enough room. The dining room table has served its purpose during the winter
Now I hope to transition my Tomatoe plants in the garage or outside depending on temps after this week. It's been cloudy and warm enough to start the hardening process except the rain today hammered them pretty good just bending them a bit.

I will be ready to repot the sweet banana and bell peppers pretty soon. This week I will plant 4 varieties of basil plus a few eggplants. After that I will start some marigolds and maybe nasturtiums for the beneficials. Who knows what after that

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, coming to spring and everything is going faster and getting crowded. I currently have 12 trays of seedlings and lots more stuff that needs to be spread out/ potted up. But I have no room for more until I replace the light fixture that exploded. I made up at least 10 gallons of my home made potting mix yesterday and used almost all of it up. Can't make more until I get more rice hulls. So far this season I have used about 4 lbs of rice hulls (a lot, they are very light), maybe 60 lbs of mushroom compost and 3 compressed bricks of coconut coir.

Planted nicotiana and borage yesterday. Potted up calendula and the rest of the cabbage and broccoli.

I think all the peppers and a lot of the tomato plants have been taken off the heat and spread out to one per cell.

I'll get a new pic of the broccoli which is growing fast since being potted up. After it went in pots it just sucked up water for the first week, to the point that I checked to be sure the tray wasn't leaking. I always make sure the potting mix is moistened before I plant things, so it wasn't that.

But there will be more room soon - a big warm up is coming, just ahead of spring. TOMORROW (!) four trays of cabbage and broccoli go out for the first time to start hardening. A little hard to believe since it is currently 15 degrees with snow all over everything. But the weather report says tomorrow it is going up to 41 degrees!!! (yay!!). So out they go. They will be coming in for the nights for awhile until they get more toughened up. But they will not go back under the lights.
And the kale will join them as soon as I can get it potted up. Then maybe celery, parsley .... Once all that cold weather stuff goes out, frees up a bunch of room under the lights.

[applestar]

Sounds good! I'm planning to start moving things out as of next week too. The plan is for the cold weather stuff to move out of the garage and tomato and potato seedlings to move out to the garage as soon as the garage temp stays above mid- to uppper-40's °F during the night. It will also be easier to take them out to harden from the garage doors. (I envy folks with patio door walk out basement grow rooms!)

I posted latest pictures in this new thread for my garden progress
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 79&t=61064

[rainbowgardener]

So it is 42 degrees and sunny out. I brought out the four trays of cabbage and broccoli about 2 PM. I have somewhere to be at 6 PM and will bring them back in before I leave, so just a few hours taste of sunshine and fresh air. See how they do with that.

Yay!! Plants outdoors!

[rainbowgardener]

The four trays of cabbage and broccoli went back outside this afternoon, along with a tray of kale that just got potted up. With the time change, it is currently 7:30 PM and still light and 45 wonderful degrees. All the trays of plants can stay out until I am going to bed and then I will bring them back in.

Yay!! spring!

2015-03-08 14.18.29.jpg (53.54 KiB) Viewed 711 times

you can just see in the background that even with two warm days, all the snow is not gone yet.

[rainbowgardener]

It's on! Four trays went out the first time, five trays went out yesterday, six trays will be going out today, including a tray of cilantro I just potted up. More to come as quick as I can keep making potting mix and potting things up. They are going out longer hours each day.

[applestar]

You are inspiring me to take mine outside, too, even though at first glance, it's still all white out in my back yard... Forecast high is 53°F!

[applestar]

[rainbowgardener]

Mine stayed out all night last night! Now it is raining and supposed to rain all day (which should get rid of the last of the snow hanging around). I got them all moved from the solid trays in to web trays so they don't drown in the rain.

[Lindsaylew82]

My seedlings are a little leggy...

They are hardening off in the 60's and 70's weather we've been having. They are tolerating it well, I just worry about transplanting with their skinny stems.

[applestar]

If they are tomatoes, put more damp potting mix up around the stems right now. They'll grow more roots. I'm actually using sand/DE (UltraSor) mix around the stems of seedlings hoping to keep them drier.

With tomatoes, you can bury the stems as much as you want. Cabbage and lettuce can be buried up to their true leaves. Peppers are said to be fussy, though I bury them a little when I uppot.

[rainbowgardener]

yeah, Lindsay, it always helps to say what kind of seedlings you are talking about; different plants have such different needs.

Your seedlings are looking great, applestar!

I am up to eight trays of seedlings outdoors now, having potted up a tray of parsley and one of celery. It's a very overcast day today, good for putting new things out.

[Lindsaylew82]

These are brassicas and lettuces. I haven't started tomatoes yet. Definitely on the to-do list for this weekend.....along with sooooooooooooo many other things!

[Lindsaylew82]

OH! I meant to mention also, I bottom watered them with dirty fish tank water, and they really seemed to like that! Bonus use of otherwise wasted water!

[applestar]

I need to start some lettuce! I have 24 micro soilblocks ready to plant here. Just need to decide which to start with. Friend sent me a HUGE selection of sample lettuce seeds to try....

Here are "some" of them

[Meatburner]

Lindsay, what a great idea! Thanks for the tip.

[applestar]

I started some peas

This year, I'm pre-germinating them, sowing the germinated ones in 2" mini soilblocks, then planting the little plants (hopefully at 2-4") in the garden. Yes, lots of little fiddling around, but I'm hoping for a solid stand of peas, not patchy empty spots, AND to defeat the chipmunks that dig up and gobble up the pea seeds just as soon as I poke them into the ground.

I started soaking them on 3/17 just before going to bed.
I drained and rinsed twice around 8 hrs later, draing well
and repeated the rinse 2x and drain process at dinner time
and bedtime yesterday.

This morning, Mammoth Melting Sugar and Golden Sweet are ready to sow

Marrowfat could wait until later this afternoon, and Green Arrow has one or two germinated peas, but could wait until tomorrow, hopefully when Knight will also be ready, but the first two will have to be taken care of right away. Those little roots will be 3/4" and curling -- hooking onto each other and generally being a nuisance, and needing extra care not to break -- most likely by tonight and definitely by tomorrow morning.

[applestar]

As usual I crammed the soilblocks in the tray. I'll separate them later.
...I remembered to take a picture of the Marrowfat peas BEFORE covering them with soil mix slurry...

Maybe I'll try doubling up some of the Green Arrow and the Knight peas in each soilblock tomorrow.... Would NOT be able to do that with the Marrowfat peas -- look how BIG they are!

Here's a comparison of the germinated peas yesterday morning and evening (approx. 12 hrs difference) I was kind of worried about the way Green Arrow germinated so much during the afternoon, so I put them all in the fridge for the night to slow them down.


Just for fun, I took another picture of the peas this morning. As I suspected, Green Arrow is ready to sow. If I had been smart, I would have left just the Knight zip bag out of the fridge so they could catch up... But I didn't think of it last night.


-- you can see some germinated (none of the leftover Marrowfat peas had germinated yet last night, though the extra long root in today's photo must have been growing under its skin), and the already germinated roots grew some more overnight. But it's curious that Knight didn't progress as much as the others.

[applestar]

So, how are everyone's seedlings doing?

I'm a bit annoyed with myself because some of my beautiful seedlings are looking a bit tattered after some sunburns and frost burns -- yeah both have happened. These are cold weather early spring crops, but the weather is NOT cooperating to plant them out.

The damage happened because I haven't micromanaged them sufficiently. We've had plunges down to LOW 20's. Even this evening around 8:30-9PM, I looked at the remote sensor base station for the patio and it said 26°F Ugh!

Quick bring the cauliflower and the still new to hardening young seedlings back in! They were in covered containers but I know they won't last the night out there. The condensation inside the cauliflower container had already frozen I took the two containers in the garage and then realized I'd forgotten to take the broccoli tray outside today and they'd spent the entire day in the rather dim part of the garage....

I have a large clear storage tote out there with a bunch of cabbage, Swiss chard, spinach... ETC. seedlings. Other than clamping the lid shut when in the 20's and opening to offset or entirely depending on the weather, I have been leaving them to survive... And they have.

The four cabbage seedlings planted in the patio windowbox looked frost burned this morning, but alive. I put hot caps (cut off bottle and jug top) on three of them and left one uncovered to see if that would make a difference. (The soilmix in the windowboxes were frozen this morning....)

[NJ Bob]

I got peppers, tomatoes & eggplant under the lights now and it's a beautiful thing!

[sweetiepie]

It keeps snowing here, and temps are cold and it is windy. I was trying to move some housepalnts to the porch (It is enclosed and has lots of windows. But not insulated.) Temps out there are in the 20's and even if I leave the door open to the living room, the highs are in the 50's. The house plants were not looking so good even when I brought them back in at night. So basically can't use that room yet. I really need too.

This is only my second year starting seeds indoors and I may have gotten a little crazy because I don't have enough lights, now that I am transplanting. My germination tests were poor on some of the pepper seeds, so I planted a little thicker and of course they all came up in the dirt.

I only have onions, peppers, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, and oregano planted. In a couple weeks, I would like to start the tomatoes.

I have taken over my daughters room because she has east and south windows and today moved some transplants to the attic windows. My windows downstairs are full of Christmas cactus.

So here is hoping it warms up soon, so I can use the porch soon. By the way I love the way you gardeners share what you are doing. I often wish for a like button on this forum!

[applestar]

If they have sprouted, I think onions, thyme, rosemary, and oregano seedlings could go out to the porch if it's sunny. Maybe bring them inside for the night temp is going down below mid-20's. Maybe not that much space saving, but every little bit helps.

What kind of "houseplants" do you have? Some may survive the porch temps if allowed to go dormant. (Will "look" terrible but will come back once it's warm enough.) -- maybe start a new thread in Container Gardening a Forum

[Rairdog]

Mine are doing pretty good. Some slight yellowing in my peppers. It gets down to mid 50's in GH so they don't like that I'm sure. The AP beds are kicking butt...10 days from transplanting

[NJ Bob]

I'm envious of your space!

[sweetiepie]

If they have sprouted, I think onions, thyme, rosemary, and oregano seedlings could go out to the porch if it's sunny. Maybe bring them inside for the night temp is going down below mid-20's. Maybe not that much space saving, but every little bit helps.

What kind of "houseplants" do you have? Some may survive the porch temps if allowed to go dormant. (Will "look" terrible but will come back once it's warm enough.) -- maybe start a new thread in Container Gardening a Forum

The Houseplants are several kinds of Christmas Cactus and lots of their babies, some aren't so little anymore and Aloe Vera. The Cactus seems ok, with it as long as it comes back in. But the Aloe is looking tough.

I think you are right about the seedlings probaly doing better out there. I got more potting soil, so the next bunch of transplants will have to go out there. It can 't stay winter forever.

[sonia4evers]

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to start seeds for a purple empress tree and I found a couple different sources with different steps on how to do this.

One says to start by soaking for 6 hours (gardenguide.com), while another says to stratify for 2 weeks (eHow). Both then go on to say sow in a pot and germinate indoors before planting outdoors.

I guess in one way or another each will soak but does it matter which way/how long I go about it?

Thanks in advance!

Sonia

[NJ Bob]

I don't have a clue about the type of tree you're trying to start. The fun part for me in all of this though is the personal experimentation. If it was me I'd try both ways.

[sonia4evers]

Thats a great idea, I have more than enough seeds to do that. Thanks!

[Lindsaylew82]

My lettuce got wiped out by some type of fungus. It just kind of melted. Right in the tray...which I haven't planted....yet. I'll do it tomorrow.... Probably (probably not)... Garden isn't ready to plant yet.

I need to feed the rest!

I'm gonna have to buy starts for my hot weather plants. I still have time for seedlings I guess! Late start! I got my hands full!

That was 3 weeks ago.

That's today.