2016 -- starting seeds and cuttings for the new season

[applestar]

Sometime last fall, we bought some HUGE Asian pears that were packaged in clear clamshell package kind of like egg cartons except much bigger. They were delicious and I thought it might be fun to see if I could grow them from seeds, so I pushed them into a pot on the patio outside that had become vacant in the winter freeze

L:Today,nI noticed they had sprouted

R: A trifoliate orange "flying dragon" seedling had sprouted inside, but I think it will be Ok outside

[applestar]

Here's an example of how the peas pre-sprouted in the clear egg cartons turned out. I planted all of the rest today since for the last three or four days, they were needing twice daily care to make sure they didn't get dried out in the sun or drowned when it rained. I'll post elsewhere with more details about how I'm planting them this year.

[imafan26]

I went to the garden today to drop off three more trays of seedlings. Someone had turned my sprinklers off and half the bench looks really bad. Peppers, fennel, kale, thai basil that was ready for the sale next week probably won't make it. I watered the plants and hoped for the best. I guess I will find out tomorrow what will come back. I transplanted more dill and I potted up some spearmint. I forgot to take my miracle grow sprayer with me so I will have to remember to do it tomorrow. Just as well, it would not have made sense to water dead peppers anyway. I was hoping to pot more of the peppers up, but I may be cleaning the bench instead. There is nothing more I can do about it anyway. I'll just have to plant more seeds for next month. I may be able to get more quick cutting of spearmint and maybe some daylilies potted up. They root fast so they may be ready for the sale.

I have another broccoli head to pick and another one that is starting to bloom already. I waited so long for them and now, I can't get to them fast enough. I picked another handfull of greenbeans, and the cherry tomatoes are falling off the vine. I haven't had time to get to them either, and it requires some acrobatics to get to some of them since the broccoli is behind the beets and the komatsuna, tatsoi, and cucumber are in front of the tomatoes which decided it liked to sprawl on the ground instead of climb the trellis.

I have to make some room in the garden soon for the lettuce and bok choy, and pot up the peppers.

Today was my green day and the cans were empty! I haven't had the time or energy to work on my own yard. I did actually pull a 5 gallon bucket of nut sedge but that went in the garbage not the greenwaste can.

[applestar]

Wow, what a bummer about the dried out plants.

[imafan26]

Yeah. Apparently they worked on an irrigation valve on Wednesday. But, the timer was set for 0 minutes and nobody knows who messed with it. There would not be any reason to touch the timer if they work on the irrigation system, and really no reason to change the program.

[applestar]

Last minute addition to this year's snow peas lineup

[applestar]

Well, my "rhubarb" turned out to be either red or aurora orach. (I think I did one of those [two things in the same seed starter shortcut] and ONLY orach sprouted ) I'm planting them out now so they can provide some salad interest.



I did start some more -- this time ONLY rhubarb seeds though in a community flat BUT between two rows of nasturtiums so no way to mistake.

[imafan26]

I made more lavender cuttings and I planted garden chives, long purple eggplant, applegreen eggplant, borage, EZ leaf celery, and transplanted poblano peepers and some long green egglplant.

I planted out the zucchini into the garden. I was a bit late, it is already trying to make fruit. This zucchini is parthenon which does not need to be polinated. I am hoping to get a better yied with parthenocarpic fruit.

The sunburst melon seeds sprouted and I planted 2 gourd seedlings at the community garden along with a lot of won bok.

Last week I transplanted the overgrown lettuce and won bok cabbage as well as a swiss chard and early girl tomato. This week they looked like most of them survived.

[applestar]

I'm going to pre-germinate corn and start corn trasplants again this year -- looks like this weekend or next week
Subject: 2014 pre-germinating/sprouting experiment Peas, Corn, Curcs

As I mentioned in the other thread, I decided to pre-germinate the corn before planting this spring.

[applestar]

I have 2 or three different varieties of corn to grow this year. I'm going to try to be careful to stagger planting time for them and will also grow in beds that are located on two opposite sides of the house. I'm also learning to use isolation tassel and shoot/cob bags for corn seed saving.

First up, I started soaking my Mirai 350BC seeds yesterday. After soaking all morning, I drained the water and put them in my seed sprouter, and have been rinsing them at approx. 8 hour intervals.

...just a little while ago, I decided to give them another rinse, and was tsk- tsking that these shriveled up corn kernels had NOT plumped up with water and that some of them are STILL not sinking to the bottom, wondering if they are duds since I tend to think good seeds should sink. Then did a double-take because I realized one of the floaters had a rather long radicle/seedroot growing already. -- Time to sow!

I started sowing them in the 1/2 gal rice milk carton. For this, I stand it up on one of the long narrow side like this, which provides 4.5 inch depth. I can comfortably fit two 10 seed rows = 20 per carton, and could squeeze in another 4 in between for even two dozen per carton.

-- today, there were actually only 16 germinated seeds, though. So I left space for 4 more seeds.

[applestar]

Peas update Subject: Applestar's 2016 Garden

The peas were slow to come up even though they had been pre-germinated and in some cases sprouted -- I guess the ground was still cold -- that I was afraid something had gone wrong, but they are now almost all up -- I GENERALLY don't get this kind of solid rows of peas when I don't pre-germinate/sprout. Elephant garlic are doing really well, too.

[applestar]

Some of these are up

[applestar]

Found four more had germinated, so was able to fill the remaining spots for Mirai 350BC

...Can you see the two sprouts that are poking out? Yes, it's that fast.

Soaked and started pre-germinating Black Aztec corn yesterday.

[applestar]

...and here we are -- the first batch of Mirai 350Bc sweet corn seedlings are ready to plant out
(I just need to harden them off -- or actually today is a good day to plant since it's overcast... But I hear Mirai can be a wimp in the cold, so I guess I'll just keep this with the tomato seedlings.


Soaked and pre sprouted another batch of Mirai350BC which were ready to sow today, and started soaking the Kandy Korn x Glass Gem F1

[imafan26]

Potted up borage, Hawaiian chilies, and Fushimi sweet peppers. Beets have sprouted, mesclun is a little spotty, but I hope it more will sprout.

[digitS']

This has been the first year for me to start beets and set them out as transplants. Seems to have worked! I say "first year" but I tried several years ago but sowed the seed too late. They were the last things to come out of the greenhouse, I forgot them, and they burned up !

Anyway, the seed went in a tray insert with lots of cells. Of course, lots of plants showed up, multiples in each cell.

We set them out very early without any attempt to thin them. Maybe it's been our very warm weather but DW wanted to know if I was ready to thin them for baby beets! They aren't that ready but the direct-sown spinach is no where close to catching up to those beets!

For lunch, I've got volunteer orach or bok choy out of the temporary hoop house over a couple of garden beds. I like having the purple orach but it made me think, the beets aren't far behind!

Steve

[applestar]

Planted the first batch of corn seedlings today. I decided it will be Ok since we are having overcast days and then rainy for a few days and it is going under the insect cover for the time being, which will provide some shelter from the sun and the elements.

You can see how long the roots get.




...I was so happy to find THIS little Garden Patrol INSIDE the netting (left)

The other one was patrolling one of my Patio 'window boxes

[applestar]

This is almost too easy. MIral 350Bc corn seeds obtained from Kitazawaseed Seeds this year are showing excellent germination. Only about 8 kernels discarded so far for spoilage.

I'm keeping these out on the patio at night and in the garage V8 on sunny days, rather than inside in the heated Winter Paradise, to slow them down a bit, so there will be some spread in harvesting.

(Kandy Korn x Glass Gem) F1

[applestar]

Pre-germinating mixed seeds that will eventually be planted in the same bed. They are easily recognizable for what they are -- except for a few Marrowfat vs. Blauwschokker Blue peas that I couldn't differentiate (Marrowfat is green and Blauwschokker Blue is brown as a rule, but some were tan. )

...I see Christmas Lima and Runner beans as well as green hull less Kakai squash in addition to the peas that have germinated and are ready to plant.

[applestar]

Here's more corn starts in the picture I took for the shiitake harvest:

You can also see some seedling greens -- bit of lettuce but mostly escarole and rocket arugula. I have reached a sad conclusion that most of my lettuce seeds are expired -- very few germination. I'm going to end up growing mostly Iceberg lettuce this spring, which is really kind of funny because I don't particularly like iceberg and was only growing it for DH's benefit.

...on the bright side, NOW I can shop for fresh lettuce seeds

[applestar]

- This Korean sweet potato from H-Mart is finally starting to sprout. I was beginning to think it might be treated with an inhibitor, but I think it's because we didn't have our usual end-of-April heatwave...

- Kakai hulless seed squash are starting to sprout. I started to prep the bed they will be planted in today, but am not finished.
- I HAVE to get these corn seedlings planted, but I was too tired from doing everything else today....
- Marrowfat and Blauwschokker Blue Soup peas are starting to sprout. I have to protect them from marauders with the piece of wire shelving since they are now outside on the patio table.

[digitS']

Parsley and basil.

The basil might be risky but I don't think so. It was only 55ºf and breezy, yesterday afternoon. Sometime yesterday, the Weather Service said it would be 39º, Tuesday morning ... It was 43º ... and calm. We might have had frost if it was 38º at the closest WS office. That's how it often plays out but, it never happened. Now, back to above normal.

I was just commenting to DW how we have extra room in our protective growing, unusual for mid-May. That's great and if the plants aren't in their usual root-bound state at transplanting -- great, again!

Now the eggplant -- I guess we brought it out yesterday to wilt in the chilly afternoon wind . Peppers can wait; melons can wait; eggplants made it out of the greenhouse again today. It was warmer . Lots of warm-season seed in the gardens. The gardens are close to being full! Had to use a little planning to save space for the tender sisters, just like usual.

Steve

[applestar]

How are the pre-started beets coming along digitS?

I had to try again with the sweet glutinous rice seeds. I had a crazy-thinking moment when I thought it would be a good idea to add fertilizer to the seed starting mix when I started the first batch. Since the rice seed flats are flooded in water that barely covers, the water got stinky and the nutrient-dense sprouted seeds promptly rotted.

2nd batch is coming along nicely however:

[DigIt16]

Lot's of helpful images in these posts. Thanks!

[applestar]

From Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:52 pm
Subject: 2016 -- starting seeds and cuttings for the new season

These are in the Winter Paradise indoor covered shelves which stays about 5-10°F warmer than the room temperature due to the heat mat on the bottom shelf and the light fixtures inside. I roll down but not zipper the front flap at night when it's very very cold out side. It's in front of a NW facing triple window and gets some direct westering and setting sun except near Winter Solstice when the sun sets south of west, which also helps to raise the temperature inside the cover.

TOP: Roselle ... Peppers with unfolded seed leaves ... Hari eggplants

BOTTOM: Germination trial Kikuza x Tromboncino F1 C.moschata cross ... Peppers and Tomato seeds started on the heat mat ... TPS (True Potato Seeds) seedlings

I kept those germination test seedlings of Kikuza x Tromboncino F1 squash. I've seen so many photos of wimpy, elongated and pale cucurbita seedlings that are started indoors, so I basically thought it's not feasible, but I wanted to see what would work.

I Uppotted them as they grew in straight potting mix, and kept them directly under the t5 lights in the Winter Paradise where it's warm, and then when they outgrew the nursery space, Uppotted in 1 qt size containers -- cut off 2 L bottle SIP and 4x4x6 square pot, and added crazy amounts of organic fertilizer, then moved to the Winter Wonderland t8x4 lights. The lights in both areas are bright enough to get tomatoes to fruit.

And they look like this today.


I was looking to see if I need to start new seeds to grow, but right now, looking at them, I think they are near limit in these containers -- you can see the roots starting to escape the SIP slits -- but still capable of being slipped out of the pots and planted out.

[digitS']

How are the pre-started beets coming along digitS?
...[/attachment]

Here they are, AppleStar!

Ready for Sunday dinner. DW has (my favorite) oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert! We will have white baby beets soon. She has "problems" with food colors and doesn't like beets staining the other food on her plate . This is the first year I have seen DW sampling purple orach. I was careful not to say anything ... however, she took a real interest in last year's white beets.

Steve

[applestar]

I am pre-germinating the final group of corn:


...and have launched the cuke, squash, and gourd parade

-- they look overly ambitious, but actually they are mostly old seeds and I'm expecting miserable germination rate with an exception of a few.

I still have to start melons and watermelons, then we shall see.

[applestar]

ALREADY? OH, YEAH



...did I mention I only just soaked them last night?
I'm only spoon-zipping them temporarily (I think) -- I did successfully SPOONZIP and grow them last year, so I might just keep them in these until they sprout with seed leaves, then plant if weather is favorable. If not, they will go in 16 oz - 20 oz cups with plenty of room for their roots.

[applestar]

FYI -- the sand-like substance is UltraSorb DE. I was originally disappointed that they weren't the perlite sized gravel size, but have been finding they work well for SPOONZIP because they act like sand when wet – sinks with water pooling on top, doesn't float away, drains easily – but absorbs and holds moisture for a long time. When sprouted and ready to plant, the particles loosen up easily by adding a squirt of water to the spoon so no roots are stressed fon removal unless seriously tangled with each other due to multiple overdeveloped seedlings.

I should clarify that I soaked the seeds on 5/16 from afternoon to night, then drained, leaving zip open and keeping the bags together in a container on the heatmat 80-90°F. Rinsed 3 of 4 times and drained well during the day. Spoonzips are on the heatmat, too. This is the same heat mat on the bottom shelf of the Winter Paradise where the pepper seeds (and tomatoes but that's a given) started so well this year.

[lakngulf]

I have soaked okra in water overnight before planting but I have never gone the route of zip locks and soaking for other veggies like you are doing the corn. May have to try that.
I plant corn in flats in the greenhouse and then transplant to garden, but getting the root radicle to start and then planting in the garden would probably be a better route.

Over the last few years I have grown some persimmon, pear, chestnut and sawtooth oak trees in the greenhouse. The beginning process was very similar to what you are doing with the corn. I would gather seed in fall, place in the frig in some ziplocks with damp potting soil. It would take a couple of months, but when I see a root radicle I place the seed/acorn/chestnut in some rootmaker flats and let them go. I have grown a lot of trees that way.

Will have to try corn.

[imafan26]

Just planted more peppers Hawaiian chilies, super chili, Thai hot, and Carolina reaper.
I planted seeds of three kinds of eggplant: long purple, Roleks (thai long green), Ao daimaru (Jap. green round eggplant).
Planted more Curly blue kale seeds and green onions.
I made cuttings and division of marjoram and thyme
Transplanted to 4 inch pots Hawaiian chili, Habanero peppers and a few roselle seedlings.

[applestar]

All these cukes (and more that I DIDNT PHOTO) had germinated today


Also seedzipped more Luffa and Long Pie Pumpkin.

[applestar]

My sweet potato slips are FINALLY starting to grow, even though the container has been on the heatmat all this time.


This is the bagged ones from H-mart promoted as sweeter/tastier -- typical Asian red/purple skin with cream flesh that turns bright yellow when cooked.. Dry and very sweet. No idea how long it takes to mature.

The sweet purple fleshed white/tan skin was a bust. Wasted three tubers trying to get them to grow, do probably treated with growth inhibitor. Was thinking "could have eaten those perfectly good potatoes instead"... Then got to thinking -- were they actually "Perfectly good to eat"? What the heck do they do to them to turn them into those zombie living dead tubers?

[applestar]

[lakngulf]

My sweet potato slips are FINALLY starting to grow, even though the container has been on the heatmat all this time.

I planted my potato slips yesterday at my Mom's house. About two weeks ago, at the advice of my cousin who has raised sweet potatoes for years, I moved the slips into 3 inch peat pots with potting soil. As best I could I cut a little of the potato and left it with each slip. Over the two week period it is amazing what roots these slips put on. I had to pinch off a good portion of the bottom so the roots could start all over again.

[applestar]

I also planted them in little cups of potting mix. I've tried rooting the slips in water before, and they grow water roots like mad, but are set back when you plant in soil, so I decided to go straight to potting mix this year. Good to hear I'm doing it right.

[applestar]

So, to explain the collage above -- Seedzips using cut off plastic spoon heads filled with rinsed sand-size DE/UltraSorb, seeds are placed on top after pre-germinating with 1/4" to 1/2" radicle/root tip emerging in community zipbags (seeds in pre-germinator bags are rinsed and drained 2-3 times a day and kept on 80-90°F heatmat).

Seedzips of individual as well as groups of three are kept on the heatmat until the seeds start to sprout with seedleaves starting to emerge, then grouped on plastic trays placed under brightest light on wire shelf with another T-5 strapped underneath it (heat source).

Previous experiments showed that while the ambient temp is insufficient, it's better to let the Seedzipped cucurbits completely or nearly completely extract cotyledons from seed husks before removing from the high humidity/warmth nursery environment of Seedzips to plant.



By then root development is fairly extensive, so for minimum seedling and root handling, I use turkey baster of water to wash the DE and seedling off of the spoon onto the readied cup of potting mix as shown in the collage above, then spoon more mix over the roots, then wash the mix down with water, making sure to cover them all with good "soil contact".


It's important to maintain humidity for these tender sprouts at first until the seedleaves are fully unfurled:

[applestar]

Subject: Applestar's 2016 Garden

So, yesterday, what I did was take those seedzipped sprouted cucurbits, and instead of planting them in little cups safely in the house, planted them directly in the garden.

I'm getting ready to give up on the cucurbit seeds that still haven't germinated. I'm getting tired/bored and have been neglectful of the daily multiple rinsing... So I started keeping them in the bathroom where at least if I have the inclination, it's right there in front of me.

Today, as I was brushing my teeth, Iooked down and saw that a couple of seeds had germinated -- an yellow zuke, and this one. Since it's a possible Thai Kang Kob cross that I want to grow as many as I can, I got ready to seedzip it on a soup spoon head of moistened DE, labeled a new bag for it, and opened the seed bag... Only to realize it was the reference seed I taped to the outside of the bag that germinated.

[applestar]

Haven't started them yet, but I caved and bought some seeds -- Orangeglo watermelon which some folks here praised highly, Lettuceleaf basil, and dwarf Moringa. Received Lemon Queen sunflower as free gift -- I think there's still time to plant that, too.

[digitS']

I have Yellow Doll watermelon to set out. Just a few plants, as an experiment - and, because I think it will work. Had a yellow watermelon once and enjoyed it .

Giant Sungold sunflowers caused some frustrations this year! Ready to report my frustrations to the seed company, I put 10 seeds in a wet paper towel. Result: 100% germination.

The seeds are so tiny; I guess that's the problem. And, if I'm too skeered to try an actual "seed starting mix," I should run my tried and true Black Gold through a screen.

Sifting out some clumpy compost and chunky perlite should help.

Steve