MOFishin
Senior Member
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 1:33 pm
Location: Central Missouri 6A

Re: Starting some seeds in MO

Thanks for the replies.

[quote="applestar"
Personally, my tomato seedlings are grown in a wobbly balance between adequate container size for roots vs. keeping them in lower temps to slow growths and for sturdy seedlings vs. supplying just enough nutrients to keep them from being deficient.
[/quote]

Applestar, how do you go about balancing nutrients, temps, etc? Particularly, what kind of temps for the tomatoes?

Taiji
Greener Thumb
Posts: 921
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:19 am
Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

These are my onion seedlings for 2017. Started them around Jan. 25, they were up by Feb 1. Same as I did last year, 99 cent dishpan, holes drilled in bottom and sides. Filled to about 4 inches high with soil less mix. I used a heat mat, but only for about a week. Hoping for the same good luck as last year!

Top 1-2 inches of soil is a mix of Jiffy seed starting mix and perlite. The rest is a homemade soil less mix of composted manure, mushroom compost, some evergreen leaf mold from under my Arizona cypress trees, and some coarse grit composed of crushed/decomposed granite.
onion 2017.JPG
onion seedlings.JPG

MOFishin
Senior Member
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 1:33 pm
Location: Central Missouri 6A

My onions I started about 2 weeks ago with no heat mat haven't done anything. I'm trying some more WITH the heat mat that I just planted last night.

Taiji
Greener Thumb
Posts: 921
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:19 am
Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

Forgot to mention at this stage, I have the onions under shop lights for I think about 14 or 16 hrs. per day. (lights are as close as possible to the onions)

Separated last year's seed from this year's hearing that onions seeds aren't viable for very long. Wanted to see what happened. Both seem to be doing equally well.
onion lights.JPG

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I don't like to let things like tomatoes stay in the pots too long. Perennials like chives can but annuals don't like to have their growth checked. Even if you could keep uppotting the tomatoes, I don't know if you will have enough light to keep them going unless you have a lot of natural light.

When I keep my eggplant and tomatoes in the small containers too long, they don't recover that well. Even the ones that do grow are somewhat stunted and don't last as long as the ones that are transplanted out before they start flowering.

MOFishin
Senior Member
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 1:33 pm
Location: Central Missouri 6A

Thanks again to everyone who responded. I may post pics of my very amateurish closet at a later date. It's my first time starting my own seedlings, so I'm winging it and learning as I go, and read.
So far, so good. My first round of tomato seedlings (7 of them, I believe) were up-potted about 24 hours ago. If they do well in their new containers, and my other seeds and seedling keep going the way they are, I will be fairly pleased.

MOFishin
Senior Member
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 1:33 pm
Location: Central Missouri 6A

Any advice for beets, cabbage or sugar snap peas? The beets and cabbage came free with some other seed orders, and I thought the sugar snap peas might be nice to snack on. I've done a little googling on them. But there are so many things out there. I've never grown any of these at all, from seed or otherwise. So I'm completely clueless.
Should any of these just be directly sown, rather than started indoors and transplanted? What kind of outdoor temperatures can seedlings handle? Any tips at all would be very appreciated.

MOFishin
Senior Member
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 1:33 pm
Location: Central Missouri 6A

I also have some sweet corn seeds. Is there any point in starting them indoors? If so, what are the pros/cons?

Taiji
Greener Thumb
Posts: 921
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:19 am
Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

I have some cabbage started right now in my little grow cells, so I usually start them indoors. I think they can be started outdoors though. The other things you mentioned I start outdoors. I've heard that beets don't transplant well, but I wouldn't know for sure; I always start them outdoors. This year I built a little planter box from some scrap lumber and one of the things I put at each end is sugar snap peas. They are up to about 2 feet now. No blooms yet, but I'll see. The box is in a closed in south facing porch in the window ledge.

For corn, I personally always start it outdoors, but having said that, I also start a little 6 pack of it indoors at the same time to fill in outside if some don't germinate. Otherwise, you sit there for 2 weeks wondering if those empty spaces are ever gonna sprout, and but the time you get it figured out new ones that you plant are far behind!

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Agreed. Beets like carrots and most root crops do not like to be transplanted. You are disturbing the root, which is in this case your crop.

Cabbage and broccoli I always used to start indoors, when I was in zone 6. Now that I am in zone 7 with such mild winters, I am planting most everything in the ground (except tomatoes and peppers and basil). Peas and corn I always did just plant in the ground.

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I pre-germinate and start corn inside. After several years experimenting, I have settled on a method I like.

For me primary advantage is to foil the chipmunks that in the past have dug up every single corn I carefully sowed, and to plant seedlings that are at similar growth stage so they will develop at the same rate in my tiny patches that I will later hand pollinate. There's that 2 weeks to see them sprout in the garden, too -- tedious and not really for large field planting, but definite instant gratification for small patch-growing. :wink:

Here's a thread with some descriptions. I think I included links to orevious years' efforts in there somewhere
:arrow: Subject: 2016 -- starting seeds and cuttings for the new season
applestar wrote: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. :bouncey:

You can see how long the roots get. :shock:

Image :()

MOFishin
Senior Member
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 1:33 pm
Location: Central Missouri 6A

Thanks very much everyone!



Return to “Seed Starting Discussions”