HelpfulGardener.com

Hi there,

I have planted a packet of carnation seeds for this season. The seeds have germinated. When I planted them, I did not do one seed per section of my tray. Instead I spread the seed evenly throughout the tray. My question is, will each seedling turn into its own "mound" or will many seedlings together mound up into the "mound" shape carnations are known for. These are the full sized carnations. I'm looking forward to having a new perennial!

Not quite sure what you are talking about. Carnation plants do get wider at the top.

One carnation plant:


https://cdn-6.countryfarm-lifestyles.com ... nation.jpg

If your carnations are crowded in the tray, they will need to be transplanted into their own pots once they have a couple pair of true leaves.

Welcome to the Forum and best wishes with your carnations! Keep us posted how they do.

I tried to plant carnation seedlings 5 times and fails when it is 6 cm , it didn't harden or look like a big plant , I put the seeds in peatmoss in a green house under a big window.. any idea why do the die?

Planted your seeds in pure peat moss? Not a potting mix? Then that is why they died.

Peat moss is very moisture holding, stays wet too long. Then it dries out and sucks water away from your plant and hardens and is difficult to wet again. It compacts and excludes air. It is very acidic. It is sterile, without any nutrients. I never recommend growing seedlings or anything in pots in regular dirt (and I am still not), but if you have NOTHING else, you would do better to dig up some dirt out of your yard and plant your seeds in that, rather than in pure peat moss.


I never heard of trying to grow anything in pure peat moss, until we recently had someone else write in about all their seedlings failing and it turned out that's what they were doing:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... gs#p370555

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... =4&t=65558

oh thank u rainbowgardener so much for ur quick reply, what are the percentage of every type of soil do u recommend to mix?

it always helps to tell us where you are located. There are hardly any garden questions that can be discussed without regard to location/ climate. Are you not somewhere where you can just buy some potting mix (in the UK it may be called potting compost, seed compost or some such)? That is the easiest way for beginners to get started. And cheaper, if you are just trying to grow a few things from seed.

I'm in egypt warm climate in winter (10-18 Celsius) only a month is cold can reach 1-6 Celsius) and hot in summer can reach 35-48 degrees

hmmm..... those threads I linked were from someone calling him(?)self Thornedvine who is also in Egypt. Perhaps you two should correspond, figure out how to find something to mix with your peat moss.

Generally a potting mix looks something like one third peat moss, one third some mineral ingredient to keep it loose, not compacted, with good drainage and air circulation, and one third some natural, nutrient rich ingredient to feed your plants. It can be varied a lot. One of our members just uses 50-50 peat moss and perlite (a mineral ingredient). That keeps your mix very loose and free draining, but means that you have to add all the nutrients yourself, through fertilizing with liquid fertilizers.

You can substitute coconut coir for the peat moss. In a pinch you could use shredded fall leaves, bark fines, chopped straw, cocoa shells. Any of these is more ecologically friendly than the peat, which is not really renewable in the quantities it is being mined. The mineral ingredient can be perlite, coarse sand, decomposed granite, crushed lava rock, etc. For seed starting I use rice hulls, which of course, aren't actually mineral. They do break down, unlike perlite etc., but they last long enough for something that is only going to be in the little pot six weeks. For the organic ingredient, you can use compost, mushroom compost, worm castings, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, well aged composted manure, etc, preferably some combination.

Hopefully, between you and Thornedvine, with this understanding of what it is you are trying to do, you can find some combination of ingredients which are available to you there in Egypt, that will work to sustain your plants.

Thanks so much ranibow..I really appreciate your replies and u gave me lot of important information to consider in future planting )