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Connecicut , No. Stonington

no matter how hard i tried this year i just couldnt get any seeds to germinate all of the died, rotted, or just refused to sprout a root. I did everthing from filling to soaking wtih peroxide (3%) and planting in sterile seed starting mixture under a grow light at 85%!!! can somebody give me a good way to start seeds i know i couldnt plant them now but if i could get some seds to practice on now than that would be great! thanx for you time and help!!!!!:)

6/30/2003 10:39:35 AM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

After tried a number of methods I finnally used one similar to the one you can see in Joel Holland's videos, and got 100% success in the selected seeds:

Filed edges, 12 hours in wet paper towels, powder fungicide covered, planted in peat pots, kept them at 80 ºF darkness and covered with platic film. After 4 days, 9 of 10 sprouted, the last one did it after 11 days.

Good luck............Don

6/30/2003 11:12:09 AM

Billerica,Massachusetts

bottom heat!!!!!!!!!

6/30/2003 12:19:22 PM

Usa

Sounds like the seeds are being kept too wet.

6/30/2003 12:51:49 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I'd say too wet. No heat on the bottom would slow germination but shouldn't have stopped it entirely. It sounds to me like they rotted from excess water.

Joey,

Were the seeds a smelly pastey mess when you squeezed them?

I used 1 part water to 3 parts soil. I make my own soiless mix by mixing 1 part milled spagnum, 1 part Vermiculite, & 1 part Perlite. Mix this all up then add 1 equal part water. I use a 1 quart measuring pitcher to measure it all out.

But any good mix such as that which you used will be OK.

Dump the whole mess in a clean 5 gallon bucket. Let it sit a few hours at least. (This time will vary depending on whether the soiless mix was treated with wetting agents. It could take days!)

Then test the "soil" by grabbing a handful. Squeeze the heck out of it. If small drops of water fall out, you're OK. If more than several drops come out, it's too wet. Stir in a little dry soil & let it sit some more.

If you mixed everything the way I described, it should be just right.

We soaked our seeds in 3% Peroxide for 2-3 hours. We also used a hormone treatment but that isn't really necessary.

Make sure your containers (half gallon ice cream buckets, cut up 1 gallon plastic milk jugs, etc) have drainage holes.

continued

6/30/2003 1:32:20 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I place the soaked seeds into the mix at a 45* angle (pointed end down) in a hole made with a pencil point to a depth of 1.25". Plant right into the soiless mix & don't add any more water. Firm the moist soil gently with fingers. Light touch here. Just enough to fill air pockets with soil. Then cover the container with Saran plastic wrap.

Set the covered containers on a 90 degree heating pad (POTENTIAL FIRE HAZARD HERE!) or commercial propagation mat (Walmart for $20.00) & in 3 days most of the seeds should be popping up. A soil thermometer is useful for this but not mandatory. If you have such a thermometer, stick it into one of the containers so the probe is at the same depth as the seed. a 90* mat should result in about an 85* seed.


You shouldn't need to water the container for a while. After the seeds germinate, gradually remove the plastic wrap over the period of 2 days. Just move a little off at a time.

A few days later they might be ready for a small drink. Just be sure there really is dryness in the top 1/4 inch of soilless mix before watering. And even then don't have the water running out through the drainage holes for long. Just a couple drops from the bottom is OK. No fertilizer at all.

I wouldn't file the seeds at first. It hastens germination for those who are good at it. (I'm not! LOL) I just rub (VERY LIGHTLY) with medium sandpaper (120-150 grit) a couple times. Don't over file edges!

There are many variations to this & I guess they all work well enough for those who use them. This gave us about 80-90% success. Ironically we got better results with our winter experiments than we did the final selection but that's the gardeners dilema sometimes!

Best wishes,

Steve

6/30/2003 1:32:30 PM

porterville,california usa

Joey, i just plant mine direct into dirt. where you decide to plant,dig a hole one inch deep,insert seed, cover with dirt and water every day. it takes about a week to germinate but there`s no transplanting problems. if your weather is too cool still, cover with a piece of black plastic for a few days. it`ll come up. i have a few extra seeds if you want some. email me .

7/1/2003 3:40:14 AM