One observation. I made a light-weight soil mix for starting leaf vegetables, like lettuces. The mix was 50% vermiculite and the other 50% was home made compost, cocoa coir and a commercial potting soil. I used a relatively thin plastic fruit container (like the one that blueberries might come in) with a soil depth of between 1 and 2 inches. The potting soil was saturated. The fruit container had a lid. The lid worked as a mini greenhouse. The container was placed on a heating mat. The seeds sprouted in about 28 hours. I have needed to top spray the mix every day while the rest of the seeds germinate. Not sure if a deeper container and more soil would have held moisture better, but I only plan on using that much vermiculite with the lettuces so it's not a big issue.

Is there another forum about starting plants from seeds or does this forum cover that? Hate to be posting in the wrong forum. :)

I started basil seeds in my aerogarden. The basil seedlings have first real set of leaves and are less than 1/4" tall. I moved one of the seedlings to a DWC canister. The root was already 3" long when I moved it!

Thomas, you are in the right place

I've never liked those shallow fruit type containers but some folks do.

How do you like the aerogarden? I've always wondered about those. I didn't realize you had to transplant from it. I thought you'd just grow herbs there in that unit, hydroponically. No???

I haven't started any seeds yet this year. I did order some fresh tomato seeds but haven't received them yet. I have a bunch of old seeds but they're probably mostly too old to use.

I just set up a couple of lights/ shelves tonight to make sure the lights are still good.

Karen

kqcrna said:Thomas, you are in the right place

I've never liked those shallow fruit type containers but some folks do.

How do you like the aerogarden? I've always wondered about those. I didn't realize you had to transplant from it. I thought you'd just grow herbs there in that unit, hydroponically. No???

I haven't started any seeds yet this year. I did order some fresh tomato seeds but haven't received them yet. I have a bunch of old seeds but they're probably mostly too old to use.

I just set up a couple of lights/ shelves tonight to make sure the lights are still good.

Karen

I like the aerogarden. It does what it says. A tiny bit $$ but I had mint growing at work for a couple years until I was out for a month and no one watered my aerogarden for me! I have the nine pod? I think and the three pod. Both units offer an accessory which basically lets you start seedlings. Not the most efficient thing, I'd rather sow in a seed tray and pluck out but since the aerogarden wasn't being used... my eggplants sprouted fine in it. I also did the same for the 3 pod but now that I have basil growing, I've moved it into the three pod permanently and will grow it hydroponically. I'll likely start annual flowers in the 50 pod seed starter unit as well as a couple rosemary cuttings.

I have lights coming today so I can move the seedlings that I've pricked out. I need space! LOL

Don't be too sure about those seeds not being viable. I thought the same with my eggplants that I've had for 3 years? And they just sprouted 7 out of 10 and i wouldn't be surprised if they all sprout. I only needed 4... I was worried about germination rate.

If I get time I might try wintersowing a few jugs of those old annual seeds. A few would probably sprout if wintersown.

Karen

Just cleaned out my 9 pod Bounty AeroGarden from a good round of lettuce growing. Loved it. Getting ready to plant the 50 pod seed starting tray in a day or two. Now have lettuce growing from seed in my 6 pod unit and 3 micro tomatoes from seed in the Sprout model. Have also started lettuces, tomatoes, and tat soi from seed and transferred to Kratky containers. So much fun watching them grow inside.
What are you planning to start in your seed tray, Thomas?

Man I wish I could remember names like that. I found out that I have the 9 pod bounty model with the 50 pod seed starting tray. I also have one of the three pod units and the 15 pod seed starting top. The eggplants started ok in the bounty and I started calabrese and cauliflower in them last year. Will likely start flowers in the 50 pod starter next as soon as I get the eggplants uppotted. For some reason only two out of 15 plants sprouted in the small unit. Maybe just all bad seed as I was doing a germ test, but 13 out of 15 failed to sprout?

Had a bad time with a brand of seeds last year. Any seeds that are large enough to see (ha), I sometimes give a quick soak in peroxide water before planting. Seems to work well even in older seeds. Would like to do my entire tray in flowers, but need to get some peppers, tomatoes and other veggies started. Also got the seed trays for the Sprout & Harvest Slim that currently have lettuce and mini tomatoes growing. I also pre-soak my ag plugs in peroxide water just in case there is any mold lurking in there that could cause damping off. Have read that some people drop them in boiling water to kill off any bad guys.
Best wishes on sprouting all of those flowers!

@Azgarden you blonde your seeds before sowing? I've read about priming seeds but I personally don't prime. I mean, nature doesn't prime. Don't tell anyone but I also don't sterilize anything between batches. I wash stuff out, but I don't go overboard. So far I haven't had an issue, that I know of. I'm surprised boiling water doesn't result in the plug dissolving.

@thommesM yes, I guess I sometimes blonde them. I read somewhere that the peroxide can help with sprouting somehow.
I have thought the same thing about the boiling water and the plugs. I cleaned my Bounty for the first time and did use bleach. I had not changed the water for the entire cycle of lettuce growing and it did fine. I tend to overthink and read all the what if's. I am balking at changing out water while things are still growing well in the ag.

Hi Mary,

" Had a bad time with a brand of seeds last year. Any seeds that are large enough to see (ha), I sometimes give a quick soak in peroxide water before planting. Seems to work well even in older seeds. "

I don't know about all seeds, but I think most, if not all, commercial zinnia seeds have been heat treated to kill diseases on the seeds. It's tricky doing a heat treatment without killing the seed, but they carefully control the temperature and the duration of the treatment to get the job done. These are some of my current indoor zinnia seedlings.

I planted some more zinnia seeds today. I have been told that you should, as a rule of thumb, consider all seeds that you save yourself as contaminated with disease. And that you should treat your saved seeds to disinfect them. I would never attempt the heat treatment -- I would just end up cooking my special breeder zinnia seeds. But I do use either Peroxide or Physan 20 on my zinnia seeds, in the planting medium, to treat my own seeds. If I forget, usually a quick seedling death from Damping Off reminds me that I forgot.

ZM

Hello Thomas,

" I've read about priming seeds but I personally don't prime. I mean, nature doesn't prime. "

Well, Nature doesn't formally prime seeds, but some seeds require a cold pretreatment for an extended period, and Nature is doing that to our local native plant seeds right now.

Poison Ivy seeds need some special pre-treatments, and they get that as the Poison Ivy seeds pass through the digestive tract of the birds who ate the berries that contained the seeds.

And some pre-treatments aren't absolutely necessary, but help. Like, for instance, many people pre-soak seeds like Morning Glory, or beans, or peas, before planting them, just to speed up the germination process. Some seeds benefit from having their seed coats nicked, and that could also happen randomly in Nature.

I use a hobby knife to breach the seed coats of my zinnia seeds, to speed up their germination. I guess you could consider that as a pre-treatment. And I routinely pre-treat my zinnia seeds with Peroxide or Physan 20. I know a lot of gardeners pre-treat their legume seeds with a bacterial inoculant that is supposed to help the plants "fix" Nitrogen from the air via nodules on their roots.

Just sayin'. Pretreatments of seeds, accidental or on purpose, do happen in Nature. And in my basement.

ZM

Mother nature does all sorts of pretreatment: freezing and thawing, soaking and re-soaking, alternating temperatures, lengthening daylight. Some seeds only sprout after exposure to a forest fire. I think that's why wintersowing works so well. Mother Nature does all the work. All I have to do is plant the seeds in a milk jug and stick them outside in the snow. Mother Nature gives them every form of treatment, and I've never had damp off with any of the hundreds of jugs I've done.

I do try to be very careful for my indoor seeds. I still bleach my pots and trays, and cook the potting mix. I guess I've done that stuff for so long, I'm afraid not to now.

Karen

@ZenMan
For some reason I want to call you ZMan! LOL. That's something I didn't think about. I also know that some conifers require extreme heat for their seeds to germinate, like FIRE. Yeah like what @kqcrna said. Something to think about. I keep hearing everyone talk about wintersowing. I have to read up on it. Thanks for giving me something new to think about. I still don't see ma nature bleaching her seeds with anything other than sunlight. ;)

Other than priming.. .and I'm ready to be edumacated but good luck on changing my mind, I don't clean or sterilize. Yeah my point again is that ma doesn't sterilize. Teach me I'm where I'm wrong.


Zenman sidebar... do I still have time to order and plant zinnia seeds?

Ma Nature keeps disease under control better outside with natural ultraviolet light, wind. I never sterilize anything that I wintersow. Heck, nothing is even clean. Inside, with no wind, no sunshine, cold wet soil, conditions can be perfect for bacterial and fungus growth. That's why good lights, heat mats, fans, chemicals, sterile soil and seeds, give seeds a better chance indoors.

Years ago, (OK, decades ago) when I knew nothing about seed starting, my attempts always ended in damp off. Once I got serious and learned a few things, I've never had it at all. I usually cook the potting mix, use bleach on pots and trays, use t5 lights and heat mats and fans... and never have damp off. Though after gardening in this yard for 35 years, I have more plants than I can handle, so I really don't start many seeds anymore.

How to wintersow:
https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

We also have a wintersowing forum
https://garden.org/forums/view...

Karen

Oh forgot to mention. After a long long long long long long long long long long time in a basement down down down downstairs... one of my columbine seeds sprouted. Something like three or four weeks. I gave up on it. I still sowed some of the seeds in a seed tray thinking well I only had 5 seeds planted and it was home saved seed so I'm now expecting quite a few fuschia columbine.e

Hello Thomas,

I think you should have time to order and plant zinnia seeds. I don't usually start planting zinnia seeds outdoors until "danger of frost is past". Which I take to be about mid April here in east central Kansas. I think my zone is about 5b.

Maybe your climate is a bit warmer. Although anything connected with weather is, by its very nature, uncertain. Here it is safe to continue planting zinnias through the month of June. I have on occasions even planted as late as early in July.

ZM

Thanks ZenMan! I'll look closer at that link you sent me and order some zinnia seeds and more grow lights. How long before first frost would would you recommend for starting them indoors?

thommesM said:How long before first frost would would you recommend for starting them indoors?

Do you mean how long before last frost ?

https://garden.org/apps/frost-...

Yeah I do. I had it right and then I changed it. Trying to post between running tests.