Oops...wrong spot...lol.

Sorry

touchofsky said:Sue,
How far apart did you plant them?

The rows are 8" apart. I have them planted within each row...about 3" to 4" apart. Way too close I know, but I had to get them in the ground. I really got carried away when I was germinating the seeds. Honestly, I thought I lose a lot more than I did during the growing time in the house. I maybe lost about 50. At least 20 of the 50 were albinos and died because of that. We'll see how many make it through the Wisconsin winter.

Seedfork said:@petruske,
Very impressive, you have put a lot of work in that bed. Looks great!

Yes, I did. The whole experiment was fun to do. I'll be so excited to see them bloom. Hope I get some pretty ones (and strong ones). But I confess I did what everyone warns not to do...put a pretty face with a pretty face. Hopefully I "stumbled" across some good mixes.

petruske said:

Yes, I did. The whole experiment was fun to do. I'll be so excited to see them bloom. Hope I get some pretty ones (and strong ones). But I confess I did what everyone warns not to do...put a pretty face with a pretty face. Hopefully I "stumbled" across some good mixes.

You mention warning of what not to do when hybridizing such as put a pretty face with a pretty face. Are there any other warnings! A newbie to hybridizing wants to know

CaliFlowers said:One thing about the picture I'm not familiar with—what is that bare strip running down the middle?

after my near disaster with aphids and gnats last Winter my 2015 seedlings are doing surprisingly well


I planted them out in my veggie garden (DL flowers áre edible ) and 3 of them are even having a scape!
One flowered last weekend


All of these will be moved to the new-to-make '2015 seedling bed' on my allotment.

I'm making 4 seedling beds, one per year. This way they get 3 years to 'prove' themselves and be moved to a regular bed or will be discarded (I can't believe yet that I will do that, but perhaps by that time I will be a bit less 'protective' of my plants )

My 2016 Spring seedlings are coming along very nice and will be planted out in the '2016 seedling bed' .
I'm planning to sow some more this month Depending on the temps this Autumn and how big they'll get they will spend the winter in my growtent in the garage, outdoors in pots or in the ground

Mayo

Your seedlings look great, Mayo and your plans sound very good.

My little seedlings are hanging on, but this summer has been a hard one for them to get going, with the high heat and no rain. I have been watering, but I don't think it is the same as a good rain.

Valerie - Well water can not compete with good rainfall. I've gotten a little bit of rain the past few days. Plants have perked up. I don't want hurricanes, but a mild tropical depression wouldn't be so bad.

Mayo62 said:after my near disaster with aphids and gnats last Winter my 2015 seedlings are doing surprisingly well


Mayo

They look pretty happy to me

My first set of seedlings in March had great germination using the hydrogen peroxide and water in a little cup. They got potted up in seedling mix soil, grew well in dappled sun/mostly shade, pots were taken out to the sunshine bed and the pots were planted with only about an inch above ground to help moderate the soil temps. These are doing lovely.

My second set around May also had great germination, potted up again, growing nicely in the dappled shade and sun. Then pow, they all disappeared. Just a few left. Does this sound like the fungus gnats? I'm new to this and did not expect such a difference over a 6 week period. It was warmer out.

Any advice or comments gratefully appreciated.

Barb

@Dragonkeep
Do they appear to have died or just completely disappeared(as if a bird or animal might have snatched them)?

hi Barb,

did you see a lot of very small flies around your seedlings?
Damage by gnats is caused by the larvae of the Sciara analis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...)

Did your seedlings fall over while they were still green, or did they wither before they died?

Mayo

They just fell over - no real withering that I noticed. We have horses/ pastures/farmland/woods and always have gnats as soon as the weather warms up. Are fungus gnats different or are these the culprits?

If they just fell over flat on their faces it sounds like damping off, which is a fungal disease. Could you have overwatered or overcrowded them?

Yes, I was going to say damping off, too!

Barb - Did you use the H2O2 mixed in the water before watering that second set of seedlings? If you didn't use it consistently, that may be what happened. H2O2 helps prevent fungus/bacteria to multiply (in the soil/potting mix) that would kill young seedlings.

Thanks for the help. I only used the H2O2 in the cups where the seeds germinated. Then they went into the pots with seedling mix with a fungicide built into it. I need to go outdoors and check the name of the product. They were either watered or rained on fairly regularly trying not to drown them but we did have regular rain. How much H2O2 do you use with the seedlings once planted and for how long?

My seedling mix is Premiere Pro-Mix BX with Biofungicide. There's a company near me that sells it wholesale in 60 lb dry bales. Just add water and you have a bunch of good soil.

I just add a squirt of H2O2 to a gallon of water (watering can). I've not heard of the produce you have that has a built in biofungicide. Sounds interesting. But did it actually work, would be my question, give what happened?

I have watered with H2O2 and lost seedings from daming off and mold. I have looked for a water soluable product that protects against desease like damping off. Nothing is available in the local stores so I would have to order something. My solution is to move everything outdoors where I have not had any problems before. I know it is possible to have issues anywere. We are not getting regular rain like you got on your plants. The problem is our weather with temps near 100. I am used to working out in the heat so that is how I am starting seedlings for now.

We am planting lots of miniature and patterned crosses. We have about 200 seeds planted now but after this weekend it should be about 2000.

I started getting damping off when I was growing seeds indoors. I now only grow them outdoors in pots and have had no trouble except for critters tipping my pots over.