Have you started any seeds? I started rosemary and lisianthus on January 1, my artichokes on Feb. 1, and hope to get my leeks and onion seeds started this weekend.

My rosemary is only about 1" tall, and the lisianthus are just getting their 1st set of leaves. It's unbelievable how slowly these grow. Certainly not the seeds to sow if you are an impatient gardener.

yep agastache, geraniums, coleus, primrose, and stock.. since I didn't start the stock early enough last year.. figured it was worth another try earlier

I've only sown a few begonias, now trying to develop first true leaf. Still miniscule.

Karen

they are not a rewarding seedling.. way too slow.. hate those kind

Onewish1 said:they are not a rewarding seedling.. way too slow.. hate those kind

That's a good description Allison "not a rewarding seedling". I'll tell them that tomorrow.

Karen

that's why I love 4 o'clocks.. they make up for those lazy ones!!!

Other than my wintersowing experiments, I planted onion seeds on 2/16 and they are already popping up! For some reason, although I've been starting onion plants from seed for at least 4 yrs now I never have confidence in it working... (and despite starting all kinds of other plants from seed for many years). At any rate, it's just nice to see something growing!!

I sowed my first flat of impatiens tonight.I ran out of seed starter, so I will have to finish those up tomorrow.Have any of you grown Torenia fournieri (wishbone flower), from seed. I am curious, as to wether they are a slow starter or not. I just love the little faces on those. Guess I should start another thread about them.
Dee

Dee, another, separate thread is an excellent idea, and your question will get more attention.

Karen

I saw a photo of Lisianthus and fell in love. Then I heard how hard they are to start, and get to flower!

My first adventure with "unrewarding" seeds was with Penstemon. Patience my patootie! Watching paint dry would be like NASCAR, or downhill skiing, by comparison to starting Penstemon from seed.

Rick: Lisianthus are not really hard to start....they just take forever to grow. I've found germination to be fairly easy. But, once they sprout, it takes a while to get the first true set of leaves. Once they've got the first set of leaves, it takes a good 3 months before they are "seedling size". If you start early, it's really not difficult to grow these.

If you want to order seedlings, (although they will still need a little time before ready to plant outdoors), I recommend tsflowers.com. I ordered seedlings from Teresa for several years before deciding to grow my own, and I still purchase my seeds from her.

I agree with the penstemon.. some of mine didn't bloom for 3 years

I have some tomatoe seed start, some came up but some had "dampoff" had to drag out Chamomile tea and cinnamon
This is why I don't like planting seed.
Wonder could I get better results in a milkjug, I'm using those little peat pellets. Never have very good luck with those things....

I had some lisianthus seed pods that got left out in the GH last year, so on a whim I sprinkled them over a seed tray sometime in late January, and LO! I see teeeeeeny little green things in that tray this morning! Have no idea what color the parent plant was and of course it died on me so this should be interesting.

Charleen, I have never had any luck with those silly little peat pellets either.

Woofie, this is last year. I had some nice Black tomato seed Maybe two or three came up. when sign gets right will plant them in a pot of soil .

When I killed tray after tray of seeds, I blamed overwatering and soiless mix that held too much water and not enough air, especially on the surface. Maybe "peat" needs to have much loger fibers, or LOTS or Perlite and grit to "open it up". Soiless mixes that I buy seem to be mostly powdered peat, which has the consistency and aeration of pudding when damp.

Then I started adding lots of shredded, screened pine bark (mulch) and some grit to my seed starting mix. Excess water drains away quckly, the surface dries out much faster, and I have NO damping off any more. My theory is that the roots need air, and if the soiless mix has no gaps for air space, the roots drown.

(Or I could learn how to avoid overwatering. I haven't mastered THAT after 3-4 years of trying. But laying down some cotton flannel on the bottom of the tray (for pots & cells to sit on) helps me to overwater LESS. It wicks excess water out the bottom of cells, and carries some water to the bottom of cells that started to dry out first.)

However, small seeds like petunias seemed to fall down into the gaps between the bark, and fail to sprout. This year, I'll use a finer top layer (like vermiculite) for the very smallest seeds.

Do you mist the tiny seed after you plant them Rick??? I'd probably drown the little fellas...

Yes. I pre-moisten the mix SOMEWHAT before packing it into cells, and then water it until water comes out before adding seeds.

I use a spray bottle to mist after sowing seeds, to settle tiny seeds down onto the surface.

For bigger buried seeds, I'll use a mustard squeeze bottle to drip water to settle the soil mix around the buried seeds. I want good contact, and just firming it down with a spoon might not be enough.

So I need a seeding mix that drains well. When I used powdered peat, it seemed that no matter how much water I added, nothing ever drained out. And then of course it stayed much too wet forever, and the roots drowned.

How can you water if water never drains out the bottom? Isn't that almost the definition of salinizing soil? Like having no drainage holes at all.


And yet straight, commercial fine-peat sponge-soiless mix is the most widely used seed starting mix of all. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong.

Until I change whatever that is, pine bark and grit work great for me.

Great Answer, Thanks...

I won't use peat pellets after they all molded up on me from being too wet.. don't like em