I do the same.. power strip plugged into the timer

Me too, but if you are using heat mats, don't put it on the timer. You want those on during the night

Yes, that's what I do. The timer goes into one wall outlet and that leaves another free for the heat mat.

Karen

Well, I turned the lights out last night. I will be looking at Ace just as soon as i get dressed. Only 8:00 here. Thinking about this, we use to have timers we used to turn the lights on and off when we were away. Make it look like someone was home. why did I not think of that Thanks you guys!

Springcolor, that's one of those "Duh!" moments when you smack yourself in the head.

Karen

in my case.. I do that often

The timer is installed! First thing it did is throw the breaker, 2nd plug in doing fine. I will just keep an eye on things. Now the poor plants won't have insomnia!

It should make your life easier too!

Karen

it really does

yes it will!! Planted Heliotrope and some others today. I forgot all ready.

Karen, could you let me know how your Dragon Wing begonias turned out this year? I'm interested in growing them from seed next year.

My dragon wings are STILL outside, and STILL blooming, and we've had several frosts!

I want to get a bunch more for next year, but it would be much more cost effective to grow them from seed. Will you be growing them from seed again?

ssgardener, first you have to understand that I have a long history of murdering begonias.

I sowed 12 pelleted seeds, and 11 of them sprouted. They did well under lights. This was in May,
.
I planted a few in hanging baskets, which soon died from, I think, lack of sun.


The rest were planted in the ground in my clay soil. We had our worst heat and drought in 50 years, so, to be fair, most of my plants didn't thrive this year. But the dragon wings in more shade than sun either didn't grow much or totally fizzled out and died in mid summer. Three of those in more sun did best, even in our 100° summer and terrible drought.


I loved the three that did well. I just ordered 15 pellets of the red dragon wings. I'm going to try a few again next summer. I'm a slow learner.

Karen

And, you know, I've noticed something odd. In spring, local nurseries seem to sell dragon wings in expensive, already overgrown hanging baskets. But nobody seems to sell individual plants in 4" or 6" pots. What's up with that?

Karen

kqcrna said:And, you know, I've noticed something odd. In spring, local nurseries seem to sell dragon wings in expensive, already overgrown hanging baskets. But nobody seems to sell individual plants in 4" or 6" pots. What's up with that?

Karen

I'd buy small ones, too.


Karen, I'd rate those three beautiful seed-started plants of yours as a definite success!

Thank you, Chelle. But I'd like a higher percentage of them to do well. Maybe this year...in more sun.

Karen

Ooops, Karen, I don't know how I missed your response! I thought I was "watching" this thread.

I'm still confused about this whole sun/shade thing, because some of mine that were planted in partial shade didn't do well, but the ones still blooming have been in full shade the entire time.

I'll do more experimenting next year!

Where did you order the pellets from?

I honestly don't remember where I got them last year. But I ordered a pack of 15 pellets of the red dragon wings recently from Summer Hill.
http://summerhillseeds.com/beg...

I had a hard time finding a small quantity of the red ones this year. Lots of places have the pink in small quantities, but only large numbers of the red.

Karen

WOW, that's a good price! Thank you for that link!

It would certainly be cheaper than buying 5-6 plants in the spring. I got them from Costco this year and they were about $15 for a 6-pack of 4-inch pots. I went back a few days later and they were gone.

I'll post progress updates next year! I've only done direct sowing or winter sowing before, so this is going to be my first time growing seeds indoors. I don't even have a heat pad or a light yet!

Bottom heat will increase your success with some seeds, including begonias. You really only need the heat until seeds sprout, so you can start a lot of seeds with just one or two heat mats. As each tray sprouts, move them off the heat and use the mat for the next tray. I have several of these cheap ones; they seem to work fine for me
http://wormsway.com/detail.asp...

And unless you have tremendous natural light in your house, the right lights will increase your success with all seeds I think. Adequate light prevents the seedlings from stretching for light.

Karen