Propagation: Sowing dust sized seed, 1 by RickCorey_WA

RickCorey_WA wrote:
>> Or I wet my fingers and use my fingertip to pick up a hundred tiny seeds and rub my fingers together to distribute them over 10 or 20 seed starter units with seed starter potting soil.
>> Once they grow to a half inch tall or so pluck em out and plant them
>> foxgloves hate being transplated but if you catch them small (1/2 inch) they are easy to transplant.

Thanks, I'm adding this to my seed-starting notes.

What size cells do you use to sprout in? 2"? 4"? I'm thinking of the six-packs where 72 cells fit in one 1020 tray, 1.5" square at the top. Do you think 18-cells-per-tray would be better, (3.1" square)?

When I sprinkle seeds over multiple cells, I tend to "overspray" (miss the cells I wanted) and also get a lot of seeds onto the dividers between the cells. Misting washes seeds off the dividers and into the soil mix, BUT then many seeds wind up close together, stuck between the edge of the cell and the soil.

I've been trying to think of a way to get multiple tiny seeds seeds to stay near the centers of cells, but have not found one yet.

I plant Lobelia similarly to what you describe: (multiple seeds per cell but then I pot them up as a clump).

Petunia seeds are expensive enough that I try to get just 1-2 into each cell, but I'll try your method of trransplanting tiny seedlings.

I have so much saved Alyssum seed that I just direct-sow by broadcasting, but I'll try your method next year with smaller qunatitites of seeds received in trades. Would you pot up Alyssum as single plants, or in clumps of 4-8 seedlings?

I just bought some varieties of Viola seed, and your method sounds ideal. There is so little seed in each pkt that I dion 't want to waste any seedlings!