Winter Sowing - 2010 .... a sowing we will go....

Thanks Terese! Loved it! I appreciate you reprinting the link. :-)
~Susan

Susan,
All my 41 jugs are filled with MG Potting mix.

John,
My 3 jugs of Emerald Giant and King of the North Bell peppers have almost 100% germination. EG Jug #1 has 9 outta ten seeds up; EG #2 has 8 outta 10; K of the North, #3 has 6 up, but I think the others are on the way. I put the jugs inside on my light shelf in the dark. Once I noticed they were up, I started running the fluorescent lights on them for 4 hours per day.

One DGer says the leggy-ness comes from either the lights being up too high or being on too long. So, I'm gonna try his 4-hour/day schedule.

I sowed three more bell pepper jugs today and will keep a closer eye on that germination date. I believe the three above germed in 8-9 days.

Linda

ok for some reason I'm not remembering right, someone, anyone please set me straight.

Once we place the jug outside do we leave the tops on till germination or leave tops off all together?

Don't know why all of the sudden I can't remember the answer to this>>>>LOL

Janet

Leave the tops on (without lids, to serve as vents), till either the seedlings outgrow them or warm weather requires it.

Janet... there are "tops" and there are "caps"

leave the top half of whatever the container ON.

but say you are using 2Ltr or Milk jugs... throw the "caps" away.
the containers need to "breath" a bit.

once the weather warms up a bit - wont be for a few months,
and you have little seedlings in there, then you can remove the top half of the container, but dont throw them away yet, as you may need to recover them on cold nights.

That is why many of us create the "hinge" on our containers.... we can open them up, but still have the top portion in case we need to close them up again.

HTH

Terese

The screw on or pop on lid to the jug that covers the pour spout stays OFF to allow for ventilation and water to pass through. The top half of the jug that you've cut, stays ON.

Clear as mud??

tops still on [only example i could find] but hinged.

here is a shot with containers in various stages... some on, one hinged and others with the tops cut off. I think this was early May.

Catchin' up on this thread. A bit back someone asked about WSing bacopa. I did last year with great success.

I think I read somewhere that one person had success WSing iris (can't remember if it was this thread or one in cottage gardening. Has anyone else had success? I tried Siberian Iris Caesar's Brother last year with no germination. I have some more siberian iris along with some Japanes and artic iris if y'all think it is worth the effort in zone 8b.

Tonya

Gymgirl: Now you have confused me. I thought you were talking above about wintersown sprouts. Now you're talking about legginess and distance from lights. Are all those sprouts wintersown ones or inside under lights.

Karen

Sorry for any confusion!

Only the 6 jugs of bell peppers are inside. Everything else is outside. I kept the bells in because I read they needed bottom heat for germination. I was trying to figure out how to give it to them so they would germinate and not take forever!

I started a bell outside last fall (didn't realize it then, but I had actually WSowed in a Sam's rotissirie container). It took almost 13-15 weeks before those seeds germinated outside...

Those peppers will be the only seeds that get started inside -- and that was a total accident on my part. As soon as they get some true leaves, they're going outside with their brothers and sisters!

I was meaning the screw lids to the tops of the milk jugs....

Thanks everyone for you input and especially love the photos..... 8~)


Janet

OK, now I gotcha. I thought it awfully early for WSown peppers, even in zone 9.

Karen

Well, we're experiencing that phenomenon known as "let's see if we can fool the seeds into thinking it's spring in the middle of winter!" I was outside in a T-shirt and was about to pop a sweat.

I see how winter sowing too early can be hazardous when the seeds believe it's time to come up and they do, then the temps drop on the baby seedlings and freeze 'em to death!

"It's not nice to fool WITH Mother Nature?"

We needed to bring a cabinet in from the garage through the front door. I had on a long sleeved shirt and an unzipped hoodie and needed a shower after! This was on the west side of the house at 3pm-ish, so plenty of sun. Felt good.

Karen,
Here's my damage!

>>This was on the west side of the house at 3pm-ish, so plenty of sun.

gg... when did you have sun?? gray and gloomy here today. and i dont think we got above 32°

TC,
We've had sunshine and 64 degrees all day today!

Wow I thought I had a lot of jugs! I have more sowing to do! LoL

It was gray and bleh until the afternoon. I did a couple of things outside too. I'm not sure how warm it actually was, but it felt good in the sun. Especially in comparison to recent crud. We're both cool temp people-we keep the thermostat on 68 all winter and are quite comfy.

I finally got my butt in gear and cut up my bottles. I realized that I cut the 2 liters off too high, so I made my v-cuts shallower and more frequent, so I think they'll be ok. The stuff I want to sow now would probably be fine without a cover if it weren't for the curious critters.

Poop, I just realized I poked lots of holes in all my containers, and I have a few things that like to be started in mud. Maybe I'll keep those in a different outer container with only a couple of drainage holes.

This message was edited Jan 17, 2010 5:45 PM

What likes to be started in mud? Just in case I have some of those too:lol:

I was afraid to ask...

LOL me too!

water lilies?

After putting out my containers, I started thinking (always gets me in trouble..lol) how much covering should these seeds get? I know some seeds only need to be pressed into the surface and some need deep cover. Should I have paid closer attention to this?

Gymgirl..that is impressive sowing!
tcs..thanks for the pics.

I never pay attention to depth. I just sprinkle on top.

Karen

Karen, that makes sense. I was thinking out in the wild, seeds get blown around and not all of them get "buried" thou some do. Which ones actually germinate?

Who knows. They often heave up and out of soil, move around in the containers. All that matters is they sprout.

Karen

I'm with Karen on the sprinkling on top. I've noticed that since I started paying attention to how deep I plant the seeds, I'm getting exceedingly better germination rates!

I believe I've been planting WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too deep, and losing seeds as a result...

IMHO...

Linda

Karen,
Thanks for that tip early on. Otherwise, I'd have done the same thing -- plant too deep and wonder why my seeds never came up.

Did I read some place that you plant as deep as the seeds are in size? And if the seeds are super fine then you don't cover at all depending on the specific requirements for light??? Do you all press the seeds into the soil? Mother nature makes it seem super easy!

Mud=water calla, marsh marigold, pickerel weed, arrowhead. Things for the rain garden and edge of pond. The lotus can apparently just be nicked and tossed in the pond. Just have to figure out when. When/if I restart my aquarium, I'm going to try arrowhead started underwater to put in it.

You're welcome. I have wondered why seed companies recommend sowing so deep. I do think surface sowing works best.

Karen

Karen,
That's an easy answer.

Recommend sowing too deep = poor germination = grower comes back to buy more seeds to try again = $$$ for the seed company.

So true. But poor germination also leads customers away from the company in search of a better one. At least that's true for me.

Karen

Good info! Thanks! I filled my cups and then put a little soil on top to cover. The bigger, harder seeds got more covering. The soil is pretty loose so they shouldnt have a problem.

I wet my soil, then sprinkle the seeds on top. Then I lightly (very lightly) dust more soil on top. There are some seeds that need light to germinate, like Mexican Sunflowers.

Is there a list somewhere of those light germinating seeds?

here is a spreadsheet klstuart was collaborating on ... it does list 'light'
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjX12qw9Y_bgcHRLazdGTkR4Xy1MTmJaTTQzMVV6RFE&hl=en

i know i saw a site the other day... I jsut have to refind it.

here's one.. you have to scroll to the bottom, plus she has descriptions of what everything means...

like "S" means surface sow
JC = just cover.
"L" liught
"D" dark

http://www.backyardgardener.com/tm.html

Thanks so much! Just going down the list, most are barely covered.