I found it Terese had the first one just followed the links thanks :) Trying to water plants and get them back downstairs so I can do some seed trays a little later again just can't get caught up but been in town all afternoon hate going to town it's like Hotel Calif. you can get in but can't get out LOL
Didn't get home until dark then the electric guy came to check my electric out then the neighbor came over had to drive her truck thru the field to get it in between the house and garage to throw off a big old piece of carpet to kill the grass so I can plant that area, then my dog shot out the door seeing her little dog outside so had to chase him down for an hour lol It's been one of those days, got me a big mac and just now got to eat it it was cold of course :)
Seed Swap & Chat # 54 sowing and growing
Is anyone is having difficulties with peat pots this year?
It seems as if all the water is sinking to the bottom & the pots
are getting mushy but the seedlings are drying up as if there
is no water at all.
Finally found the Pro-Mix at a nursery about 40 miles away.
Bought 2 of the 3.8 size my DH just about flipped when he saw
them. Both bags had gotten wet in the rain storms and were
wicked heavy.It took the 2 of us to get them off the truck &
moved around to the sunroom side of the house.
Ella, read your article on Fungus Gnats and found it really
helpful. Thanks for taking the time to write it - much appreciated.
I've got a topper on my truck so I just let the bags dry before I try and move them those thangs are Heavy! You must have a strong man there LOL Make sure you put something under them if you haven't already those things have hidden holes and leak ;P
Cris, that pretty much describes the way peat pots have always behaved for me... people either love them or loathe them, it seems.. I do not love them!
I got my sweet peppers potted up today... I'll have 3 flats (9 dozen) once I get a dozen 'Big Red' bell peppers transplanted (they were slow to germinate for some reason, so they need a couple more days). Little Bit helped by poking her finger in the potting soil and pronouncing it tasty. LOL
LOL, critter! How cute!
Lea, I just thought of what that weed is you were talking about- Pepper Grass! Hate the stuff, like you said, when you pull it the seeds fly everywhere!
Yup I don't use peat pots because of that myself! I was thinking about trying sow cow pots for the small amount of poppy seeds I saved after direct sowing most of them,. Has any one tried that before? I know with the peat pots they didn't seem to degrade at all to me. I found some fully in tact the year after planting them! Kind of defeats the point, right? Do the cow pots actually degrade like they claim?
Tcs... Are you sure those are weeds? I could be wrong, but they look a lot like pansy, viola or wild violet plants and not weeds.
pat pots work good it you water from the top and not the bottom until your seedlings get roots deep enough to hit the bottom of the pot, other wise, the bottoms stay damp all the time as your seedlings are growing in the top inch of the pot. Water just a little bit the top of your peat pots. You may have to wat r a bit more, but will help with the rotting,.
Oh, good idea to try poppies in cow pots! If my poppy seeds are in the fridge, have they been cold-treated enough to sprout?
Ella -- pretty sure they are weeds. I only had Violas once, grown by seed 2 - 3 yrs ago... and these things that i'm pulling -- are EVERYWHERE. I'm sure i'll miss a few ... I'll watch it, if i can find it growing.
I actually sow'ed the last of the Violas [Boathouse??] that i got in the 08 piggy swap.. and they've already germinated.
I have one flat of Peat Pots. I water from the top, usually just spritzing with a water bottle.
I thin a fw of the gals in the WS forum have used Cow Pots... seems interesting to me, I think the cost has held me back, especially since i had Peat in the garage... but they are all gone now.
I think those are weeds to Terese, they look just like soe I get every year too. If in doubt you could leave a couple and when they flower yank them if they are weeds befor ethey go to seed. Critter I think the poppies would need to be in a moist medium while in the fridge for it to be enough cold treatment. I don't think cold dry storage is the type of cold they need but I could be wrong. I was thinking of doing a Tablespoon of damp mix in a baggy in the fridge, with the poppy seeds I have left, to trick them into germinating indoors. Last year I tried germinating some Poppy seeds indoors without any treatment and they did germinate and grow well, however I do beleive they don't transplant well. They never amounted to much in the garden. The Oriental poppies seemed to do fine though. I am praying I see a bloom on them this year. Theyw ere from Tuink - labeled Coral Reef. I hope they are that beautiful coral color so much! I am obsessed with that color now for some reason. : )
With the cow pots, I did a few side-by-side experiments and didn't notice much difference between cow pots and plastic pots for "regular" stuff like petunias. I bought a case of them once (gave some away), and I'm using them up gradually when I start anything that might be picky about transplanting. The roots do grow right through cow pots (with peat pots, plants get root bound, so you have to make some tears in the pot when you plant out).
Nope Neal it's not that either lol The leaves are lacy like, wish I knew a plant the leaves look like, it's a mound plant like someone trimmed it to a perfect mound but short lol Where I was going to pant my orange garden year before last they are everywhere I'm going to take a picture then if Robin can help me get my photos in a folder I can send a picture this weekend I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the picture though lol
When I was cleaning out the basement last year I found the cow pots I have forgot all about them lol They will come in handy when I get Ella's plants from the coop, I used a lot of them to plant morning glory seeds in when I first got them they are perfect for those under lights.
I'm going to try and take a picture of this darn weed lol
Lea, there are different species of pepper grass, the kind that grows here has lacy leaves too. Pepperweed is what I'm seeing this stuff I've got called, but there are a bunch of species of it, some ornamental.
A few more wintersown containers have germinated today. Went out for a stroll in the garden before the rain starts and ended up getting a couple of hours work in- I've planted my first flowers of the year! Moved some Iris, Daylilies, and Lilies from a bed that the Johnson grass is taking over. I started moving flowers out of it last fall, still have a few more things to move, but its getting covered with old carpet and going to sit empty for a year- I will kill that stuff if its the last thing I do, LOL!
Neal, I was out in the gardens this morning too, but digging up plants for a trade. I'm so excited, going to be getting some more siberian iris in! It's in the low 40's today and raining, going down to the 20's tonight ... yikes. But I can't stand having a trade waiting in the wings, I'm one of those that get the plants in the mail almost the same day the trade has been verified. While I was out there in the rain I made sure of the places I want to put the siberian iris ... making sure they are kind of a wet area. lol
My shelves in the basement are full. Hubby says he will put up the greenhouse this weekend. I'll put the Japanese maple seedlings out there (all from Blood Good seeds) . He thinks I'm crazy for growing them from seed. I have 9 that germinated. I plan on planting a few in the yard but pruning them into very small trees, I think I will be able to find homes for the rest either with friends or trades in a year or 2 ... they got to get a little bigger I think ...
Twpfew... The Japanese Maples' Blood Good' are beautiful trees. Personally I think all of that species is. They don't get too tall and you can make some nice looking beds underneath them. They are pretty fast growers too. : )
Ladies and Gents... this thread is getting a tad long...
let's move on over to the new thread --- > http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1083456/
tcs I'll join the new thread after this one post .. kay : )
I just want to thank Critter for sharing about your experience with the cow pots! Thanks that's exactly what I was wondering. Now you have me thinking perhaps I should just use the sall amount of peat pots I have leftover from a few years back? I am just worried because it is poppies and I have personally experienced how sensitive they are to transplanting. So what do you think? Safe to do with poppies or should I go ahead and order some cow pots. I saw a small pack of them in T&M for around $8 - I didn't think that was too bad considering I only need about how many you get for that. : ) Thanks again!
I'm not sure how much peat pots help with transplanting issues, since you have to tear them up a bit when you plant out the seedlings... depends on how many spare poppy seeds you have, I suppose. You might also try direct sowing the poppies.
Yeah, I agree. : ) I already sowed almost the entire packs of them already. I saved just enough to do a small pot or I was thinking winter sowing jug. Or I was thinking Lea's idea about using the top of a milk jug with something to stake it. I just want a small amount of them in my veggie garden because the soil is real good in there and it gets the most sun in my yard. I wanna see if they are better than the places I direct sowed them and if they are a lot better I will know which place they'll perform best. Where I scattered the seeds gets sun early in the morning to early afternoon then it's shady - so I am worried they are gonna be real floppy. Plus they are doubles and those say they do best with staking. I am kinda hoping they aren't super huge because if I need to stake something, I know I won't want to keep growing it. Just direct sowing them makes me nervous that they'll wash away. We had a pretty hard rain the day after I sprinkled them out there. And I didn't stomp them down or anything.
"if I need to stake something, I know I won't want to keep growing it. "
me too!
I put a couple of milk jug "domes" in a planter the other day, sowed a few brazilian morning glory seeds under them for kicks.