I grow a lot of different plants, from plants. I sadly admit I do not have experience with seeds. The only plants I have from seed tend to do it for themselves. I bought some seeds and need some specific advice about how to start, when etc.
Here is what I have.
Salvia penstemonoides (these are why I ordered seeds in the first place) Can I start them now or do I wait? Can I start them in pots or should they be direct sowed in beds. What I was hoping to do is to use pots and perhaps bring them in if needed during the winter. I also have access to a grow light set up at work.
I also bought drummond phlox, prairie verbena and rudbeckia hirta.
Any advice on how to start any of these plants would be useful as I am pretty ignorant about growing from seed.
Cheryl
advice about seeds please
If you have plenty of seeds try it both ways - pots and direct. If I recall correctly all of these are small seeds. Start them in seed starter trays if you can take care of them indoors during the last half of winter. Starting early you should have bed-ready plants by spring. If I purchase any plants in the small 6 packs I always save them for this purpose.
Use a seed starter mix which is generally dry, ground sphagnum with a little vermiculite mixed in. Ground sphagnum and vermiculite can be very dusty and irritating to some people. Don't just start dumping it. Take it out by grabbing a handful and placing it on the trays. Lightly shake the tray to level it out. You can lightly dampen the mix in the bag to reduce the dust level.
Fill the trays with the mix to about 1/4" from the top. Place a few seeds in each section then cover with more of the starter mix. So as not to disturb the seeds, set a hose end sprayer to mist and lightly but throughly wet down the mix. Keep the trays moist but not wet. When the seeds start sprouting and show their first true leaves (not the seed leaf) begin thinning them out to 2 to 3 plants per section. If they are not thinned, too many plants can crowd the soil and result in less than strong, healthy plants. If thinning just breaks your heart, thin some of the tray sections and separate & transplant others in larger containers. Don't fertilize until there are at least 4 or 5 true leaves on the plants and then at only 1/4 strength of a balanced, water soluble fertilizer. You don't want to burn those tender new roots.
Hope this helps.
Steve S
Cheryl-I did some quick research and from what I can tell all the varities that you mentioned can be direct seeded in your area in the fall, for spring blooms. They are considered Wildflowers . For more info. go to www.wildseedfarms.com I always sow my wildflower seeds in Oct. and it got down to 8* here last winter but the spring was one of the best seasons I have had for wildflowers.
Cheryl, I am more inclined to do cuttings than seed, but sometimes seed is the only route available.
The method that Steve outlined for you is a good traditional method and of course there are many ways to go about it.
As for me, I don't like to just toss my seeds out there and hope to get lucky, so i have found that winter sowing is a very good alternative. Some people use the cut off milk jugs and those work, but I like to look and see what is going on.
I have found that a standard pot that measures 9 inches across the top and is 7 inches tall
(not the regular gallon nursery pot) works great with the cake dome clear covers that come with the Walmart pudding ring cakes, those fit just perfect and you can see what is going in there.
Winter sowing takes care of seed stratification if the seeds require it with a lot less trouble than chilling the seed for so long and than planting.
I use regular potting soil, water well, put the dome on the pot and set it outside on a shelf on my patio, where it can get enough light but not direct sun, check it once in a while to see if it needs water. In the spring you can move the seedlings to individual pots.
I usually do this in late October or early November and it saves a lot of messing around during the winter.
Josephine.
This message was edited Sep 11, 2010 3:45 PM
They don't mind the cold temps in the small pots? I would direct sow but my yard is small and quite honestly just not set up that way. I want to be able to move them to beds in the spring. Maybe I am just not patient enough for seeds but I rarely grow anything from them. Is the cover for humidity, increasing the temperature or both?
C
Yes, the cover keeps them moist and also protects from low temps when the start to sprout. They usually don't sprout until it starts to warm up anyway.
Ok so its a little jump on spring sowing.