Failure with small seeds and spindly seedlings

I guess I have found that small seeds are a guaranteed failure in my house. Everything is spindly, falling over, damping off, even under grow lights and watered from below - maybe this is a hint to only buy plants? Or stick to bulbs. *very discouraged*

Unfortunately, I was hoping that seeds would be a way to start spring inside early.

sbarr, do you have them as close to the lights as possible? I agree in general, Campanula, Delphinium, Adenophora are far less easy to grow than larger seeded plants. Possibly they were started a little too early as well. Might not be a bad idea to start a new crop outdoors in a few days when the weather settles. Often the ones sown outdoors soon surpass those pampered indoors under lights. Have found this especially true of tomatos, direct sown do far beter for me than those started early. John

Oh, don't give up!!! All of us have had crop failures; give yourself a boost of self-confidence by getting one of those inexpensive packets of pea seeds and sweet peas at the store, and grow a few of them. They will grow really well in peat pots that you can plop in the ground in a couple of weeks.

And really, truly, many plants are simple to grow from seed. Don't give up!!!!

((( sbarr ))) from a fellow gardener :)

John - yes, close to the lights. And yep, they were campanula, liatris, amaranthus, snow in summer - and everything seemed to fail. I cold sowed most of them this winter, brought them in a few weeks ago to get a start growing. Many of them seemed to start quickly, then stalled, then flopped over. Surface sowers were the worst. They were on combination of potting soil and vermiculite - still didn't work.

lupine - thanks for the hug - very much needed. With the snow and ice - this winter has been discouraging. I thought it might be a good idea to start the spring early indoors - but, for some reason, if the seed is small, I fail. The daturas, the convolvulus, they're fine - but everything else was spindly and weak.

Hopefully there are some seeds left of some of the different things to start outside. So tiny and slow growing, will be hard not to pluck them out with the weeds.

Oh well, lessons learned. Sweet peas sound like my speed right now! :)

I've found with most small seeds, they require light to germinate, so you just sow them on the surface and don't cover with soil. Yes, don't give up, I've been planting by seed for years and still have failures.

I have had fairly good luck with liatris, I sowed it directly in the beds and forgot about them. They showed very little signs of growth until the 2nd year then they went crazy! I have TONS of seeds from the purple ones if you need some let me know.
But like everyone else here is telling you, don't give up! I had the same problem with tiny seeds and sometimes still do. But I didn't let that stop me, I just get more and keep on trying. In fact last year I tried growing foxgloves in the house and had the exact same thing happen to me as you did. They got tall skinny and fell over dead! I had several packs left so I went outside in my shade bed and I started throwing them everywhere all the while saying to myself "if they grow they grow if they don't they don't!" Now I have several that have made nice size plants, and it was all because I didn't try too hard to get them to grow!
Good luck and may all your seeds sprout and grow perfectly!

I haven't had good luck trying to sow them outdoors, then bringing them in after stratification. But this year, I simply left them out, and most of them are up and running. (It might be too late for this year, but next year, you might want to simply leave your winter-sown seeds outdoors.)

Most satisfying seed: castor bean. Sprouts overnight, pushes its head up, and leaves no doubt that it is alive and well. Then proceeds to grow 12 feet...

sbarr, I have never succeeded in having even slightly fussy seeds survive that I planted in potting soil, or anything except sterile seed-starting mix. Even ones that I sow and leave in a cold frame for stratification are soil-less mixes. It has really helped prevent most diseases (nope, not all :(

Good lessons for next year. Somewhat discouraged - especially since seeds are usually a means of getting plants not readily available in this area. I might try some of these again next year - especially Fall sowing the perennials - pity seeds sown this Fall won't flower until 2005.

Looks like another year of impatiens and geraniums and morning glories. Fortunately, I do have many lilies that I need to try to keep alive until the snow melts and also some cannas due to be arriving.

Sbarr

Don't be discouraged! Seeds don't look at their calanders and think 'No, it's past March, can't possibly geminate now. Call the union, we're on strike until October'. OK some need a cold then warm period to germinate but we're not talking high alpine plants for a specialised climate here.

Many of the perennials you're sowing, grow here in the tropics of Southern Britain, we've nothing like your winters. I've sown Campanulas and Delphs in June and they've flowered easily the following year, in fact for some plants that is the natural order of things.

The whole Autumn/Spring sowing is a good thing, it gives us time to work and enjoy the garden, we have a general rule of thumb. Believe me, general is all it is! As long as it's not too hot, nor too cold, you can sow and grow perennials practically any time of the year and be successful, I do, I just don't let them read a book on seed sowing. Sow some now, outside in pots or direct into the borders, you may be suprised!

One small thing, I've found vermiculite and tiny seeds don't always go well together, sand opens up the sowing media and doesn't hold too much water to upset the seed growth.

Baa - thanks for the wise words. Well, this year's mistakes are relatively inexpensive - I've spent more on a couple of dinners out.

I'll just remind myself - perennials ARE meant to grow outside, they are NOT unionized, and what succeeds being directly sown is what is probably best suited to succeed here. It shouldn't be THAT hard - after all, self-seeders just drop the seeds on the ground. Interesting enough - what has done OK inside despite my woeful lack of talent are annuals - maybe that's the trick, possibly start annuals inside, perennials outside.

Pretty obvious my rants are that of a first year gardener. I've planted other annuals and morning glories, but this was the first time with some of the challenging seeds.

A few lessons learned. Everyone - thank you very much.

To be a gardener, one has to have boundless enthusiasm, a huge well of optimism, a magic wallet and be able to eat humble pie practically every day. The latter is a bitter pill sometimes but it's the asking price for the ability to grow plants.

Sandra - it's still early for you. If you have seeds left... I'd give them another try. I'm still planting here. Try winter sowing them again in covered containers... but leave them outside. You'll be amazed how much sturdier they are right from the start. They'll germinate when it's warm enough.

The tiny seeds are always a challenge. Believe me... I have my share of failures too. I don't bother with many of the common annuals that can be found as transplants anymore.

Could someone explain the winter sowing method. Do you put them in pots outside?

I've been using a heat mat and using grow lights. I had absolutely no trouble with moonflowers and morning glories and cardinal vine. I've got marigolds, shasta daisies (silver princess the dwarf), red English daisies, and some annual phlox. So far so good but the growth is slow. I've been without power for two days but they seem to have survived.