Starting Seeds in Sponges Experiment

Ohio,
I purchased some 'red' trumpet vine seeds via Ebay. When they arrived I simply plopped them into some potting mix, covered them very lightly, watered well, covered the seed tray and placed them under lights. Two out of three sprouted in about a week, and seem to be doing well (so far)

aknapp,
These seeds are preported to be 'red', but ones person's red is another's orange...hehehehehe
Would you like a couple seeds....I still have about 20 unplanted

RikerBear

Thanks Rikerbear, I will try your way, I had always just laid them barely under the soil, but maybe I needed to keep them just a little more watered and add the light, do you use a heat pad under them?

Riker
Thanks so much for the offer, but I all ready have bunches more seed than I am going to be able to use, just can't take on anymore as much as I am tempted to!!!!
I am nearly out of room and trying to figure out where I am going to go next when things have to be potted.

Ohio how kind of you, I would love to see a picture. I am hoping before next fall to be able to make room for a red one, if it is enough different than my orange to make it worth the time.

Ohio, no heating pad....but the room I keep my seeds growing in is kept at around 72f

aknapp, I understand completely....boy do I! hehehehehe

RikerBear

Ok,
here is my final take on using sponges for tree/shrub seeds.
Don't do it! LOL
No, seriously, I am loving the sponges (not foam, but cellulose) for things that normally sprout within 2 weeks. I figure your gonna cut that in half with the sponges. But anything longer then that & mold becomes an issue. I did get some good results on tree seeds that were fast coming up, but the ones that are not, I am going to remove them & bury them in soil & hope they will come up that way. I have had to toss many out & others are not showing ANY signs of life. I thought perhaps it was due to them needing cold strat, but I researched & eliminated that as a problem.
I am so glad I did this experiment. No regrets at all. Thank you Alice!
Donna

OK, all, I just got my setup going last night. I cleaned my sponges, scissors, hands and 5 gallon square rectangular container 7 1/2 inches high (see through) with mild bleach solution, rinsed them really well and cut sponges in squares.

I poked holes in some and slit some down one side. The sponges were moist but not too wet. I put the seeds in sponges and lined them up in the bottom of the plastic container with labels for each type of seed.

I set the container on a heating pad and put a stick on thermometer on the side of container. I set the heating pad on medium. I covered the whole thing with saran wrap.

This evening there is a lot of condensation covering the whole inside. The temp is 76. Is the temp ok, you think?

What I am really afraid of is mold. Everything I have ever tried to grow here in the winter ends up moldy. I live in Houston area and it is extremely humid here. Maybe the heat will keep the mold away?

How will I know if I have too much moisture in the plastic container?

Any help appreciated.

I love this place!!!!

texas007tornado

If it is anything like RW, when you squeezed some of the water out before planting you will see a slight change in the color of the sponge and no water should be puddled in the bottom of your container.
...........I turn the cover back on diagonal corners on the container for 5 or 10 minutes everyday so fresh air gets in.
.............Green houses that have too much humidity with no air exchanged or air movement have big moldy areas grow on the plants sometimes, but that usually is not as devastating as a little tub planter.
.........Wash your hands before messin' with the babie's nursery too =)
Good Luck,
§

I finally broke down and bought some Rock wool cubes to try -but with the shipping , I think the sponges are much more economical.

texas

I don't know what your trying to grow but 76 seems pretty high to me, I try to keep things around 65 to 70 unless something says it needs warmer temps.
I wish somebody that knew more than I do would come along. What are you trying to get started?
Unless the seeds you are trying to start call for that high a temp I would get it down a little bit.
I think I fried some seeds that I had on a heating pad that got to warm.

Texas, I wish I could have seen you getting things set-up. I have visions of a "mad scientist" in a white lab coat, notebook and wild hair.

So far, I don't see rw out performing anything else. I have "experiments" going where I put some seeds in rw, some in sponge, some in potting soil (all the same kind of seed) and not much is happening. The biggest difference is in type and freshness of seed. I'll give it a little longer before I decide.

Texas,
........ ooops !
....................I missed that ! Temps normally should be 70° to 73° degrees and you need to get one of those instant read thermometers and check the SOIL temp not the container. You can find these anywhere in the cook supply aisle in Walmart or wherever =)

Hey, I have new babies already. I put them in the sponges on the 17th and 18th and the moonflower seeds are all swelling and bursting open. I had three seeds that had soaked overnight and three that had not and they both started opening up after three days, yippppppeeeeeeeee!!!!

This is toooooooooo much fun. I think I waited too long to start my experiment, it will be time to plant in the ground in about 3 weeks for me, I've got a lot of seeds to plant, lol.

Congratulations Texas!!! It is so much fun, isn't it??
Good for you. And so what if it is almost time to plant in the ground! It was fun & you learned a new way to start seeds so it was worth it. It is so much faster, isn't it?
Donna

Good for you Texas, my favorite part is being able to see what is happening!
I love being able to look and actually see the root rather than having to wait for it to come through the top of the soil.
Guess I am just one of those instant gratification people.
Good luck with the rest of your seeds.
Alice

Alice honey, I think you have us all ruined. I stopped by a dollar store yesterday to pick up something and found myself on the other side of the store playing with 10/$1 sponges! Now, would you happen to have any idea why I would be interested in those??? Suddenly I had visions of pastel checker boards and miniature chia sponge pets in my head. I threw them down and ran for the door, remembering I have a huge bag of seed mix in my car and a three pack of 72 cells awaiting seed babies. Yet, in my mind those sponges are still dancing! You have us ruined I say! So are the foamy type ones as good as the fibrous ones? LOL

Badseed, I am so glad that you were able to escape and hopefully with only minimul lasting damage!!!!
You certainly gave me a good laugh!!!
I like the foamy ones because it seems to me they are easier for me to work with, but the cellulose hold moisture better.
After reading that they were a concern I switched to the others, and tried some of them.
I did find when trying to put things into soil that it was harder to keep the foamy ones where I wanted them than it was the others.
I was able on most things to get the sponge completely off, which was my preference, but of the ones that I couldn't do that with the cellulose was definitely easier to deal with.
I have lots of cellpacks started also if that makes you feel any better!!! I loved the sponges for larger seeds, but when it came to the small ones I had no luck at all with them. I don't know if that was just me (I am still so new to all of this starting from seed) or whether it was the method. I couldn't get any of the tiny seeds into soil successfully!
Chia sponge pets, now there is an interesting idea!!! I wonder if there is any money in that!!! Probably not I would guess its a pretty limited market!
Have a great day.

Hey all, progress report:

My moonvine seeds all three came up and now they have two leaves and are about 4 inches tall. They are getting long, should I wait til they get some real leaves or can I just put the sponge right on into the ground? It's gonna be 35 here tonight, would they survive 35 degrees? It gets up to about 50-60 during day now.

Wait for real leaves if possible, and it sounds like it would be a little chilly outside for them, without some covering. I am not an expert by any means but I would think until they get established that they need to be in the 50 to 60 degree range at least.

I would not put them in the ground intil frost danger is over, the new leaves just couldn't take it, an if it dips below 32, you would lose them for sure. I did this last year, we had a late cold snap in March and I lost most of mine.

If they are getting too leggy for your sponges, I would pot them up til it is safe.

This message was edited Feb 25, 2004 11:55 AM

Kewl, thanks guys for the info. I never even gave it a thought, I can put them in some of those black plastic pots I've been gathering since last year and they can grow in there til mid March, I might have moonflowers blooming in my dining room window, lol. Now that would be a sight. Not to mention the worried look on my hubby's face, he already thinks I came from the Little House of Horrors Play, lol. "Feed me, feed me, feed me", lol

My desert willow seeds are up, but they are so tiny, how the heck will I ever plant them without tearing them up trying to get them out of the sponge? I think I'll try to cut away the foam and leave just a little around the seedling. I never thought about this problem when I put all those little seeds in the sponges.

Good luck with the little ones. I loved the sponges for starting large seed, but the small seeds I tried I didn't have much luck with for that very reason.
I would suggest pricking out a few to thin and try planting the whole thing until they have some size to them. Trim as much of the sponge away as you can without damaging roots and unless they are really crowded let them work it out for themselves.
Depending on how big the plant itself gets, my theory is still that as the roots mature they will do what they need to as far as getting free.
(this theory of course has not been proven yet since I haven't gotten anything large enough to see) I probably won't know until summer if I am accurate or not.
Or maybe you can cut the sponge in half and do 2 pots, I would try to do as little disturbance to the roots as possible. I think that was part of the mistake that I made. I got a little over confident about what I could get away with and got taught another one of my ' learn the hard way lessons'

Been reading about all your excitement over the sponges. I had bought some RW on ebay, and used a few cubes, doing well BTW. But yesterday I got a bag of 12 sponges at the $1 store. I cut one of them into 1" cubes with a papercutter and cut slashes in them for the seeds - I think we can just plant sponge and all in the soil, as long as the sponge is covered so it will not wick out the moisture.

My DH says I am nuts - he said "That won't work beacuse the sponges will get hard" - he just doesn't understand the concept!

My family has been convinced for the last 5 years that I am not sane, they quit even asking questions when I do strange things!!!
I agree about getting the sponges down into the soil. I had a foam one that kept popping out of the soil on me. The seedling was very small and they way it had grown into it I didn't dare put it all the way down into the soil. I eventually lost it because it did keep drying out and popping the poor little seedling up on top of the soil. It was a sad sight!!!

I got the cellulose - think they may hold moisture better according to earlier posts - this makes sense.

It was a fun way to spend some boring winter time, but as for me, I still like cups or soda bottles. I get much better root development in starter mix. I haven't been that thrilled with rw either.

Well, it's the 28th and so far only the moonvine and desert willow seeds have shown up. I have kept the soil at 70 degrees more or less 1 degree and I put them in on the 17th. That's eleven days, I would think there should have been more show up by now.

How long should I wait to decide whether it worked or not, any ideas? I have

Woodrose
Manihot grahamii (hardy tapioca tree)
Jatrophia gossypifolia
Carob caratonia saliliqua
Red Lantana
Thunbergia alata
Red Ruellia
Datura Triple Yellow
Schizopetalus Hibiscus
Morning Glory
White Moonvine

Thanks

I wouldn't give up just yet. Are the seeds still viable? Not soft or mushy? Datura can take up to a month. Morning glory can take a while too if it wasn't nicked. On my sponge experiment I got tired of it and planted the seeds that had not yet sprouted in soiless seed starter. Most everything eventually came up. On the rest of them, I have found this site to be really useful in helping me determine a target germination period for my seeds. Maybe you can use it?

http://theseedsite.co.uk/germination.html

Good luck!

I have been watching this thread with enthusiasm and finally got the bug to try some veltheimia bracteata seeds from my last-year's bloom. I've been saving them and not knowing quite what to do with them as far as planting. Two weeks ago I put them in sponge cubes and set them by the heater and have been occasionally checking in to see what, until now, had been nothing interesting. Tonight there are signs of little cracks and hints of threads coming out of the seeds!!! What an exciting development! Thanks so much for the info and expertise that you share so enthusiastically! I will post a picture when there is photographable progress!

I traded for some neat gourd seeds from Gourd, stuck them in sponge squares three days ago, and already have 6 sprouted - this REALLY works, and fast, especially if you set the containers on a heat source.

Congratulations
I am so glad that you have had success with my experimental methods of seed starting. I still love it for starting any medium to larger seeds but for smaller ones I like more traditional methods, was not at all happy with the results of things like poppy seeds that are very small.
I look forward to your pictures!!

I too, am so excited that you shared your "experiment" with us, I had numerous things up and sprout way before i ever imagined they would!! Thank you!!

You are so very welcome! I love experiments and this one was really fun!!
I have also gained a couple new friends and I am even more thankful for that.
DG has to be the only place on the internet that is really worthwhile day after day. The rest of the cool sites seem to come and go but this one has a spark of magic!!!! that will keep it going through the ups and downs of all of our lives.

I agree with you DG is the very best! So many new friends and the wealth of information here is tops. Just ask and you always get an answer to most anything you need to know.

My husband has started his Asparagus, moon & stars watermelon, 2 kinds of Thai tomato plants in the sponge method so he is now hooked too. Of course, he says, hey I thought of that before, I just told him then why hadn't he told me about his thought, NOT, he was just jealous someone else came up with it!! LOL too funny.

DG makes you come back each day to check in, and well worth it!!

Ohio
That is a great story!!!! I can't even take credit for the sponge thing because if it hadn't been for the rockwool posts by Brugie and somebody making a suggestions I would have never thought of it on my own.
It just goes to show what that winter boredom can do for you!
I really hope everyone else has had as much fun with it as I did!

LOL, well I had quite the chuckle from the hubby that day, yeah right!! anyway yes, Brugie is a doll, so nice and I just love this forum and all the people who so willingly share their ideas and experiments so we can all watch the progress!!!

I have made so many new gardening friends along the way here on DG and when my computer crashed, I truly missed checking in everyday, you just don't realize how much the computer enhances everyday life LOL

Keep up the good work on all the experiments and keep us all posted!!

I agree totally! Crashed computers are really bad!!!!
I have been really interested in how everyone else is doing now with their experiments, I am pretty much done with all of the larger seeds that I had and moved on to the smaller harder seeds for me to germinate.
I need to find someone to trade seeds with for starting.
I will start all the large and medium sized ones if they will start all the small ones and then we can trade plants!!!!!
I have a really hard time with the little ones and keeping them alive if I get them germinated. (Just don't have that touch yet!!)

LOL well start looking up all the MI folks, I am sure someone near you would be more than happy to help you start your seeds. Do you have a Roundup there or near you? Perhaps you could find someone to swap seeds with before a roundup, then you could "retrieve" your seedlings at one of those gatherings?? Always a thought.
Goodluck!!!

I couldn't resist trying this! so.... Thursday I cut up the sponges, put the seeds in, and YESTERDAY I already had this.

Only one seed, the rest are just sitting there, but I am amazed.

This is a moonflower seed, and I don't know how fast they normally germinate, but I thought this was QUICK!

Here is the whole pan, mostly Daylily seeds that I hadn't started yet, and moonflowers. Though I couldn't resist throwing in a couple of tomato just to see what they do. :-)

thank you so much for this thread, it has been very informative and entertaining!!!

That's neat Melissa.....Makes me want to try it..
How are they doing now? Can you take a photo?