Food storage bags in the grocery store will work just fine.
seed starting
Great, thank you :)
Sure, try whatever! As long as you create a mini greenhouse it should work well! Even if you don't, they can germinate, may take longer though. Good Luck Brug Addict!
In your opinion does it take longer to germinate due to the ziploc baggie or because of the peat pellet opposed to the rockwool???? Gosh!!! I gotta get those rock wool cells *sigh* Thank you Kell & Brugie :)
Just sterilize some potting soil with boiling water. Let it drain and cool off. Put the seeds on top of the soil and press them down so they make good contact. Slip the pot of seeds into that baggie, puff some air into it, and tie it shut. In about ten days, take a peek. You will be surprised and look.........you didn't have to buy anything you didn't already have around the house anyway. So far, it works better for me to plant brug seeds this way than any other way I've tried. Thanks Monika for the advice.
This is excellent advice and I thank you for it. Brugie I will sterilize as you said. Thanks so much. I take all of this as I am always learning. :)
Can you give me some advice on your knowledge with soaking seeds for 24 hours? Will I be able to tell which are viable when doing so? What do I look for for viability?
This "Y" stuff is so helpful! Here's a question for you. Have any of you done cuttings of sections below the Y's, and if so, does this give your resulted plants a "head start"?
In my opinion, it doesn't give them a head start. It makes them taller and they take a little longer to bloom.
As for the seed question....plant them all. Sometimes a tiny piece of the cork left on peeled seeds will make them remain floaters when they are viable as heck. I don't peel my seeds. Just soak and plant.
GW, you get flowers faster from a cutting above the Y.
Brugie, you are becoming another expert like Monika with the golden touch! I do not have the touch. Though I get seeds to germinate this way, I do not get the high rate I get when I peel them and use rockwool and put under lights!
I never thought of the cork keeping them afloat, Brugie. You are so smart. I have heard that the floaters are no good, but I have never believed that myself.
Melissa!!! YAY!!! I saw a couple buds for sure!! Oh how exciting!
Kell, don't tell me you don't have the golden touch. I've been looking at some beautiful pictures of yours and if that isn't having the golden touch, I don't know what is.
edited to correct spelling...bad spelling!! LOL!
This message was edited Jul 8, 2004 2:07 PM
But I have to go thru hoops to get a good germination rate. You guys just plop them in dirt and in a bag!
OK I found the perfect thing to put my peat pods in until they germinate. I had a plastic bag that you put a blanket in, like the 'bed in a bag' clear plastic bag. It's just large enough for me to put all of my cells into.
Then my husband found at Walmart these egg dome's to plant egg plants in...I filled the bottom part with dirt and sowed my seeds. These were perfect, they're sitting on heat now with lights above. Crossing fingers and toesies!
That sounds like it will work great! Good luck!
Annabelle, I just remembered ( a chore sometimes...lol )
What ever happened to all those great seedlings you started last year and this spring ?
Sure hope everything is still growing well =))
absolutely Scooter, great to see you again, & All is well =))
Thank you kell
Kell
I'm using this method now, but having mold problems. Can you advise me on this and how to avoid it. all the mositure in the plastic bag, it's causing mold or fuzzy on top of the seeds. Thanks
Gee, I never had mold with this method, and I started tons of seeds. First, are you sure it is mold? Some of mine created a fuzzy root growth at the opening of the hole in the rockwool that it at first looks like mold. If you look closely you can see it is a bunch of very fine, white, fuzzy roots.
I did get a green algae like film at times when I had taken out germinated seeds but left seeds that were not germinating. I just ignored it, and I still got more germination.
If really mold, are you draining the rock wool and the bag? No standing water should be in there. I would then not wet the bag before and see if that helps. Oh, make sure everything is very clean esp your hands before you start. This is so important. I would never reuse my bags just to ensure a really clean environment, free of any possible pathogens.
I guess you could soak your seeds in 10% bleach for I think it is 5 minutes just before you put them in the rockwool.
Good luck!
Maybe there was alittle bit too much condensation in there. (condensation caused some standing water. So I got a sterile towel, and wiped it out a bit, closed it back up and it seems to be back to normal. It was only one little white spot. I don't want to bother it again, so I'll just leave it be now. I appreciate your help.
I tried soaking seeds in the bleach/water solution and either they weren't viable seeds or none worked :( I'm not good at the bigger seeds, the smaller one's...right on :)
bump because it is seed time