I Just Couldn't Stand It...

Kim sent me a few Corkscrew Vine seeds, and I planted them, without soaking them, sanding them, clipping them, nothing! I just put them into some dirt. Well I got to thinking...maybe I should have done something, to the seed...so I checked the pot...they had sprouted, all of them...but somehow there were on the bottom of the pot...now how did that happen? I very gently repotted them into a large peat pot...See? It is so small, you can barely see it, and I can see that I need to plant it deeper...I did pile dirt around that little, pale-looking stem....

This message was edited Mar 26, 2005 2:10 AM

wooohooo! way 2 go, Melva!!

My seed just sat until I clipped it, soaked it again, and gave it 80' heat.... go figure! You've just got the touch! :-)

What if you domed the pot with a plastic cover to keep the surface moist until the plant can size up a bit?

probably a good suggestion, WZ. I put my little pots into ziploc baggies until they got their first true leaves, and they both seem to be doing well now.

Yes, that would work, too. I was just thinking that, with most of the plants root system exposed, it might dry out. I've not grown corkscrew vine, so I'm just wingin' it here!

I think that is a good idea, I have a dome that will work for that pot and others...but I have planted the little thing deeper, so it isn't as exposed....I am just wondering how on earth they got to the bottom of the pot, where I found them?

Some plants need darkness to germinate, so maybe the ones that ended up in the bottom are the ones that germinated... or, it could be that some other seeds were in your soil mix and germinated. Guess you'll have to wait and see!

There were three seeds and they all germinated! Two of them were in the bottom of the pot and one was mid way down..

Melva, This usually happens during watering. I've also seen this happen, when a seed will be at the bottom of the pot after sowing near the top. The seeds begins to sink to the bottom over a period of time. I'm impatient and I want a seedling in 3 days...LOL So I nick and soak to get them going in a few days.

Melva,

2 & 3 Liter soda bottles work as good domes (cloches?) Very inexpensive, I buy a lot of lemon & lime seltzer water.

I take a nail & heat it up; and with pliers on it, I punch a whole in the cap.

~* Robin

I have a numberof the Park Bio Domes the ones that have a green plastic bottom piece and a another plastic dome that is vented so you can open and close it as needed. I have found that if I put the large peat pots inside, the dome fits perfectly over the top....I have some Passifloa that I have started (they were soaked for 24 hours in hot water, 160 degrees)...and I have some rose cuttings that would benifit from the high humidity...I think I will put them all in there. I will send you a picture, when I do...its a nasty day outside so I am not doing anything outside today....

Oh, babies are always so cute.

Melva, I hate to tell you...But the picture you show, looks like a weed that sometimes grow in peat mix. They do not look like Vigna babies..I could be wrong but the seed stays attached to the seedling. Do the look like this? Are there a lot of roots attached to the seedlings?

Day 2 the leaves fully opened

Oh No! They don't look like that...so where did the seeds go? I looked through the whole pot, very carefully, a handful at a time..and there were only three seedlings...I am so dissappointed. But thanks for telling me Kim, so I have potted up weed seedlings? Not for long!

This message was edited Mar 26, 2005 7:04 PM

If you can find the seeds...you'll have to nick and soak them...then they'll germinate.

Good catch, Kim. I confess, I didn't look closely enough at that first picture. Sorry, melva. I hope you can find the "real" seeds!

If it makes you feel better, not only did I carefully pot up weed seedlings one time that I thought were new spring shoots from a choice thyme plant, I actually gave a pot of them to a close family friend who'd been gardening for over 60 years! She smiled and thanked me and didn't say a word. I was so embarassed when the plants in my other pots grew a little larger and were clearly revealed as weeds!