Anybody taking pictures of their sprouts?

The boxes are Sterilite boxes with clear lids (we found them at Lowes). They have about 16 holes drilled in the tops. The bottoms have an area at each end of the box that is slightly rounded and lower than the main box, so hubby drilled about 4 holes on each end for drainage and I have them sitting on a slight incline so they will drain well.

The cups are a 7 inch firm plastic cup from Steakout (my nephew is a local business man who had a Steakout restaurant for a while. When he sold out, we got tons of supplies, including a couple of cases of cups). Each cup has four holes drilled in the bottom. The cups are flexible enough to let me gently "smoosh" it to make it easier to slide the seedlings out. You could also use styrofoam cups to do the same thing.

I also used jugs (with a flap cut in the side) and 2-liters with the wedges cut from the top so they fit over the bottoms. I don't use tape.

The boxes weren't cheap (about $13 a box) but I plan to use them over and over and they've held up really well so far.
I'll try to get some better pics of the containers this afternoon when I get home from school.

I was going to ask a lot of the same questions.... great set-up!!

I too have been looking for the clear Sterlite-type of box, but could not find any with clear lids.. they all seem to be white.
I don't have a Lowes near by... well 15-20 min away.

I will probably look for sales and stock up for next year.

Pam your set up is so organized and neat looking. I like the fact that your sterlite containers can be used year after year. You've probably given us all a wonderful idea for years to come. You can see the root system in the clear cups too. Thanks for the pictures.

Pam - inspirational! What a great setup you have.

Joanne

Great set-up, Pam! Very creative use of Sterlite containers. As you mentioned, you can use them year after year, so it is a good return on your initial investment.

tcs1366: Check the other big box stores in your area and see if they carry the containers with a clear lid. If they have them, you might ask when they may possibly go on sale....and then stock up!

Thanks for the kind words! I took some more (very bad) pics, lol. Here's one of the lid and its holes (hubby used a drill on everything, doing a very small pilot hole first to prevent cracking, then a bigger bit to expand the hole).

I ws'd my jugs and bottles first, starting January 13. I soon realized that I had way more seed than I had containers.

Edited - Please excuse the weeds. I didn't need to winter sow those, lol.

This message was edited Mar 20, 2007 7:19 PM

This box was sown February 1. I've already planted out some of the cups and others are sitting in an old window box waiting to be planted.

The last cups/boxes sown were on March 4. I still have probably another box worth of seed to go (and I can't seem to stop buying more seed, lol).

I like the way you've cut flaps in the milk jugs. Looks much easier than cutting the whole top off.

Oh that IS a great way to open the milk jugs! And the clothes pin is the trick at keeping them open. That tip needs to be sent in to Trudi for wintersown.org. She'd probably like that idea.

Pam, how did you plant those sweet peas? Do you have success with the hunk-o-seedling transplant method?

Tammy - The sweet peas were so easy to separate that I planted some individually from that cup, then put the rest back in the cup (with a bit more soil) to plant out this weekend. The same goes for the pyrethrum I planted out. I did end up HOS'ing some iceland poppies, purple foxglove, clarkia, and five spot, as the roots for those were beyond my patience that day.
One thing I will make sure to do next year is have soil almost to the top of my cups. Since the cups were opaque, plants in the ones I didn't fill enough are a little lanky. As I have never grown clarkia or five spot (my lanky ones), I don't know if that's common for them, but it would probably have helped to have more soil.

Edit - Wgnkiwi and Cordeledawg - I picked up the tip on how to cut the jugs (and the method I used on the 2-liters) from the folks at GW, so I can't take credit for those. I especially likes the way the 2-liters worked. The lids fit so firmly on the bottoms (without tape) that I could lift the bottle without worrying that it would drop.

This message was edited Mar 21, 2007 5:55 AM

This message was edited Mar 21, 2007 5:57 AM

I just created my first Winter Sewn Seedling diary of some of my seedlings and will be adding more.

P

I saw that! Those are good pictures, too. I figured out that my cell phone takes good close-up pictures, compared to the digital camera anyway. All I have to do is get my e-mail connection fixed and I can start sending the pics to my computer and upload them. I see I have a black Hollyhock coming up this morning, and it's going be around 60 degrees for the next couple days! Probably start getting all kinds of sprouts soon. :)

I've got veggies sprouting too but I didn't know if anyone would be interested in pix of veggies. I been sewing annuals like a crazy woman this week and more craziness to follow. I still have tons of seeds to sew but I have to make room in the greenhouse before I sew any more.

P

Of course we would love to see veggie sprouts! We love SPROUTS! LOL It is jus so exciting to watch things grow!

Bigred - I love your diary of seedlings. I can't wait until I can afford a better camera so I can do a photo record of individual seedlings.

Here's the only read good one I got today,

Mammoth Gray Stripe Sunflower

I'll try to get them in soon.

P

wgnkiwi: Please keep us posted on your Lisianthis. I have just fallen in love with that flower. I think it may be too late to start WSing those seeds but I will definitely next year add those to the list.

So please keep me posted!!!!!

Lisianthus Update: I took this photo this morning. There are a new set of leaves popping up. I think it might be time to hit them with a jolt of fish fert.

The first time I saw Lisianthus was in a huge bouquet of all white flowers which included lots of roses and peonies. It was soooo gorgeous.

wgnkiwi: When did you sow those seeds? They're looking good! It's too bad that such a magnificent flower isn't a perennial in my zone. All the more reason for me to perfect the WS technique so I can have bouquets coming out the WaZoo!!!!!!!
Carol

Carol - I started the seeds in the middle of November and they germinated at the beginning of February. I bough the seeds last year not realising that they were quite difficult to grow so the WS'ing was just a "why not" moment. Even though I didn't get a high germination rate I'll definitely be trying them again this winter.

Last year I bought some Lisi plants from a local nursery but completely forgot that they were perennial and at the end of summer they ended up in the green bin for recycling. Oops....

wgnkiwi: You're so lucky to be able to have Lisi's as perennials. For my zone (6a) I would have to treat them as an annual, which is fine with me. I'll just remember to start WSing them early next year. It does seem like alot of waiting for an annual, but "good things come to those who wait". Keep me posted. I can't wait to see what they look like this summer!
Carol

Here are my first to be transplanted. They were outgrowing their lil container. So now they are in 8" peat pots that i have put into a garden "barrel" until they are big enough to plant out back.

3 Mammoth Sunflowers

Beautiful sprouts! You won't have to wait long for those baby Sunflowers to take off & GROW!

Wow. I like Pam's system a lot - seems less labor intensive. I know which clear flexible (sort of)cups you mean. I don't know what clear lidded boxes would be like, but I have all summer and fall to work on it. Now that I HAVE SPROUTS (!) I guess this will happen to me!!!!

Cord, your journal is INCREDIBLE. What are you going to do with all those plants? I keep losing seeds too!


We need a what-sprouts-look-like thread.

Shirley, thank you for your perennial (joke!!!) advice and encouragement! Can you tell me why some WS seeds germinate sooner in colder places? I mean Steven, in zone 2 or so, had a lot of germination weeks ago while I've only started today.

Happy happy happy!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Carrie

well, i have a lot of new sprouts, but they don't look like much yet... though i did find these in my southern flower bed.

there are actually 8 seedlings in this photo... i think right against the foundation it must be warmer.... I've never seen them sprout this early. gads.... more 4-O'clocks

I submitted a couple of seedling pics to PF

creeping thyme

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/145179/

desert rose

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/145192/

Nice job, gram. The desert rose picture is excellent! And the creeping thyme one is like I said about my bulb pictures, they weren't gong to win any prizes but you can still identify something from them.

Carrie, that's kind of what I was hoping for this thread, but the more the merrier. Any place we can look to get id's is a help. I have a couple unkowns, I have a habit of putting seeds in my potted palm tree (really a yucca) and forgetting what they were. They look a lot like tabasco's unknowns on her thread.

tcs, I have a bunch of containers right next to a thick concrete porch, I'm sure it keeps the temperature steadier

Just found this page today on Adenium "Desert Rose" thought I would share the info..http://www.flowerpictures.net/adenium/index.htm

Here is Dichondra 'Silver Falls'. It was started inside.

I have lots of different kinds of sprouts outside that were wintersown, but I haven't taken pics of them yet. These indoor shots will have to do for now.

This message was edited Mar 30, 2007 1:22 AM

This is Primula helodoxa, also started inside. If you think they look bad in this picture, you should have seen them a day after I sprayed them with 1/4 strength Mighty Plant and almost killed them!

This message was edited Mar 30, 2007 1:21 AM

This is batfaced Cuphea, also started inside.

This is a shot of the cotyledons of Sweet Italian Basil -- from Critterolgist. I started them inside because I thought they were hard to grow for some reason. LOL! I have way too many, and they were sown too soon. Luckily she packed enough seeds for s second (outdoors this time) sowing if these don't make it.

My last pic is of some F1 Ageratum on its F2 generation. The germination was very poor, as some of you are finding out. These were the seeds I sent to the WS Swap I. I have 20 seedlings total from the same sized package I sent out to people, but they were in 2 sowings when I realized how poor the germination was on the first batch.

Hi ya Mike

Here are some of mine.

Some of my WSn seedlings
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=3334305

Sown indoors
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=3334311
Tomato's
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=3334324

Connie

Illoquin, that's funny, I still have Basil from last year in the freezer. To me that Cuphea looks like Basil, for now anyway.
And I have several dozen (too many to count easily) Ageratums from the swap, and that was just half the pack sowed, so who knows what's going on there. Maybe some flowers just weren't fertile, maybe I got lucky.

How's the weather up there Connie? Just curious what your last frost date is around there. The plants look great, you reminded me I have to start some 'maters.

Indoor seedlings, outdoor, pictures of pets, I don't care, go ahead post whatever you want, this is fun, thanks! Maybe this weekend I can spend six more hours on the phone with Verizon and get the e-mail going so I can post pictures from the camera phone. I should ask for James Earl Jones, go straight to the top this time, he seems like a nice guy when he's not Darth Vader.

Mike, we have a few nice days then comes more cold and rainy days yuck, it frosted last night, first time since I have no idea. Usually our last frost date is around the middle of May but it has known to go up to the first part of June :(
Didn't use to tho, but for some strange reason every ones weather is changing. pretty soon we'll be having the souths weather and the south will be having ours if it keeps going like it is... It's just plain WEIRD! lol