Help Please

I have two problems.. I don't know where to post this so if anyone could send me in the right direction I would be truly gratefull..... First one is I dont really know what they mean when they say a seed is getting leggy? I am going to send a picture with thie post to see if you all know... Second one is, It rained here allot this past week and now in one of my flower bed, and only of them for I have a couple. I have mushroom all over this bed... I have not gotten to weed this one yet but the mushrooms are all over.. I use the same mulch in all the beds and this is
the only one with it... HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP
Thank you for any help.
Susan
PS I know that these have to thinned.

There is a seed germination forum, that is a good place to start. There is a link http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/germination/all/

What are the seedlings, looks like Zinnia to me. Are you growing them under lights, If so the light should be just above the top of the seedling. Seedlings get leggy when they are stretching to get enough light.

Chris

just to clarify- yes think one would call those leggy : ^)
you could soon carefully grab them by a leaf and gently pull them apart (cut the webbing?) and transplant them into small individual pots or cell packs, letting the roots go to the bottom and fill up with soil just keeping the leaves out of the soil.
and get them close to the lights like Chris said

Thank you all for your great help... I have some small peat pots that are no bigger then what they are in now so tomorrow I will head out to the store and get bigger ones... At this stage do they need to be moist? or on the dryer side? Thanks again.
Susan

I generally try to keep seedlings moist but not sopping wet... bottom watering can help keep the top of the mix from getting soggy... soggy potting mix, especially at the surface, can encourage the various nasties that cause damping off.

Just as a note, some people love peat pellets and peat pots.... and others can't stand them. Some plants have a hard time getting their roots through the sides, so it can help to tear away the webbing or cut a few holes through the bottom and sides of the peat pots when you plant them out. Also, when planting out be sure to completely bury the rim of the pot -- if it sticks out, it can wick moisture away from the roots of the little plant.

Oh thank you... I just got home with my big peat pots and will put dirt in them then take these out of those little one and put these in bigger one... Thank you for all your help.
Susan

Suan,

How are your plants doing? I finally got around to transplanting mine yesterday and I hated to toss the extra seedlings so I gently pulled them apart and put them in bigger pots too! Now I have about 40 lavender seedlings and 30 tomato plants, LOL!

I noticed no one answered your mushroom question, and I wanted to take a stab at it- possibly the bed with them is damper than the others due to drainage or not getting as much sun as the others? Try adding some sand or gypsum to help the drainage. I always had this problem when I lived in PA because I had access to free mushroom compost. I lived near the mushroom capital of the world, Kennett Square, PA and the soil had to be very humusy to grow the mushrooms. The growers would get rid of the soil after the heavy mushroom crops had stopped coming up but the problem was that there were still mushroom spores that would keep producing and if the compost was too cold, it wouldn't kill off the spores so I would get baby mushroms if it rained too much because that lovely humusy soil would stay damp for days!
Terri

I would be happy to get free mushrooms from mushroom compost! But beware any others- I have heard that there are NO native edible mushrooms in MD.
My mulch had cute little cup fungus last year, little cups with black seeds in them. I had never heard of it.

You sure you don't have morels there, Sally? People here go nuts for morels in the spring and carefully protect the location of their wild sources. I've always been afraid to collect wild mushrooms myself because I don't know enough about them.

http://www.thegreatmorel.com/faq.html

Hart, we almost crossed replies. This is what I was wrighting when you posted.

There is one edible mushroom in MD I know of and that is the Morel. But I also advise, if you don't know what your looking for, I would caution others not to try it. I've been hunting them since I could walk in the woods and they're absolutely my favorite food. It's almost that time to go hunting, but I think this cold weather is going to keep them from growing. The growing season is extremely short, about 2 to 3 weeks max.

I would't eat ANY mushrooms that popped up in my garden even if it was from mushroom soil. Because the mushroom soil get tossed into a pile outside the mushroom house when the growers are done with it, there's a good chance that other kinds of wild mushroom spores have populated the soil....

I don't think anyone was suggesting that Susan eat the mushrooms that popped up in her garden bed, Dragonfly. We sort of veered off into a discussion on morels.

No one should eat any mushroom picked in the wild unless they really know what they're doing.

Oh, dragonfly, very good point you make, I didn't think about it that way. I did sort of imply I might eat mushrooms from mushroom compost waste.
I have not morels but cup fungus, group ascomycetes I think. Amazingly I can't find any in plantfiles although I thought I had before. I neglected to get the google address I was just at. Tiny interesting things grew on mulch. Couldn't believe there were 'seeds' in fungus.
What I heard was specifically that there are no edible mushrooms in Anne Arundel County. MD. Related to me by a parent who took her kid in for unknown problem possible eating things in yard. (turned out fine)

Wow, no edible mushrooms at all in your county, I wonder why that is? I would think there'd at least be morels, they seem to grow all over the place....is your ground very sandy?

On another note, I grew edible mushrooms this year with a kit I bought from a garden supplier. They were delicious, although a lot more expensive than buying them from the actual mushroom growers!

yes we are a sandy loam.....oh life is so hard digging in sandy loam!!! I can't believe how hard my mom's clay is after being spoiled!!
I did the mushroom kit once too. Kinda fun. Cheaper at the farm store than the Pinetree mail order, think I spent 15-20 on it.
But not to hijack. Susan how are they doing?