Life: after my seeds don't sprout

I often start my seeds in little pots... or little cells in plastic bags.. unfortunatly only a few will sprout.. these I move out after they are hardened off some.. Ones that don't sprout right out are left on the heat tray under the lights till they build up in numbers.. or I have new ones to start and I need the warm/light spots.. then what..
As I was moving everything up to the roof.. I was left with a bunch of unsprouting cubes .. and thought of the Japaneese morningglories which I pull out by the hand full .....sprouts from last summer of flowers ..and in a week I'm there in the pots.. pulling them out by the handfull again ..
Then it came to me that it takes time to sprout them all out.. so I took a large plastic saucer... and made a large dish garden for the unsprouted.. today I see there are three new sprouts .. miss. b have in.. and a
Lilac 1 cross.. and a sprout from a Suzanne cross...
So..give the seeds plenty of time to sprout...then more time in a dish ... Gordon

here's another photo of the dish.. life extention area... Gordon

Gordon it can take two months or more for some seeds to sprout. You can plant a batch of seeds and have many come up right away, and others won't sprout for months, even out of the same cross. I almost threw out the tray that had 3 Rubiline x Peanut crosses in it. It was more than 2 months and several of the cells had rotted. I saw that the beans were still good in 3 of the cells, even though there had been no sign of anything happening. Well after I emailed the hybridizer and told her i was a total failure with this batch of seeds, i saw life in one cell. Then another and another. The rest is history. Two of these plants are huge and will have their first blooms while I am away. The third plant is "Leona"!! To think she almost went into the trash scares me to death. As long as you can see that a bean has not rotted away I would leave it be for as long as it takes......

This message was edited Jun 19, 2007 7:50 AM

Yes.. I look through and see what's happening...if I can find it...
Alfalfa is about the perfect seed to sprout for me... I do try hard to get them up and out..
thanks for the timeframe... so two months is about longest to have them emerge.. I'm sure I was real close with these to that long.. their planting buddiesmight be afoottall now..
Gordon

So glad you got at least 2 Gordon. I hate it when I get nothing after trying so hard!

Listen, so did you get handfuls of seedlings or handfuls of failures with your MGs? I have some very special Japanese mg seeds but haven't tried germinating them yet. Any pointers, Gordon would be much appreciated.

Hi Kell... Well .. the blue picotee MG's did pretty well in germinating.. about the best... they have just started blooming.. although they are just weakly beginning to get the hang of flowering.. I'm less than greatly impressed with them or their viggor. but it is early...I had some from Japan..and a pack from Columbus OH..
Keiryu I recognise as blooming now.. sweet light pastel.. it was the one I most wanted to do well.. China Doll was a strong grower for me..a varaigated leaf MG..yet to bloom though.. I do give everyone a bit of dehydrated decomposed cow manure.. for strength..when they sluff of it's effect and the bloom booster kicks in... they will bloom just fine
Ao Jishi ....Kawaii...Keir yu.....and ...Sokketsu did less well... guess I got at least one from each.. I'd have to look to where they went..some sprouted later..so I have no real tally.. Akatatsu No tsuyu didworst of all sprouting nothing..
but all in all they were a disappointment.But I'll I'll think better of them when there are more blooming I can recognize but I seem to be at about 30%-40% germination rate.. my good old American seeds/...where germination rate runs some where about 250%..
All the best there Kell................. Gordon
To get the most to sprout out.. I'd treat them like my standard ones.. which do best planted in pots I don't want them growing in...and their favorite place is in behind and under a few planters... try sowing yours there... you'll have great success... I'm sure..

Oh.. the ones I pull out by the hand full are Mt Fugi's from last year.. I gave 4 dozen pots of these...with lots in each...as part of a stoop sale.. a come closer / look promotion..after a few hours with one sale..at $1.00..I couldn't imagine just where to return them to.. if they didn't sell..Gordon