It was winter I think it was Feb. I know they need cold to germinate but what else lol We only had like one small snow that I can remember last year and forgot to throw them out then I thought about throwing some out and putting burlap on top of them to keep the birds out what do you think?
CG Forum STOKE'S SEED SWA-OP
Oh, Bummer. I guess it could have been any number of reasons. I fold!
I'm hope hope hoping to germinate some meconopsis seeds that I got in England earlier in the year -- odds are against me, but momma's gotta try! lol
I would love to have some of those but it would only be a tease, one of these days, they don't do so well with humidity do they? I think they need to be cool so that leaves me out even if I could get them to germinate :)
YES. It's sad, but true, but I'm determined to keep trying ... only because the folks on the Poppy Forum have been encouraging me. Plant Files claims that they should grow in this Zone, but methinks that that is an error. Of course, USDA zones do not account for humidity, so ...
Our humidity started way early last year just wondering how it's going to be next year, every year anymore is a surprise.
There is another forum for poppies? I can't keep up with what I'm watching now lol I'll have to check it out!
Gee - I winter-sowed my red poppies and they germinated and I transplanted them and they grew - then I found out they don't like to be transplanted - but it worked fine for me :-)
re Geranium Summer Showers Burgundy:
[Cover seed flats with plastic after soaking with warm water. The plastic should be removed in 4 or 5 days.].....
What is the purpose of covering with the plastic? Does it warm the area more or just increases the moisture? I would think it would make the soil surface get moldy??? I never usually cover my seedling trays.
Also, what do you think my chances of germination are if I don't have a heating pad? I have a very bright spot with or without direct sun but no heating pad.
Wind, good questions. I don't have a heating pad either. I just finished sowing mine and have them sitting on a tray over my (gas) stove, so they are getting bottom heat from the pilot light. I'll move them down onto my light stand next week. I do also like the idea of setting pots on top of the refrigerator to help with germination, if required.
wrightie, do you cover your trays too?
Well I just had to go to the poppy forum a new one on me :) Lots of good information, I may try my luck again this year.
I use the top of my stove all of the time to soak seeds I love gas stoves I'll probably never have an electric one lol I would think it would be warm enough to keep the geranium seeds on there. I keep four jugs of water on mine to water my seedlings with and on the back of the stove on the top I keep all of my seeds I'm soaking it holds quite a few then I use the box to my cable on top of the tv I soak seeds on that too for the warmth lol I have a heat mat I use downstairs on top of one of my 5 plantstands. It soesn't seem like my fridge has enough heat on top to use for some reason I've put a Thermometer on there and it doesn't get warm enough for me. I would put a thermometer on your top of the stove in a baking dish or something and check to see if it gets the right temp. for your geranium seeds that's how I check mine out.
Good ideas, LeBug.
Wind, I am in the general habit of covering the seeds just until initial germination. It's a habit that I got into years ago - I always figured that it's mainly done for the humidity, but I'm no botanist or horticulturist by any measure of the words! lol
I cover mine until they germinate too then I put a fan on them and you have to really watch them when you put a fan on them because they dry out a lot faster but you need the fan for preventing dampning off with the seedlings. If you cover your seedlings it keeps the heat in too, if you have a lot of moisture droplets on the top of your cover I would open it for a little while and let it dry out a bit I have the tray domes and just set them to the side for a while and let them drain dry then put them back on.
I do the same thing, LB. I have a small oscillating fan which is placed about ten feet away from my stand and is set on low. I haven't had much problem with damping off since using a fan and watering from below and misting the tops as needed.
Suzy how did your african daisies make it last year I remember you were planting some and I'm trying them again this year any tips. Did you see the ones in the new Park's catalog that are in lavender shades, this one lady had some last year at a yard sale I went to and they were a gorgeous deep purple I would love to find some seeds to those! I should have stopped by her house in the fall and begged some seed out of her lol I just wonder if they would have come true.
thanks for the info, I'll have to get myself organized so I can get the geranium seeds started. I really need a rack and lights still too...
a nice photo of viola cornuta 'penny purple picotee'
http://wholesale.thompson-morgan.com/eu/en/product/5308/1
the dianthus gratianopolitanus 'cheddar pink' is really going to be nice too!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/175796/
I'm having fun sowing my loot today! I have not decided what I'm going to do with my PennyPurplyPicotee (nice ring to that) ... Containers? Front Border? Who knows.
The cheddar pinks smell glorious, too! I can hardly wait to see and smell them in bloom. They will always remind me of my recently belated MIL, so I'm particularly looking forward to having them.
I plant all of my violets by the mail box and so looking forward to these blooms I may plant one of the dianthus there too it would be a good spot for them if the mail lady doesn't run over them. I had to put a couple of those pin wheels there to keep her out of my plants when she pulls up she has crushed one planter I had of violets there so far lol She's a nice lady I really don't want to yell at her but it was getting to that point but really those nice little flowers there are for her enjoyment as she delivers the mail. Thanks for the links wind :)
Maybe some sharp (tire deflating) garden edging would be just the trick? lol
You are so funny lol I couldn't do that to my mail lady mashed plants and all even lol
I wonder where Suzy is? Wonder if she is playing with all of those seeds we got, I need to start some sorting in different planting catagories instead of being on here all day lol Just can't get away from DG's!
Well, I somehow managed to sow four flats of seeds today. I used market packs and only put one type of seed in each six cell pack. I shouldn't have to worry about not having enough variety this year. :)
This is a little early for me to be sowing wish it wasn't because I'm going stir crazy in the house wanting to get outside so bad! I will start some lantana, velvet knight and some lisianthus in Jan. sometime. I'll probable sow three flats of lantana hoping to get four plants out of it I don't have much luck sowing them.
My truck has been without a battery so haven't gotten my dirt for WS yet I just hope the guy comes to fix it next week, it's been two weeks since he said he would? I need to give him a call Monday and see what's going on, a brand new battery and it's dead! This has happened twice now I just don't drive it enough I guess.
Lebug sounds like you might want to get him to check the alternator too. I had that happen once. A bad alternator can suck the juice out of good batteries.
Thanks cat, I'll have him check that out he hooked it up to a machine the last time to see what was drawing the juice out of it didn't find anything.
The African Daisies I get all confused....the Osteospermum and the Venidium...I forget which is which. LeBug, the dark purple ones are probably grown from cuttings. I htink mine all died when the cold snap hit at Easter because the only ones I had (Osteospermum) were ones I bought. Or else I killedthem some other way, or they didn't germinate at all.....not sure.
I forget who asked the initital question on the geraniums, but I already messed mine up. WITH a heat mat, they germinated in 4 days. I covered mine by putting them in a deli round thing (potato salad) but I put too much soil in them and they didn't have enough head room. One seedling hit the top and curled into a curlique it probably will not grow out of. One is weird wtih only one cotyledon, instead of two. The other 5 didn't germinate probably because I had to pull the lid off for the early germinaters, and they got too cold. They are down the basement -- temp about 62-64 degrees with a heat mat.
Sorry about the typing -- just got back from helping DD#1 in Chicago. Dog Tired.
Suzy
I know I had planted some a couple of years ago and had trouble with them after they germinated downstairs and it had something to do with the watering but not sure what, well I may try again this year I think these are the Osteospermum from Park's in lavender colors. I'm going to try them again and see what happens, thanks Suzy.
If I see those dark purple ones this year I'm getting a couple they were so pretty!
Suzy you poor baby get you some rest :)
I am revived, LOL!, and as a matter of fact, I was just thinking about the White Elephant Swap and the timing of it. I want to get people their seeds in time for early sowing, but I want to make it late enough that people will open their packs (even from last year) and really look at them to determine if they have extra seeds.
What does a Feb 1 deadline look like to you guys? Then I have 2 weeks to get them back out? Or would Feb 15 be better with a March 1st date to send them out? You'd have them by Mar 5 or 6th.?????
And how are you all going to handle the inevitable, "I want this!", and "I want that!" posts? How will you all keep up? I think it will be the opposite of last time's: The SENDER takes care of who the seeds are for.
Suzy
Suzy I am going thru seeds today. Can I send them in a bit early?
Suzy
I will be going through my seeds this week.
Okay, what if I posted the swap on the swap forum -- is that round robin or seed trading? I'm not even sure where it should go!
Then you guys can start listing the seeds you have on your own? Don't have to D-mail me.
The object of the game (for me) is to have uou work out your own trades for most of the seeds and then I plug in with the others that didn't get listed.
Hang titew on sending me anything DD#2 goes back to college on the 12th? Something like that, I need to check.
Suzy
Suzy
Round robin is sending it thru the mail isn't it? You take whatever then leave the same? I would say this is a swap, that's my take on it
The date on it sounds good too. I wasn't quite sure what you were going to do now this simple mind understands :)
Yes, it's a swap -- but there isn't a swap forum. Is that seed trading or round robin? It's sort of a trade, but it's also like a round robin because it's a group-thing.
I guess seed trading is better, but people looking for group swaps might go to the RR forum. Hmmm.
LeBug, was Feb 1 or Feb 15 better for you to have your seeds in? Anybody else want to weigh in on the date or anything else before I post it?
Suzy
I say trading. Round robins are really where you mail the box from person to person and each one takes what they want and adds things and then sends it on.
I can go with whatever date is decided on.
~ jan
edit to add: so if I have it right...each of us works out our swap with each of the other traders. so there's no leftover 'junk'. and Suzy won't have any sorting to do. everything comes in in marked baggies??
This message was edited Dec 31, 2007 6:51 AM
Naw, there can be some leftover junk. :)) A lot depends on the person sending. Some people say here are my seeds, just send me back x number of packs. Other people might say they don't want any Hollyhocks, brown eyed susans, liatris etc., so then I am forced to send a thank you card saying the last 10 packs were all Hollyhocks, Brown Eyed Susans and Liatris and the Butterfly Forum thanks you very much. LOL!
I would like the really, really common stuff to find a home before arrival, and also the sort of weird stuff: trees, wildflowers, weeds, shrubs, gigantic stuff or hard to grow or hard to germinate. Things that the right person would give their eye teeth for, but the rest of us are thinking, "What the heck is this???" It is not imperative, but yo umight as well tell me what kind of Gaillardia you want, what color Hollyhock, and what color cleome. Those are the most common, but I have a short list I'll post. Limit 2 packs on those unless you just want to donate them. I want the Peaches and Dreams Hollyhocks. I forgot to pull a pack for myself on the last swap!
Suzy
Suzy, I have a Peaches & Dreams you can have.
This message was edited Dec 31, 2007 8:01 AM
I can go with either date. I can't comment on the best place to post....don't know...wherever you decide just let us know and we'll find you :) So what if we post that we have _____ (whatever seeds) and noone chimes in and says they want them? Do we still send them in to you?
So Suzy are we posting first and listing what we have then everybody chimes in to say what they want and then we send them to you and then you take it from there? I'm still kind of foggy on this :)
May I suggest one thing if someone does have a pack of seeds they offer and if they are hard to germinate and they only have ten seeds of that one, can we not split them into two packs for two people wanting them, just one person get them because there are only ten seeds and they are hard to germinate? Thats the only thing about a swap like this if I'm understanding it right, someone puts up one pack of seeds and two people are wanting it you don't get enough seeds for germination of a difficult seed. Myself I like to have at least ten seeds unless this plant is easy to germinate. Do I sound bad? I get very intimidated when I have less than ten seeds lol I realise some seeds might not have very many seeds in the pack but lets not split them up for two people if it's less than ten seeds, do you see what I am saying? I'm not very good with words :) Like shrub seeds, I wouldn't want a pack that has less than ten seeds, some shrubs are kind of hard to germinate, but I love trying them and tree seeds, if someone had a pack of 7 seeds and another person wanted it too I would just say take them instead of splitting them up.
Any date is fine with me and the date you put up will give me time to get my seeds together I still have seeds everwhere, I don't know how some people can stay so organized with seeds lol
Any date is fine with me.
any date is good for me. :-)
LeBug, Yes, what you said :)) No reason to split packs unless there are a billion seeds. I was sort of thinking it's more like "first come, first served".
BUT people who work will get the shaft unless the SENDER can hold up on saying "it's yours". Use Dmail a lot for requests, but also the thread so we know what's going on. You can update your post as a way to keep us updated,
You can always come back to this thread if you just want to talk to the CG people for some reason.
Suzy
How come when Dylancgc did it, it all worked like a charm, and I can hardly explain it?
This message was edited Jan 1, 2008 3:40 AM