Damping off

I use plastic myself, but I don't want any holes in the plastic when I am starting the seeds. I want full moisture, and I even uncover and mist the seeds and the inside of the plastic every am until I uncover the seeds. Wouldnt poking holes in the domes after you see germination ruin them for further use?

Nope, the domes work just fine from the start with the holes. I know there's just the right amount of moisture when I see a little breath of mist on the inside of the plastic rather than big drops of condensation -- and it seems easier to get to that "just right" point with a few holes for ventilation. I'm surprised you haven't had trouble with molds or algae if you're keeping things that wet, but hey if it works for you then it works!

You can also prop up the dome a little on one end to create a gap & allow a little ventilation if you don't want to poke holes.

Most of the seeds that I start, germinate within 7 days, so I don't have any algae. I have noticed thru the years that it is moisture and bottom heat that will speed up and improve germination. If I were germinating something that took a month or so, I would bury the seeds in the soil, not use plastic and just keep the soil wet. I just started 6000 ornamental pepper seeds a few days ago. I will try to take some pictures of how the plastic is (i.e the amt of moisture on the plastic) so you can see.

That's a lot of peppers!!

As I said, different things work for different people... bottom heat is definitely great for peppers! I soak my pepper seeds, which probably also helps, and then I just keep the potting mix barely moist for germination.

How long do you water them with the tea mixture. Do you use it everytime or like once a week. Ya'll got me top crazy, I think I'm going in and taking mine off and telling my daughter to hide them and never give them back no matter how much foot stamping I do

Why can't we use the tops as a flat when we take it off. Great believer in using up everything. Must have been really poor as a baby.

The domes that I have are pretty flimsy.. I think they'd crack if I tried to use them as trays. But then, I eventually gave up on the black plastic trays that kept cracking on the corners and switched to sturdier "perma-nest" trays (green plastic -- available from Parks and other sources).

You're right, I remember last year doing that, picking it up and broke in half. Oh well, it was a thought, even if it was a bad one. I'm just glad I still have thoughts

LOL! Cafeteria type trays work pretty well under sheet pots, but really I like "standard" nursery flats/trays best. I use the old black ones with the holes outside... they'll hold rain water or water from the hose long enough for potted plants in them to get a really good drink, and then the water slowly drains away.

This damping off issue is one I think challenges a lot of would-be seed starters. I have an observation that might be startling and I have been shot down and flamed by people when I have mentioned it elsewhere. I will offer it up just the same.

I have incredible bad luck trying to start seeds in those soiless, sterilized seed-starting mixtures commercially available. What I have found to work best for me is a native soil called peat. This is not the spaghum moss or peat moss stuff. This looks like really heavy black dirt. A few years back, Wal-Mart carried it as a low grade top soil and marketed it as Waupaca dirt. I have never had any damping off. I do get some weed seed germination, but very good purchased seed germination as well. I don't use any chemicals. I wil mention though, that as I prick out plants and grow them on in bigger pots, some sort of fertilizer is necessary as peat is naturally low in nitrogen in addition to having natural anti-fungal properties because of its pH.

I use florescent shop lights and a seed heating pad until I get germination. I also use a dome or saran wrap across the top of my seed starting trays.

That's interesting! I do think there's a drawback to using sterilized soil... you lose the naturally occurring "helpful" organisms in the soil as well as the potential baddies. Maybe your "peat" soil has just the right stuff in it. Or maybe you're not overcrowding, not overwatering, etc. and that keeps trouble away. Regardless, it's great that you don't have trouble with damping off. As I've said before, if you have a system that works for you, there's no reason to mess with it!

Now, all I have to do is find one that works!!!

Lorraine - I gotta tell you that since I started using the 3% hydrogen peroxide and water coupled with using a bulb syringe to water (yes I know it's slower - but I have a heavy hand just like my lead foot LOL) my last batch of seeds went swimmingly! I would say I have not had a one die from dampening off - but then with my luck I would wake up tomorrow morning and they all would be keeled over in defiance of my saying that! Good Luck Lorraine - I know you are new, like me, to DG and I have read several of your posts and have to say you are asking really good questions that show you want to learn correctly and I admire you for just getting out here and asking questions. Take Care

Deanna

Olivia, I have a funny story about that black peat...I once put in a retaining wall and needed soil to fill in the planting side. I decided it would make sense to buy that black peat instead of trying to fill it with pulverized topsoil clay, then then spend my life ammending it. So I had a triple axle of black peat brought in, my garden level was full-up and planting was a dream, although laundry was a nightmare...the black stuff doesn't come out of clothing! LOL!

Then the weeds -- OMG! I had so much of that nutsedge come in with it, that even now, 20 years later, I am still dealing with it!

But worse than the weeds....it sinks! There is so much organic matter in it, maybe it's all organic matter? that it is decomposing as I type and what was formerly a flower garden all level and full has sunken, really several feet. I had a neighbor who had his entire lawn dug up, removed, regraded, and replaced with sod, and I was able to snag about 6 giant garden way carts full of really great top soil. But it keeps sinking. LOL!

Moral of the story: Yes, you can have too much organic matter!

Suzy

If my puter doesn't have a fit and crash itself, gonna add a bunch of photo's of I do all my seed starting. This puter has a mind of it's own. One day it will post pics and the next it immediatly shuts itself off and takes forever to reboot.

Gonna give it a try though.

May only be able to get a couple up at a time before the crash then will have to wait til it wil let me post ore which could be spread out over a few days.

First, I get me a few of those big think it a 288 count, but I use all differnt sizes of trays. I fill each tray with Fafards extra fine seed germninating mix. It can be gotten from nurseries. Think you may be able to order it on line too in the small packages that weigh about 5 pounds. I fill all the holes and kinda lightly press down to compact it in a tiny bit. Then I give it a good waterign til the water runs out the bottom. Then I let it sit and drain for about 15-20 minutes.

Then I plant my seeds, one seed at a time. If the seeds need cover, then I sprinkle just a fine layer of vermicultite over the top of them.

I take old curtain blinds and cut them up into tiny strips about inches tall and then cut that " strip in half again and place in four spots aroudn the edge of the tray before slidding into a one gallon baggy. One of the other pics shows how i place the little tags.

I take my baggied up tray and place it on the kitchen table. I have a single light bulb lamp that hangs there and is on 24/7. I always leave my seedlings under 24/7 light til they sprout.

The baggy gets the moisture droplets which ya can see in the pic. A fine grouping of mist is ok, If ya don't have any water droplets at all on the top of your bag, you didn't moisten yoru soil enough, if ya have big droplets ya watered to much, take out of baggy let sit for about an hour and then rebag.

After about days, I start looking to check for seedlings. Usually I have seedlings up in three to 7 days for most everything.

I do n't wait for a whole bunch of seedlings to sprout, after I see the first even three or four seedlings pop up I remove the baggy from the tray. Even though the rest are not up they wil pop in a couple of days.

Once out of the baggy, I place the trays in a flat and put a trash bag cut up in the bottom of the flat. My flats all have holes in them and put under the shop lights.

You cna build a stand that will hold 16 flats for around a hundred bucks . You cna also take the stand plans and cut it down. I use 3/4" pvc cuz it cheaper. The directiosn for the plant stand can be found on T's plants and flower things. Just click on the link for plant stand.

I p[lace the lights right up above the tray, just leavign enopugh room to side it out without hitting the bulbs.

another shot of plant stand and seedlings. The rest of the seed wil sprout over the next few days that didn't sprout in the bag.

I do not water the new seedlinsg from the bottom. I mist em a couple times a day and the lights are left on 24/7 still. Usually I mist til the water runs out the bottom.

Here what the full heigth plant stand looks like.

genrally once under the lights it takes about 7 to ten days for the rest of the seeds to germinate and for the first set of true leaves to emerge. When they have emerged, it time to prick them out. I wil prick out all that are ready and leave those that not quite ready back under the lights for a few more days.

When it prick out time. I use those 6 packs. If ya don't want to buy any, you cna generally find friends who have bought plants or stores throwing dead plants out and get those for free. You can bring them home and give in a clorox bath and a good rinse to kill any nasties that might be hiding in the pots.

I use Jungle soil professional grow mix from Lowe's. yep it a big bag, but after tryign lots of soils, I foudn this actually to be the best and the cheapest for me. I just dump some in the wheelbarrol and moisten the soil good before putting it into the pots. If you don't wet the soil and mix it good before potting it, then when you go to water, you will have problems with the water laying on the top of our pot and not soakign down.

the 6 packs

think I got my pics out of order. Oh well. That par for the course for me.

When i have my 6 packs filled with soil I take my finger and make about a one inch deep hole, through all the trays, then place a plug by each hole.

I dont plull th eplugs out by there leaves. I find me a little twig that wil fit in the hole and use it to push out the plug. After ya start doing hundreds of em ya start to get into a rythem.

After droppign the plug in the hole I just gently sueeze the soil around the plug. After all the plugs are in them I come back and use the mister to water evreythign in good. A water hose with the mister nouzzell works just as well. If using a watering hose though, hold the water hose up high. The higher the water hose the finer the droplets hitting your seedlings so it doesn't displace them.

If it too cold for the plants to go outside, then they go back under the plant stands and i just raise the lights up on them.

I always make sure that I don't leave any newly emerging seeds in the seed startign plugs trays for more than ten days. After ten days, seedlings cna start dieing as they wil have used up all their nutrients in the seed coat and some wil have already shed their seed coats and looking for food from their roots.

Nice little seedlings all happy in their new homes. Til they big enough to go into 4" or 6 inch pots or baskets. : )

Using the above method I find that I can germinate a whole lot of plants, don't have to worry about damping off. Usually the only time I run into problems where that might be a problem is with seeds that have long germination periods.

Seeing from the very begining if their to much moisture on the top of the bag or not enough is a good indicator of a potential problem and catchign it before your seeds start to rot.

Star - whens the last time you did some pc maint. like defrag, disk cleanup, AV scan etc? Please d-mail me if you would like instructions on how to do some maint ( I used to be a satellite trainer so I know full well how pcs seem to have a mind of their own...just need to whip them down LOL )

Deanna

LOL I think if i tried that it would rise up and whoop me and still do as it darn well pleases. hehehehehehe

Starlight, that was alot of information and really good pictures that you posted. Last year was my first time starting from seeds, so I can really appreciate everything. Of course, I think I know it all!

Two things I wanted to add. I try not to mist or water from the top because of fungus gnats. I really didn't have problems with damping off. I started with hydrogen peroxide from the beginning, but I had gnats up until the day that I was ready to transplant.

The other one the plants who have smaller, thinner stems, I am more likely to leave under the plastic domes longer. Geranium's stems are fairly thick, so I always feel that they can handle the move sooner than vinca, which has a very thin, fragile looking stem.

I wish we coudl grow geraniums down here, but they don't do so well. Somedays I really miss the Northern States and the cooler seasons and a whole lot les s humidity. They have some of the most beautiful cultivars out now for geraniums. (sigh)

Hey if everybody keeps addign then, maybe those tryign to germinate wil be able to have all different types of ways they can try til they find the ones that best fits them.

I gonan give usign the camomille tea posted above a try. Wil be somethgin new for me. I always willign to give somethign new a try, ya just never know when one tiny bit of info gonan be important and make the difference to what ya doing.

I wouldn't suggest trying this on all seedlings without testing it on a couple first, but I've had success knocking back fungus gnats in my African violets by adding a tablespoon of Murphy's oil soap per gallon of water when watering (I've heard Lysol also works). It doesn't completely eliminate them, but I'd say it gets rid of 90%. Again, I'm not sure it would be safe on all seedlings, so use caution.

DE (diatomaceous earth) is also useful against gnats and other soft-bodied pests... it's made of the glass "skeletons" of diatoms, so it's sharp on a microscopic level (don't breathe in the dust)... sprinkle on the surface of pots to discourage them.

I've heard their larvae can be destructive to the roots of seedlings, but I think I've only had fungus gnats in sufficient numbers to be annoying rather than actually detrimental.

The things we do to save our "babies"

Hey Star! how did your tests go?! I asked the BF about your thermastat going cause I thought that sounded kind of weird and he thinks you should find a new mechanic...unless I explained it to him wrong he says the other issue you had should not have caused the thermastat to blow and thats one of the dangers of us women folk going to a mechanic...they see dollar signs...hope all is well with you!

Deanna

Critter, I tried both Murphy oil Soap and ammonia last year, but neither one worked for me. If I have the same problem with year, I will be trying DE. I'm hoping that keeping the topsoil drier will eliminate this problem.

Starlight, I grew geraniums when I lived in Savannah, GA. I couldn't grow pansies though - they melted in the heat.

Keeping the topsoil drier by bottom watering will definitely help... cuts down on that green algae gunk, too. :-)

Star:
Thanks for the plant stand link...I built one similar, but this one will hold many more flats than the one I made...Off to Home Depot for supplies tomorrow...
RatherB

Deanna.... Considering my morning and being froze solid by the time I got there, it went pretty well, aceda couple and one about so-so. My poor brain was exhausted and stressed by the time I got to the third one that all them alpha..beta formulas I got a few twisted in this ole brain. Thanks for asking about about my car. He probably right and I getting false information and taken to the cleaners yet again . Did kick the tires and it didn't help LOL Having to play catch up with my research project and got plants busting out all over here wanting to show there stuff and wanting attention so soon as I can will get that other info to ya. Just got all them exams caught up and not it time for more. uggggg! : (

Critter... I love African Violets, just wish that I grow them. I can't even get near them and they rool up all there leaves and croak on me. I have tried many times over the years and felt heart broken when a friend i helped brought me a oupel of baby ones as a gift and I lost them after two months. I swear it a body chemistry thing. When I go to friends houses that have them a stand back and amire for fear just beign next to them wil cause them to croak. I have violet paranoia. LOL

I have heard of folks using the Murphys soap before. Can't fidn the info in my mind right now, but think they added somethign else to it too. Somethign like a lime soda or something. I know that they was using it on Daylilies outisde , is all I can remember.

I haven't tried it yet, but heard it either peppermint, real peppermint old fashioned soap works good too. I was goign to buy some from the website sellign it, then i lost the link and haven't found it again. I need to learn to put things in my favorites when i see them. If I find that ole fashioned soap again though I gonan buy some and give it a shot and see what it really does. Was supposed to be what they used in olden days to combat the pests.

Yoru right, you get a good size little population and they will munch the heck out of yoru plants roots. What bad is it ya cant see all the eggs layed down in the soil and by the time ya see the flying pests they ready to start on making another batch. They such darn tiny and fast and smart critters. They very sensative to any air movement and when ya start coming they start diving to hide in the soil.

Puttign a bit of sand on top of the soil helps too. I sure they have their place in the ecological system, but it don't need to be in our plants. : )

Penne.... LOL and I grew big beautiful pansies with Delphiniums til July when I took them out to put Vincas in for the summer season. Funny how our areas and such as so that some of the things we enjoy the most wont grow for us but for others. Ahhhhh, to have the perfect climate year roudn woudl be nice.

Rather... Ilove them plant stands. When I done sproutign seedlings indoors than I take them outside and use then all summer and fall to hold plants on and then just bring back in in the winter and hook the lights back on to them. Works alot easier if as ya cuttign the parts ya mark them with a marker of differnt colors on the parts. I learned with the first one I built that I had a few parts close in size in the wrong spot and had to take apart and redo and make sure ya use one of them big rubber hammers to pound in tight. Learned a lesson there too. LOL

Thanks for the helpful hints, Starlight. I just got all the supplies at Home Depot today. When it is built, approx how tall is it?

That is a great idea to use it to hold plants outside in the better months. If all my seeds start growing, it will certainly be most useful to house them outside until they are ready to put into the ground.

Gotta get buildin'...

Starlight,

I love vinca. I am starting alot for my garden.

Rather... Had to go find wher eI hide my yard stick. My stands about 5' 8" tall when all put together. and about 51" across the front and that is including measuring with the joints glued together. The y's or what ever it is ya call them.

I was so glad for whoever tookthe time to do all the pics for assembley or I never would have gotten mine made.

I got a coupel of them outside right now that acting as end braces to cover plants. put one at each end of pallets and a couple of boards along them and cover platic over to keep plants safe from cold last night. These stands are really very versitile.

Onyl thing ya got ot watch is to make sure that heavyest stuff stays on bottom and unload light stuf f rom top before takign heavy stuff off plant stand. Cumym me had some heavy 6" pots loaded all on top instead of bottom first and abotu had mine tip over.

Thank you, Starlight, for getting me the dimensions. Before I start on the project, I thought I would think of where this would go indoors until the better weather comes up to PA. That was a great help.

I will check to make sure I watch the weights...at first it will be all trays, but eventually, I will take mine outside for the plants as they grow...sure to be weight differences then!