Seandor did you wait until they all germinated before you put them outside? I still haven't put a coer on my greenhouse maybe Sunday, I'm such a procrastinator!
Your welcome wind, they are lovely plants I just love them!
Stoke's Seed Swa-Op Babies!
Uh . . . no, LeBug, I already had a lot that had germinated, and Illoquin was quite specific, that as soon as they germinate (well, more than just one or two) they should go outside. She was concerned, because temperatures can still drop below 25 degrees at night. Those nights I will have to cover them, and maybe throw a quilt over them.
Once they are big enough, I will pot them up. (Man, am I a sucker for work!)
what in the world are we going to do with ourselves while she's on vacation in Florida????
My thoughts, exactly! We will have to rely on you, dryad57 :-)
bwuahahahaha!!! Stop! You're hurting me!!
Too funny . . . . has anyone had any success winter sowing nepeta (cat mint)?
I may have to have someone to hold my hand when I put little snaps outside to fend for themselves I feel like I would be neglecting them, I don't want to go to jail for neglect LOL
Time is getting close to the Spring Seandor I bet you could go ahead and WS the catnip they are perennial anyway they should be alright I've done it but can't remember what happened, I have some planted outside so it must have worked :)
Supposedly catnip/catmint are one of the best wintersowers there is. I haven't done it personally, but I wouldn't hesitate.
I'll still be around....I heard Florida just got the internet, so I should be fine. LOL!
Suzy
Thanks! do you realize I have already wintersowed 135 different kinds of plants? I think I must be certifiably nuts! And I still have lots to do! God help me if they all germinate!
Oh man Seandor! I should be right up there with you and only have 30 done!!!! I need to kick a*******
Sounds like a piggy swap on plants will be in order this fall 8^)
I agree, Lea. What are we gonna do with all these babies. lol : )
I am thinking I might use some of the extras as a kind of "thank-you" gift to neighbours who contribute funds for mulch for the terrace . . . do you think that would be a good idea?
No, I htink you'd better give them to the workers!! LOL! When you are giving away plants (or seeds) there seems to never be enough to go around.
Money for mulch is small potatoes to most people.
Suzy
Right! Plants for workers!
Sadly, it was definitely damping off that got my Fairy Snaps... yesterday, I discovered my 6 little Vigna caracalla seedlings had also damped off. :-( 'd have expected trouble sooner... with both of these, the seeds had sprouted a couple of weeks ago, and the seedlings were about to get their first true leaves. The Fairy Snaps still looked pretty delicate, but I'd have thought the V. caracalla seedlings were too sturdy to have this trouble! They were in sterilized soil and being watered with hydrogen peroxide added, too. Phoo.
I had 2 of my 3 lil geraniums damp off, I repotted them very carefully, and I think they are gonna grow new roots. They aren't dead yet, and it's been almost a week. They were less than an inch tall. I will be surprised if they do reroot, but so far, so good.
~Lucy
critter, you're killing me. I'm sorry about your Vigna caracalla. I FINALLY got ONE to germinate (I used GA-3 on it). It has it's first true 'leaf' (only one), but it looks pretty good and I'm very excited. I have 2 more seeds I was trying other methods with, and I think I'll put them in the GA-3 and see if it's too late for them. It'll break my heart if I lose the one live one. This is my 3rd year trying to get one of these plants going.
this is my first year using the H2O2 and I was really hoping it would stop the damping off. but I see it's not foolproof from listening to you all. At least I won't feel like a total failure if I lose some.
Suzy, now that we know FL is in the computer age, did the Lemon Gem marigolds come from you? I'm only asking because I wondered if they take longer to germ than some others. I planted them on 3/9 and all the others I planted then (inside) have long since come up and some are getting their true leaves.
I planted 4 Vigna caracalla but only 2 germinated. The vines are almost 12 inches tall and seem to be doing well.
Granpapa - you started your marigolds already? I thought I would start mine in April . . . is that too late?
This is the first year I've had any real trouble with damping off... I think I've just got some strain of fungus in my basement or something this time. Don't sweat it!
I sent out some Lemon Gem marigold seeds... haven't tried to germinate any yet, but they were fresh from last year, so I wouldn't expect trouble. I have had slow growth with those seedlings inside sometimes, though. I think they may do as well or better if you just direct sow them in an outside window box! Some of the seeds are probably immature, so sow them fairly thickly -- don't try to put them into plug cells one by one.
I'm having trouble sowing cosmos, of all things. Usually, only one has come up in each pot. I've tried sowing them barely covered, and just laying on top. What am I doing wrong?
The Gem or Signet marigolds do take lomgs -- about 2x longer than regular marigolds, so they need to be started earlier. I started mine a couple days before I left, and I'll sow regular marigolds about the 1st of April.
I've never started them, just direct sown them. One pack I got last year was from an "iffy" source (a strange trade, but the person say she had "maroon gem" which I had never heard of, and the were maroon!) and so I tested about 4 seeds and they came up in 4 days -- way faster than I had ever have them come up before. I believe it was because it was so hot out, not because the seeds were fresh. I sowed them in that sort of black potting soil and I remember thinking hot hot it felt to the touch.
Lucy, I thought Florida was warm in March -- end of March, but I am freezing my butt off and I brought all the wrong clothes!!! I have bad luck with the pink-white Cosmos, but the oranges, reds and yellows (sulphureum) do great if they have enough heat and water. Maybe somebody else can help.
Critter -- that is awful about the damping off! What about spraying Lysol all over stuff as a ganeral clean up? And what about a little glug of Clorox in your spray bottle? I would try that (not that I don't love Chamonile tea, but it sounds lke you might want to bring out the big guns...Yes, before you all ask, it is totally safe to spray on baby seedlings, but I wouldn't do it as a preventive measure, more of a fix for a problem you actually have.
Suzy
Suzy I had two more BB germinate :) The first one was strange it got real tall like over night, shriveled up and died, strange huh? I mean this sucker grew like an inch long over night, it was real skinny and it was the salvia it wasn't a mushroom :) I hope yours are germinated when you get back, I'm sure you'll go home to lots of new babies and we all want to hear about it and I'm sure we will LOL
Suzy, the reason you are freezing is because of the humidity. You pretty much have a dry cold up north, and ours is a wet cold, because of all the moisture in the air. Makes it feel colder than it really is. Also, the wind is not usually as high as it has been the last few days. Thar also, makes it feel cooler.
I feel alittle cool, but I'm not cold. I guess I'm use to it. You didn't feel cold this afternoon, did you?
Suzy, yeah, I think I'm going to be bleaching out my trays and wiping down my shelves... I thought I had started out "clean" but apparently not clean enough! I'm losing maybe half a dozen clumps in a flat of lobelia, so it's not taking out every seedling... Thanks for letting me know a glug of chlorox is safe. I switched from chamomile tea to hydrogen peroxide, but I hadn't even considered chlorox! I guess it's just like spraying them with water that's extra-chlorinated.
I was going to start some "special" alpine strawberry seeds inside, but I decided they'd have a better chance being winter sowed! (They're yellow instead of red... and I also had a teeny pinch of seeds for white fruited ones! It'll be fun to see what happens with those.)
Gram, as far as germinating those V. caracalla... I've had good luck nicking them, then soaking them until they swell (overnight, generally) in water with a little hydrogen peroxide added. You can either sow them into moist mix or germinate between layers of damp (not wringing wet, just damp) paper towel in a baggie... I like the latter method because you can see right away when the seed has sprouted!
Aw, Lucy, Now I feel bad...I am cold because I brought sleeveless tops and linen shirts. The wind was 20 mph this afternoon, and I wasn't warm until I had a cup of coffee and hot soup for (a very late) lunch. LOL! However, I was able to forget my woes at my first garden center where I bought a pot of double Impatiens and a pot of dark pink Agrymamthemum...except I've spelled it wrong. They are the ferny lacey foliage plants that are not hardy up north. Sometimes they are grown as a standard, and sometimes as a container plant. They have a common name but it is eluding me at present.
Both of my selectioons are supposed to be easy to root, so I am thinking I could have 20 double red impatiens if I play my cards right.
They also had something they called English Lavender which was really weird. It looked like the weed, Verbena hastata, but it was purple, not blue, and had prettier ferny foliage. They had it in all their containers. I also saw somehting I have been coveting: The real Emilia. Most of us grow, or at least have seen, Emilia Javanica 'Scarlet Magic'...this is a HUGE version of the original wildflower which is less than a foot tall. They had some of the little stuff, about 9" tall growing, as weeds, in their flower beds of Nemesia, and I want to go back every day starting Friday to get some seeds. :))
Lea, Congratulations on the B&B!!!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed that mine will be okay, too.
Today I weeded all morning LOL! I couldn't help myself. The neighbor was out with an electric hedge clipper, so I used those, too, after she assured me that the plants down there don't "bleed to death" like they can do up north if they are pruned at the wrong time in spring.
The animal sounds pout the back porch (the lanai, if you want to be fancy) are VERY strange. Frogs that sound like pigs, birds that are as big as terradactyls, and lots of eyes looking at you, but it's too dark to see what they are. I found some funny looking orb spiders today, very colorful, but I was afraid my friend was going to keel over at the thought of a spider. Ooops! LOL. The neightbor took the electric hedge clippers to some palms, which I thought was odd. She took all the lower branches off (a certain kind of palm) so the snakes don't have a place to rest. I htought she was crazy, but the end result is really nice. There are 2" long thorns on the fronds, though...at the base. If you ever are in a position to help somebody clean up, pick those puppies up by the ends of the fronds, not the bases. :)
I forgot to say I had some Lanata germinate in 4 days. The kind LeBug calls "Fruit Loops" because they are pink and orange and yellow on the same flower....Lea, if I keep them alive, i am happy to share.
Critter, don't forget, a LITTLE glug of Clorox. I'm thinking it is probably a teaspoon in 16 oz.
Suzy
"Frogs that sound like pigs, birds that are as big as terradactyls, and lots of eyes looking at you." LMBO : )
......And the only oranges at Harvey's are Temples -- they taste great, but there is something not quite right with these....they are all juice and have 20 or 30 seeds in each one. I was thinking about saving the seeds for the next swap. :))
Found out one kind of bird is the Sandhill crane.. It makes an awful sound. I think they use it in Hollywood when the slasher comes with the chainsaw!
My friend wouldn't stop at the highway cloverleaf and let me out to collect seed from th eFlorida wildflowers growing there (aka weeds), but she said we could go back to a certain place where there were lots of Bird of Paradise seed. Would anybody want that? Probably not.
I brought all my "unfiled" seeds (the ones that never got put away, or got pulled out and not used) and they are all over the dining room table here and I am gradually sorting them. A few packs whenever I pass through the room. 500 packs or so. YIKES!! I decided I am going to direct sow a bunch when I get home. One thing you can do is put your little 16 or 20 oz or 2 litre jugs out before you sow, maybe a couple days and they will warm the soil so the seed germinates faster. Water with warm water and set the cap back in the grooves yoruyou made. The seedlings will all germinate in that little 3" circle, so you can sow too many, and you'll have to transplant them, but if you are running out of room, it might be a good way to go.
Suzy
Suzy, four days on the lantana germination!!! I guess all three kinds I have here are goners...not one germinated. Did you soak the seeds first too?
Animal sounds in Florida...you do get used to hearing certain sounds...I really miss the sound of tree frogs at my husbands old house that we lived in before we moved to where we are now.
It is interesting hearing about the different types of plants too. I would never have thought of hedging palms either!
Enjoy the rest of your trip :)
That's what I'm going to have to do Suzy, you sent me too many seeds LOL I've got my pepsi bottles saved up, I saw this coming :) Except for columbine I haven't tried to direct sow for years because I've never had any luck with it but I'll be doing the pepsi bottle thing this year for sure and I will have luck this year LOL
I'm still coddling my little geraniums along, I think I'll end up with 4. The caraway is doing well, just repotted that - I have to go look at the rest of my list to see how my Stokes stuff is doing - LOL!
I just had another geranium sprout! Weeks after the others. I'm glad I hadn't emptied that little seed starting tray...
critter, that must have been a pleasant surprise!
that is what I'm hoping for....still have two geraniums that never came up...you just never know :)
I have to run out and buy more cell packs in order to continue planting! I'm completely out. Aso, I messed up on the peat pots I ordered from Parks. I wanted the 4" size and somehow I got the little 2". I have no idea of how I'm going to use them all. Little peat pots dry up fast ~ I didn't even know they came so small!
Oh I forgot Suzy I would love it if you would share a lantana with me mine never have sprouted after taking the seeds all out of the moldy dirt and washing them in H202 and replanting :( I'm never going to be able to grow lantana :(((
Wind wall mart has all kinds of those peat pot things and cell packs too :) Dig around in that spot where they have that stuff and they have all kinds of things to plant with that's pretty cheap :)
I gotta go do jugs I hope to stay off here and get something done today LOL That's a joke guys!
Damping off -- Critter, do you have a fan going in the room where the seedlings are?
yep.
Yikes. That's a shame. Sorry to hear that & hope that you get it resolved quickly!
Me too! It's pretty darn embarrassing to have my seedlings damping off after I wrote an article on how to prevent it! LOL I've only lost a few, so far. And I'm bleaching things right and left this afternoon. :-)
Critter, I'm sorry but I'm ROTF, I can't help it, it happens to everyone, We'll still read your articles and note everything you say, I've sure learned a lot from you 8^) Everytime I read your comment I have to laugh and I needed that today LOL See even dampning off isn't all bad :)
Glad to be of service... I think. LOL
I'd rather have a little damping off to keep me humble than to find borers in my iris garden. (I wrote about how to prevent that, too!)