wrightie, your seedlings are alot more established than mine! they look really nice and happy :) I just planted some of your allium seeds today. I wasn't sure how to plant them, the seeds looked medium size to me, so I sowed them one per 2' small pot...does that sound right?
ladyg, I always wanted a carolina spice plant (heavens knows where I would put one) ~ my wish list is quite a gardeners dreamers list! good luck with yours :) and your coleus look so cute....I planted two types of coleus this year: scarlet magma and chocolate mint. The seedlings aren't as interesting as yours yet! This is the first time trying coleus from seeds. Did you harvest your own seeds?
Seed starting 2008
Wind, that's what I do, but trust me, I'm no expert! I just guesstimate for the most part.
Mind you, I started my seed sowing really early this year (late Dec / early Jan).
Ohhh me too re the spice bush...someone shared with me, I think, at the swap...but *sniffle* it didn't make it...so sad
Are you talking about Carolina allspice, aka bubby bush, Calycanthus floridus for the latin lovers? I have a bush and should be able to get sprouts.
Sally that's the one. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/187214/
If I get these babies to grow I think that will be something to crow about. I sowed 6 seeds and 2 have started. If all 6 grows I'll have more then enough!
Wind, I get my coleus seeds from Parks, I like the Great Exhibition Mix the leaves are big and make a statement! I usually pinch off the frower heads early to get more leaves.
Sally, you gave me one of those at Hart's swap last spring! I've been keeping an eye on it, waiting for it to bud up... with the warmer weather this weekend, I'll have to take another look tomorrow... :-)
Ok...ya'll have shamed me into finally (better late then never....right?) getting a flat of seeds done....sure it's 12:50 in the MORNING...but hey...1 done...2 to go (tomorrow). I tell ya though...the whole soaking of seeds is fine and good for those hard shelled ones....but when you've got a million MG seeds trying to keep them straight with only ONE thermos in the house...well...can you see the dilemma? LOL I took a mason jar...threw 3 types of seeds in there only b/c I can tell those seeds apart...mixed in ther peroxcide - slapped the press-n-seal on the and set it ON my cable box next to the sunflowers I'm starting for my 7 yr old nephew. NOTE to self...next year don't be so cheap and invest in a heat mat. Oh and ummm....yeah...(again since I didn't this year after saying I would) that winter sowing thing....need to try it. Been reading about the different containers and such...would putting mulch around the container IN the rubbermaid container defeat the purpose? Just wondering...
Boy you all have been very busy. Unfortunately my seedlings are gonna be goners soon, despite the great start they got. I am having an aphid attack like none I've ever seen before. Been going on for a few weeks now and I have tried everything in the book. My zinnia seedlings are just about toast and the impatiens are headed down the same road. It reminds be once again why I don't start seeds. Always something. I manage to survive the damping off thing with fans etc., but now the attack of the bugs is going to ruin everything anyway. The zinnias and the impatiens are the things I needed most, the rest I can just buy.
Good Luck and keep growing!
Juanita
Juanita, that just stinks! Have you tried the safer sprays? I usually use them successfully when I get aphids. I've notice some things seem to be more 'aphid prone' too. I've never tried to start zinnias indoors, I usually direct sow them. Impatiens either, I end up buying them by the flat.
don't despair...spray them and good luck and keep growing to you too!
critter- my Bubby bushes buds are till not showing either- No worries
You could be a living walking heat mat for a few seeds. Put seed between damp paper towel and into a baggie. Tape same to your rib cage. Guarentee you that the human germ box will be about eighty degrees.
Ok...now THAT'S great....I can see it now...as I walking past a patient making an odd crinkling sound. Patient: "ummm, Chantell are you ok" Me: "Fine, why do you ask?" Patient: "There's an odd sound coming from your...ummm, chest." Me: "Oh that? No problem...just growing seeds that's all." Yeah, they'd be rushing ME back to see MY boss...LOL
There's some little ditty we used to hum about "My mother told me not to put beans in my ears..." Maybe that should've been, "My mother told me not to put seeds in my bra... !"
Given that it is overcast, drizzly and warm today, I have moved my "Sunroom Seedlings" out under the pergola on the deck for a field trip. Let Mother Nature water them for me for a change ... :~)
This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 9:11 AM
It is warm here too today. I took the covers off my winter sow containers so they get some real rain and fresh air :)
Several more are sprouting too! I'm excited to be trying calendula and dianthus for the first time. I'm hoping the chipmunks don't start using the now open containers to hide their birdseed stashes! I'm noticing them trotting around with full chompers looking for secret hiding places :)
these are my seedling guards...asleep on the job!
The guards look contented. Doubt if those nice seedlings need much more baby sitting.
Great picture Wind. The lazy bums. Looks like those two have it made in the shade. What are their names?
Ruby
OK, let's see... it's time I wrote these notes down somewhere, LOL.
My winter sowing was actually pretty restrained this year, LOL. 20 out of 65 seeds are Columbines... I do like my columbines! :-)
4 winter sowing tubs from Ikea, with pots inside:
Agastache 'Honey Bee Blue'
Agastache 'Heather Queen'
Liatris spicata
Achillea Cerise
Asclepias incarnata, pink
Asclepias incarnata 'Soul Mate' (pink)
Penstemon digitalis
Penstemon digitalis 'Husker's Red'
Eryngium planum (sea holly)
Hibiscus "pink dogwood"
Campanula lillifolium
Campanula takesimana 'Elizabeth'
Anchusa capensis 'Blue Angel'
Berlandiera lyrata
Veronica tuecrim
Rose campion, purple
Geranium praetense, blue
Cantanache caerulea
Stokesia laevis 'Purple Parasols'
Veronica 'Red Fox'
Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'
Veronica spicata 'Sightseeing Mix'
Veronica longifolia
Aquelegia canadiensis
Columbines:
'Baby Blue Eyes'
'Blue Bird'
'Purple Lady's Bonnets'
'Pink Towers'
Aq. clematiflora, pale pink
Aq. veridaflora 'Chocolate Soldiers'
Aq. flabellata 'Cameo'
Aq. flabellata, white dwarf fan
(roaster pans with domes, winter sowing)
more Columbines, in rows:
Pam's Granny's Bonnet Mix
'Tower Blue'
Maroon & Cream / Pale Blue Double
McKana's Giant / Pretty Bonnets
'Aunt Zera's Columbine'
Heatherjoy's Mix
Dianthus:
D, dwarf mixed
D. deltoides
D. plumarius 'Ballad Blend'
Cheddar Pinks
D. 'Siberian Blue'
Carnation 'Early Dwarf Vienna'
Alpine Strawberries, in rows:
unknown red variety
seed from my plants / White Alpine
Reugen (red, 2 rows)
Yellow Wonder (2 rows)
Box of quart & gallon milk jugs:
Lychnis flos-cuculi 'Nana' (dwarf ragged robin)
Knautia macedonia
Campanula carpatica 'Blue Clips'
Campanula kemulariae
Sheep's Bit
Helenium 'Ruby Dwarf'
Melampodium (annual)
Bergenia corifolia
Aquelegia mix from Canada
Aquelegia 'Ruby Port'
Aquelegia, purple upturned semi-dwarf
I'll follow at some point with a list of what I've sown on my basment light shelves...
:-)
geez, critter !
Aha- my mystery seed pot is Not chocolate daisy. Been wsed for about five weeks now, guess I'll just wait........................
I don't have any new volunteers up yet in my "not chocolate daisy" patch either (aka Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra... we need to pick one of the common names to refer to it also, because that's just too long to type... or should we keep calling it "not-chocolate-daisy" LOL)
Adding... I did get quite a few volunteer plants last year, Sally, so if your pot doesn't do anything, LMK and I should be able to get you a couple of seedlings. But they should come up just fine. It's a good winter sowing variety.
Considering the recent mild temp's, has anyone started hardening off any of their hardy seedlings? I've been taking mine on field trips, but am starting to consider leaving them out overnight ...
croitter- I nominate 'Heliopsis' as the new name for that, er, Heliopsis I still can't belive that I can't remember exactly where I moved it to.
w- I got brave enogh to put some Amaranth out. I put them in my cold frame which is open most days now. And I put some purple millet out, but I think I fried the tender leaves i nthe sunshine. boo I have a bunch of gallon milk jugs of rain water out there to be little thermal reservoirs - I tucked the millet between them now for some shade. If its not the frost, its the rare hot sunny early day that gets me!
I moved some flats out under the pergola again this morning, but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to leave them out overnight yet. I'll check the forecast later and play it by ear.
I've been leaving my aphid infested zinnias on the screened in porch for several nights now. I couldn't bare to pitch them, but they were so buggy I didn't want them inside. Been rinsing them off with the hose on warmer days and they are hanging in there. Need to be venting my cold frame all the time too. Came home yesterday and it was 110 degrees in there. Almost had cooked lettuce!
Juanita
Sally, that sounds good. I've referred to it on some seed offer threads as "yellow heliopsis" after posting the full botanical name on the initial seed list.
I goofed and left a big Christmas Cactus outside the patio door last night. Eek! Fortunately, it was fine and is now back inside after getting well watered by the rain. (It was outside because it was being de-anted. Sugar ants had set up a little nest in the bottom of the pot!)
My bananas were putting out new growth indoors, so I did move them out onto the deck yesterday and left them out overnight. They seem happier out there so far - one is unfurling it's new leaf.
Talking about ants......I learned a hard lesson last year.
I usually hang 2-3 HB from the lower branches of my Maple tree. EVERY one of them had huge colonies of ants inside them! EEEEK! I sprayed and sprayed with ant spray until I got them all.
Lesson----won't hang any mote HB from the tree. I am sure they made their way UP the tree and then DOWN the wires and such. Too bad! It is a perfect place for dappled light on my HB's. I usually hang my Swedish Ivy and my Spiders from there.
I think there are colonies of millions that live in the walls of my shed. Last summer I stacked about 30 bricks--nice and neat--on the brick landing in front of my shed. When I went to move them, there were ant colonies between every brick!
What to do??? What to do????
Gita
I just KNOW that if I put some little seedlings on the deck under the table for light protection, that 'some dog' is gonna spot 'some cat' hiding there and ------------
'some woman' is gonna get real mad
I am thnking- could come up with protection.
Oh critter- i have my peruvian daff potted and growing inside- says they like 50 deg or above
The ants seemed to be worse than usual last year. I got them out of my hanging basket just now by dunking it for a couple of hours in a bucket of water with a couple of drops of dishsoap added. I'm not sure they do a lot of damage, although if you get a big colony right by the roots of the plant I think the tunneling can create too much air around the roots and them out.
Yuck, Bugs are bugging me. I have ants in my kitchen. Spraying but not getting all of them. And something on my Brazilian Plume I've been killing them since I got it. Spider mites on a few plants and some white bugs on several of my other plants. What.... They all just wait for Spring and then attack. I'm doing pretty well with some of my seedlings up stairs but I absolutely must start some more. Time for the Morning Glories, this week for sure.
Holly,
Nothing beats Ortho's "Home Defense" against ants and bugs in your house.
It is safe (tp pets) as soon as it dries and the protection lasts for 4 months....the ants won't cross it!
...end of "commercial".....
There was also a cleaner that ants did not cross.....Can't exactly remember which one, but "Murphy's Oil Soap" comes to mind.....I might be wrong.
G.
20 mule team borax?
If you've got ants in your containers, it probably wouldn't hurt to add some Murphy's oil soap when you water (1 capful per gallon)... I've used it to knock back (but not 100% eliminate) fungus gnat populations in my african violets and other houseplants. I've yet to use it on seedlings, so I'd suggest testing it on a couple before dousing the whole lot of them.
I use the Ortho's Home Defense also, especially across the bottom of doorways and any other possible entry point for those little ants. You can spray saucers and the inside edges of your containers too, in order to discourage them from setting up nests in your potted plants. A lot of bug sprays have odors that give me headaches, but I'm pretty much OK with this one, used with discretion.
Murphy's oil soap...interesting...we have that...I'll keep that tip in mind in case we get ants in our containers. We do get beatles which are a real pain.
Well, I took a chance and left some flats out on the table under the pergola and they still look good so far ... &&
On occasion I see very small squiggly larva on the surface of a pot. I use Neem Oil to flood the surface two times a week apart. I do not know what they are but the Neem wacks them good. I think the soap would do the same although I have not used the soap. I can not ever remember of any other appearences in the pots or from the pots.
My potting soil for patio and house is a mixture of garden soil, compost and commercial organic potting soil. The feeding in all cases includes weak applications of Kelp, Fish, Bat Guano, Worm Castings and aerobic manure based finished compost tea. I try to keep a couple worms in each pot with various degrees of success. About half of them are still there when I depot while cleaning up in the fall. On occasion I have still found the worms when repotting house plants even after two years of living in the pot.
Early spring I give all new pots and the house plants one tablespoon full of organic 4- 2-4 fertilizer per each three inches of pot. I have never used commercial manufactured fertilizers.
Even so I back off using teas if the potted plants show excessive new growth. All my potted plants seem to thrive very well using this management and close observation.
I bet your plants are very happy! do you make up your "tea" blend or is it avail on the market? I was just wondering about what to feed all these seedlings I have going. They are in promix now. I just started using a comm. seedling start food that is 4-12-4
Over the many years I have built an inventory of those materials to support all of my growing needs over the whole property. With the exception of aerobic tea I simply take the base, add water, soak it for a day and then dilute it down to what looks like weak tea we would make for our oun pleasure. I have quite a compost pile that has been on the same spot on my lot for nearly forty years. I can make tea the same way from my own compost.
All manufactured fertilizers are pure salts. They burn, they leach out, and they attack if not kill the natural biology in our soils. Teas from organic bases do not have those salts in a form that can harm either the plant or the soil biology. Any portion of the teas that do not get converted for plant use becomes a soil builder and conditioner. There is nothing living or that will improve the life of any living biology in the manufactured salt based fertilizers.
I am into aerobic compost tea which is a whole other process that raises the bar on tea above the simple water extraction or soaking methods. When completed to the aerobic state my compost tea has small amounts of....all of the above in one brew. On another thread I have introduced in some detail the aerobic compost tea brewer. Aerobic teas have to be made on location. They can not be bagged or bottled. They become totally living biology to put on your plants and soils.
Oops I stopped short of the truth.............There are inorganic matters and substances put in or that are part of the base materials. These of course do not become living biology players. They may support the living biology.