Seed Starting...Second Chance

Well there is alot of pleasure in growing out some of the wonderful crosses available. . but unfortunately not everything is viable.. pealing..soaking... planting... and there will be things that don't sprout out... water the little pots and trays for weeks on end... months...and still nothing... Oh ..well... but I've found it's not over yet... I take the trays and pots of seeds... and place them in a big saucer.. with holes in the bottom... and arrange the soil with name tags and place a bit of the plastic blind strips I use for name tags and out line the divisions between types.. and place the saucer under a container drip so they are always watered when the containers are watered.. and forget about them..but check back.. this saves space in the sprouting area for new trys.. and gives everything an additional few months to finally figure out about sprouting.. I'm always rewarded with a few late or slow ones.. and it's easy to give them the time extention.. so find a way to give them a bit more time.. Gordon

Great idea Gordon. How do you keep the soil mix so free of fungus? Is this your own mix?

Hi Betty..
well I use here .. Ferry Morse seed starting mix.. with a bit more perlite.. maybe mmy soil knats are eatting the fungus..
SO... this is likely long milled sphagnum moss along with a few other things... milled sphagnum is less likely to get fungus.. than is peat moss..( it's low pH gives it anti-fungal properties)
Inside under lights I get like a green algesometimes.. under high humidity and grow lights.. outside I don't see any of this...
also I peel the hulls so these aren't about to fungus out as they decompose... and I'm sure they have seen some funguside .. even if it was tea tree oil..or something in my cloning rooting soluition.. they might have been watered with .. or the marine algie or seaweed soluitions.. by the time they haven't sprouted.. they might have seen any number of things.. or the peruvian shamans fertility powder.. all the best there.. Gordon

Well I do not soak them nor do peel them I just plant them in miracle grow potting soil and keep them wet but not soaking wet I check them everyday. They are in a window indoors which gets a lot of shade. Then when they are up and have at least 2 sets of true leaves then I transplant them into 4 inch pots. then 8 inch pots then finally into a 5gallon size pot.

Nice tips guys on how to grow them from seed, I have only tried from cuttings! Clemen

I've been using this stuff for fungus gnats.. caterpillars, spider mites, broadmites, cucumber beetles, powdery mildew, you name it!! It's great stuff.

Neem based with Pyrethrins.. safe to use up to the day of harvest! Amazing stuff..

Gets rid of any of that white mildew that is on top of the pots that are under the lights inside.

The green algae won't hurt seedlings any... it's just unsightly.. IMHO

Gordan, I use the same seed starting mix and love it. since I switched to this I have lost none to damping off or other fungus. It is hard to find here. when i find it I buy a bunch of bags.

Joyce, i need to see if I can find that. Looks like a good product to have on hand.

ZZ,
Is there enough Neem Oil in it to burn the leaves on a hot day? Is it safe to use late in the afternoon after the temperatures have cooled some?

In another thread, you mentioned using Bayer Tree and Shrub drench. Do you have a different use for it?

It is like 70% Neem... As long as you spray in the evening or late afternoon, it shouldn't burn leaves.. never has for me?

The biggest benefit for me with this stuff is.. the caterpillars I got last year were not bothered by using BT.. I used BT every week for over a month. This is the only stuff that got rid of them!

I use the Tree & Shrub for aphids and whitefllies... that stuff is a once a year treatment.. You can use the Neem for anything, but it has to cover them, and it's a huge process with over 100 brugs.... I just use the Tree & Shrub so I don't GET whitefllies or aphids.
I usually treat anything I'm going to use it on Before it goes in the ground.. just to make a little effort to keep the ground as organic as I can...

Fungus Gnats will eat brug seeds and tiny roots. If you have a seed that won't germinate and looks mushy.. scratch it up and you will find the larvae (tiny white worms) eating it. I have soaked the soil with this stuff and killed off the Fungus gnats.
Spaghnum moss has an element that the dampening off fungus cannot survive in the same environment. MG potting soil is what I use. No special stuff..