I pre-soak about everything (for indoor growing) that's not too small in water overnight and get fast and even germination. I don't have problems with mold because I'm careful not to overwater and most importantly, I always leave some air circulation. Some people don't realize it but those clear domes need to be taken off as soon as you see sprouts. Stagnant air is your enemy!!!
This message was edited Jan 3, 2009 4:42 PM
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #21
the moldy seeds i had were all winter sown seeds... so there was plenty of ventilation .
I may do some seeds in doors again this year .. but thanks for the tip on taking the dome off once there is germination. That i did not know.
Terese, I can see that with winter sown seeds. After soaking they're ready to germinate, and once you introduce cool temps they'd mold or rot instead of continuing to sprout.
In the "Lessons Learned" thread in the WS forum... i added that comment. Learned NOT to soak seeds for winter sowing.
Oh, okay, that makes sense. :)
That does make sense. I soaked Canna seeds for well over 24 hours (oops!!) but they were in a 50/50 peroxide and water mix, and they never had a problem with mold, and nearly all of them sprouted.
I've accidentally left seeds soaking for days and found them sprouting in the cups. I gently potted them up and most lived. I love the tenacity of plants!
tcs.... if yoru seeds were molding liek that in a 24 hour peroid, you weren't using enough peroxide. Them seeds didn't mold cuz they sat in the water to long. I will leave mg seeds sittign in water sometiems for three days and have had daylily seeds and canna seeds soak for weeks. I just change the water everyday and clean the container they in with soap and hot water and put back into soak , I don't use the hydrogen perxiode after the first time. Some seed sare sensative and using it to much when the root tryign to emerge cna some times burn it and cause it to rot and give ya moldy lookign seeds and that funky film ya see hanging on the seeds.
I do a hit and miss with perxoide myself. I get me a cup and the bottl eand pour what looks good to me. usually I use about a third of capful for a 6 ounce glass of water. Use gemini's measurement if ya want exact. The only one I do measure acurately is a bleach dip.
Anybody remmebr who it was that was doing sweet Peas for their mom off hand. Too tired from sortign more seeds all day and goign back through my seeds found a couple more types of the other season of sweet peas.
forgot to ask..
tcs... whenever ya get a chance adn think abotu it , can we have a new thread for us piteful dial up peoples? LOL
Neal, how fragile were those sweet pea seedlings that you started inside? I've got lights, etc... do you think I could get sturdy enough plants to be able to send them in the mail? Gaah at the thought of it... I think I'm just going to tell her to start them outside.
I did a lovely database my first year with DG. Now I'm too busy, LOL. I do well if I can sort seeds into piles ("winter sow", "start early", "start 6-8 weeks ahead", and "direct sow"). Then I go through the piles and try to pull out the absolute must-haves to get them going first... it's especially necessary to prioritize for seeds going onto the basement light shelves, as there's only so much space down there. :-)
Hello everyone - sorry to have "disappeared" on you - I haven't read any of the posts for the past couple of weeks so I have a lot to catch up on. I wanted to apologize to everyone because I am the one holding up the swap.....so sorry!! I have been dealing with my son's serious back problems, trying to take him to different doctors, the holidays, and a tremendous load at work when I am there.....I have my seeds sorted and ready to go to Star in the mail today. Hopefully, she will have them by Wednesday or Thursday since we aren't too terribly far apart......
I am so sorry - I wouldn't have offered my little selection of seeds had I known all this was going to take place. Just wanted to offer my apologies - and maybe sometime in the next week, I will have time to read at least part of the posts.
Thanks!
Genna
Geena -- we've moved on to thread #22
--- just so you dont get lost....
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/939534/