Seedling identification

Is there somewhere on DG where seedlings of various plants are identified, photos, etc.? This would be most helpful when you're planting a seed of something new to you and you aren't sure what the seedling will look like. I'm always afraid I'll pull a seedling which I've mistaken for a weed.

Depends, Lot of seedling photos are posted in plantfiles, especially vegetables.

Thanks Farmer. I'm really more interested in the flower seedlings, though, as many of them I plant directly to the ground. This would be most helpful.

Try posting pics. on the Winter sowing Forum:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/coldsow/all/

or the Annuals forum:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/annuals/all/

or the Plant Identification forum:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/plantid/all/

It would be helpful and much easier to find if Flower people would post seedling photos in Plantfiles. Blossoms are more attractive, however, so it is not done as often. Of course that does not help if you are looking for a photo that no one has posted.

The only problem with having seedlings posted in Plant Files is that you have to know what the plant is first, to look it up. If you don't know what it is you're looking at, Plant Files is no use to you.

True, but if you don't know what you are looking for, how will you know you have found it? If you google seedling photos, you will get pages of sites. This is one of the better ones http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Seedling_Photo_Gallery.html

Farmerdill makes a good point. Photos of seedlings are a tremendous asset to the PlantFile entries. The gorgeous blooms are the most often photographed, but photos of leaves, stems, bark, seeds, seedlings, roots, bulbs, rhizomes etc are all great identification tools and very much needed in PlantFiles.

Some of you already have seedlings, whether they are under lights, in the greenhouse, or popping up outside. Snap their little seedling photos for the great plant scrapbook! ^_^

I think through process of elimination you might be able to figure out seedlings in your own garden by looking to see what is growing in the area, what annuals were growing in the area last year, etc.

Just a little tip...if I don't recognize a seedling, I leave it alone until it blooms. Then I know for sure if I want to keep it or not. I've gotten a few pleasant surprises by doing that!

All excellent suggestions. Thanks, everyone. As soon as the rain lets up, I'll take some pics of my WS'd seedlings and post them in the plant files. That'll be a start.

Hi Angie, and all..... somewhere in my wanderings I ran across and bookmarked The Seed Site -- which has photos of seeds and seedlings, some 700 of the latter. I have not used it, but sharing it as it may be useful:

http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/seedlings.html

Kyla

Here's another site that has seeds and seedlings:

http://theseedsite.co.uk/index.html

Carol

We just cross-posted! :-)


This message was edited Feb 28, 2009 10:24 PM

Kyla: Thanks so much for this link. I'm putting it into my favs. Some things I've never grown before or never grown from seed and it's helpful to know how to distinguish between weeds and seedlings.

Angie

Edited to say thanks to you, too, CAKnap.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2009 10:24 PM

This message was edited Feb 28, 2009 10:25 PM

LOL Carol, they are the same site, I just linked directly to the page that has links to photos of seedlings. ;-)

great minds once again thinking alike I reckon. -- Kyla

edit: Angie we cross posted there. Yes it is nearly impossible til you know what they look like! Which is why it is great advice IMO to wait and see if you are unsure.......

This message was edited Feb 28, 2009 7:26 PM