I am certainly no expert on seed starting, but over the last year and a half I have learned a lot! Yes, that is code for “killed lots of baby plants.” Last year my results were pretty dismal. I had maybe 6 Bells of Ireland that survived long enough for me to plant them outside, a handful of snapdragons, and really not much else. Oh, tomatoes. I did have some tomatoes that made it as well.
Snapdragon seedlings,
last year. They germinated great, but only a few survived long enough to be
planted out into the garden!
Nothing like setting
the bar at ground level, eh?! Perhaps because of all that failure, I am
thrilled with any progress that my plants make this year!
So, if you’re even
more of a beginner than I am, let me share with you a few of the things I have
learned that have helped my success rate go up. Some of it’s having the right
equipment and some is giving them a chance to get used to changes.
- Use a heat mat. They’re fairly inexpensive, and most
seedlings will germinate much faster on a heat mat. If you can’t afford
even a small one, try the top of your refrigerator, or someplace equally
warm.
- You also need humidity domes of some kind. Plastic
wrap works if you’re using cell trays or pots. In any case, get something!
Without it, the seed casings will tend to stick to your first set of
leaves. If those casings don’t come off, your seedling will die sooner
rather than later, because it prevents the first set of leaves from
unfolding and photosynthesizing.
This is not like baby
chicks that have to peck their own way out of their shells to survive. In a
humid environment, the seed casings slip right off of their own accord,
usually. Without one, they don't. Simple as that.
The bigger seeds you
can usually split with a fingernail or tweezers and gently pull them off. The
tiny ones, though, like snapdragons? Forget about it! If they don’t come off on
their own, that little plant is finished before it has even begun.
- Last piece of equipment advice: get a grow light or two. Your baby plants need at least 14-16 hours bright light per day. They’re not going to get that with a windowsill. (Plus, windows tend to be cold, which also inhibits growth!) The plants will do best if you keep the lights just 1-2” above their little heads. Move the lights up as needed.
- Before you plant them outside, you’ve got to harden
them off. This means gradually get them used to living conditions out in
the Real World—you know, where there’s wind, bright direct sunshine, and
weather. If you stick them directly out into the garden, the shock will
kill them. It’s an abrupt and awful end to weeks of work. Trust me on this
one!
So, give them some
time to get used to it all. A week to ten days is the usual. Start them off
with just an hour or two of being outside in a sheltered, shady location.
Gradually introduce them to stronger sunshine and longer hours.
I’ll tell you
what—it’s the transporting them in and out that kills me with this one! In and
out and in and out. If they are COOL FLOWERS, don’t worry as much about cold night temps
killing them off, but do go slower on introducing them to full sun. For your
warm weather lovers, do the opposite: take them in at night if it’s going to be
cold, and maybe go a touch faster at exposing them to the heat and full sun.
Keep them well watered outside, too.
New York asters—in
the actual flowerbed out front!! You can see they are still quite small, but
they seem to be doing well out there so far! These little guys are supposed to
grow up to 3 feet tall and bloom in the fall. I’ll keep you posted!
I am pretty proud of
my successes so far, though! To date: sweet peas planted out into the
garden—still alive, though they don’t seem to have grown much yet. Also, New
York asters planted into my front flowerbeds just this past week. They actually
do seem to have grown since getting in the ground—yeah! I’ve got pansies on the
back deck looking pretty good, and snapdragons seedlings—still small, but still
growing—that I’m hardening off to plant into the garden in the next week.
Tomatoes and pepper seedlings are growing like crazy! Need to get them potted
up and started hardening off, as well. Project for next week!
Have you had any success with seed starting this year?
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