Any tricks for sprouting apricot seeds (Hunza)
fireweed22
11 years ago
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canadianplant
11 years agofireweed22
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Is there any trick to growing lettuce from seed??
Comments (2)Lettuce seed needs light to germinate along with cool temperatures. If you bury the seed, they probably will not germinate. Place seed on top of the potting soil. There is no need to cover up the seed. Keep the potting mixture moist. There is no need to soak the seed....See MoreAnyone have a trick up their sleeve concerning ensete seeds?
Comments (4)Wanna Run; Bought from Baanana treee in PA first year and this year. Also tried rare palm seeds this year. The firms are placed on 2 different continents. I doubt they use the same source for an everyday plant like ensete? But there must be a reason for my great success the first year with a single batch of seeds and no success this year with multiple batches. As for the other banana-seeds, I plant them in empty ice-cream boxes (lid on) filled with humus-rich soil and put them on a heat mat set at 14 hrs of 10-15 degrees C and 10 hrs of 25-35 degrees C. Works like a charm for velutinas, ornatas and sikkimensis....See MoreAny tricks to germinating Asclepias seeds?
Comments (5)The winter sowing method works really well for common milkweed. I just stored mine in a baggie in the cabinet until February and then winter sowed (outside in a container with a clear vented lid) and got nearly 100% germination. I've had the best luck when using containers that are at least 3 inches deep. It works like spreading them out in the yard but keeps critters from eating the seeds over winter, and easier to keep track of where the seedlings are - especially helpful if the seedlings are hard to differentiate from weeds. Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing forum...See MoreThe 'trick' to Johnny Select Seeds...
Comments (11)Ezzirah, Peat pellets are not the best way to start seeds. That could be the problem. People who use them tend to have many problems, including slow growth and nutritional deficiencies, and that is especially true of newer gardeners who are still learning how each type of vegetable best germinates and grows and what it needs in order to do well. (Peat is a 'dead' material, so it has no biological activity and no nutrition.) Many people who use peat pellets lose their plants to damping off because peat holds on to moisture a long time which contributes to various damping off fungi that kill seedlings, and then if peat gets dry, it is hard to rewet. You'll likely have more success with seed-starting if you use a sterile, soilless seed-starting mix. With peppers, you cannot compare two different varieties to one another because some pepper plants get big early and others get big late and some never get very big. If you were growing the exact same variety side by side from two different vendors, and the seed was fresh and packed for the current year, that would be a more valid comparison. I started about 20 varieties of peppers, including hot, sweet and ornamental varieties, from seed this year and every vaqriety has its own rate of growth and no two are just alike. Some of my smallest plants that seemed 'behind' the others as young transplants are now the tallest and best-performing plants, so you can't judge by their early size and growth. You judge them by how they grow and produce once they are transplanted and growing in the garden, not by how they perform as tiny seedlings. The recommended transplant date for fall peppers is July 15th, which is next week. I don't know when you started your peppers, but in order to them to be large enough to survive being transplanted in mid-summer head and grow well and produce, they need to be a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks old when set out. One reason that is especially important with summer plantings is that the pepper transplants need a large enough root system that they can survive a hot, dry day. Celery is incredibly hard to grow in our climate and is a cool season crop. Temperatures above 90 push it into dormancy. It is hard to germinate and dies easily. You germinate it at 60 to 70 degrees, then move it to a cooler location with sunlight to grow on for quite a few weeks before it is large enough to transplant. It takes celery 3 to 4 months to reach transplant size and the best time to transplant it is in early summer, so to plant it here, you would have needed to start the seeds in February or the first half of March and then set them out in approx. June. Celery has to mature before temps drop below below 28 degrees in the fall or early winter, but temps over 90 in the summer make it go dormant which disrupts its growth cycle. Oh, and it needs well-drained soil. If celery seedlings or plants get too dry at any time, they stunt or die easily. There's a reason you don't see "celery" on everyone's grow list here in this state. Not many people grow it here because most years our weather is completely wrong for it. Last year's cooler than average, cloudy, rainy, humid summer might have been a good year for celery for anyone with really well-draining soil. So, I'm not sure there's anything to blame Johnny's for. Peat pellets are notoriously troublesome as we discussed a lot on this forum back in the winter months; with peppers you're comparing apples to oranges; and it is the wrong time of year for celery transplants to grow in addition to it being one of the most finicky vegetable varieties around. I can't see where Johnny's is responsible for any of that. I'm not saying any of the above to be harsh or unkind, but rather to be honest so you'll understand why you might be having problems with your seedlings and blaming Johnny's unfairly. If a seed vendor sends out bad seed, I'd be the first to suggest they were at fault if I thought they were and the first to suggest that they should correct what is wrong. Honestly, though, I don't think Johnny's is at fault in this case. The poor seed companies often get blamed for new gardeners' inexperience and that is not fair. Gardening is a learning-by-doing process and you'll learn lessons every year, whether is it you first year or your fiftieth. There's just so very many variables and great results are never guaranteed. Don't let your frustration with starting seeds in the middle of summer ruin the fun of gardening for you. It is all a good experience because you learn something every time. Dawn...See MoreNoogy
11 years agocanadianplant
11 years agofireweed22
11 years agoroots_feeding
8 years agoSteph
8 years ago
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