am i doing the right thing?

17 years ago

With the unseasonably warm weather in NJ this past weekend as well as today, I decided on Saturday to take all of my containers out of their ziploc bags.

Did I do the right thing? I figured the warmth of the air would do them good and the soil is still very wet in every container.

Also, out of 36 containers I am only seeing a random seedling here and there in 3 or 4 containers. Am I being impatient or did something not go right?

When should I put them back in ziploc bags? Cooler weather is moving in later this week.

I have no idea what to expect since this is my first winter sow ever.

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Comments (16)

vera_eastern_wa
17 years ago
I don't take covers off of any of non-germinated ones. If the bag is pulled down over a jug I just pull it up a bit to vent. If I have a container/pony pack fitted in the bottom of the bag, zipper side facing up, I just slide it open a bit. I want to keep some humidity around the seed to aid germination. In the evening I just pull it back down if need be. Mine are all in SW exposture so I need to :D

Vera
tracey_nj6
17 years ago
I also don't take the covers off of my non-germinators. I there's one sprout, then the cover comes off. I did move the non-germinators from full sun (on the deck) to filtered sun yesterday.
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vera_eastern_wa
17 years ago
I may do just that today too Tracey...it's supposed to be mid 60's all week and 70 by Saturday.

Vera
coeng
Original Author
17 years ago
I've been so preoccupied lately that I never got back to putting the covers back on since I took them off on Apr 23. I have a few tiny spouts here and there but that's it. I still water all containers every 2-3 days. Is the direct sunlight causing this delay in germination or are my seeds toast by leaving them out in direct sunlight? Please tell me I still have a chance. I got lazy and I think I'm paying the price now.
coeng
Original Author
16 years ago
No one?
Valiche
16 years ago
Hi Tracey,

I too am having a similar delimma. It went from 50's to 80 in a matter of days and I'm a little concerned. I did find that quite a few of my containers had dried out. I've been soaking them. The soil didn't look dry but once I picked them up I knew.

I think the bags off shouldn't have affected too much except a delay. What kind of seeds are you talking about? Some things just take longer to sprout. I'm still waiting on quite a few things. I thought I had fried a bunch of my rose campion seeds, but after the watering on Tuesday and warm weather yesterday, they sprouted.

I've been in the rotation process. Once the seeds have sprouted, I've been moving the sprouts to a shadier spot to grow on. Since I'm not home during the day, I don't chance letting them fry in our unpredictable weather. Those that haven't, I put them behind a hydrangea bush that hasn't fully leafed out. So they are getting some sun but not enough to shoot the temps up too high inside the jug. I have hope, and so should you...at least until June. You still may get some surprises.
coeng
Original Author
16 years ago
Success.....about two weeks ago I moved my containers from full sun to behind my shed where the direct sunlight is present only in the morning. I am also better able to control the moisture of the soil in the new location.

I now have 100% germination of all containers (38 or so) !!!

So the next question is...when do I transplant the seedlings to pots?

Its a good thing I didn't throw in the towel.
sheltieche
16 years ago
It somewhat depends on what kind of seedlings are those. Perennials will take a while to grow. Annuals should be transplanted sooner. You can transplant anything as soon as it seems doable- it is up to you. If you going to pot them up you can do it as soon as you see germination happening. If you plan to put them in the gargen I would recomend wait until they have some roots.
tracey_nj6
16 years ago
I just transplanted all of my seedlings to larger containers. The annuals went to their spots, well, most of them anyway, but the smaller, more fragile ones went to 4" and 6" pots. My non-germinators have been tossed; I'm sick of waiting...
mo_girl
16 years ago
You can pot them up anytime. I have been really surprised how tough teeny little sprouts can be. Ones I had a lot of, I planted out HOS directly into ground, but others that were really small or I only had a couple of, I transplanted into small pots first. I know many others plant most out directly in the ground though, so it's really a personal preference thing.

Tracey, I have done pretty much the same thing. I transplanted the last of my seedlings into pots and in the ground, and have dumped all but one container today. I noticed a little sprout in that container I really wanted, transplanted it and I've decided to give the rest of the seeds another week to shape up, or I'm tossing them too.
Valiche
16 years ago
I'm glad to hear that you got good results from those jugs. I haven't potted up anything. I've just been plopping them in the ground once they have their first set of true leaves. So far, so good.

I've dumped about 20 containers so far. They were questionable to start with. I have quite a few more that I'm not giving up on yet. I'm having watering issues that I think will help get them up and sprouting.
coeng
Original Author
16 years ago
Do most seedlings look alike? Of my 38 or so containers almost all of them have seedlings that look alike (similar leaves). Most are about 1 to 1.5 inches tall. I'm just wondering if something else (nearby trees, scrubs, etc), blew some seeds onto the open-lid containers and germinated when I moved them out of direct sunlight by placing them on the ground behind my shed.
trudi_d
16 years ago
That's a very good possibility. Similar seedlngs in different containers usually means windblown seeds or seeds were in the potting soil.
coeng
Original Author
16 years ago
Here are some pics today. Help. Are these the seedlings I planted or some other invader. If so, I'm going to be so disappointed.

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ornata
16 years ago
An awful lot of them look like sycamores, or some other tree from the maple family (I have to pull scores of them out of my garden each spring).
trudi_d
16 years ago
Sycamore seedlings! AHA!

Thanks Ornata, I didn't know they were sycamores, but I was getting plenty of them for years, then a new neighbor came in and took down the old and sick tree and now I have sunlight and NO sycamore seedlings.

am i doing the right thing?

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am i doing the right thing?

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