As people have been saying starting early requires more repotting. I don't host Christmas or New Years. I'm the Thanksgiving hostess so I might start a few in December but otherwise its 1/1 for me too. I have the time to repot but not the space. Once you pot them up a second time they take up the whole house. Hostas everywhere.

and of course.. there's lots of prep that can be done in advance ....

seed cleaning can be done anytime.. they can be held in a plain old envelope ... dont need to be planted immediately ...

cleaning and bleaching all tools.. pots... etc ...

buying the right media ... sterilizing it ... pre-wetting it ....

setting up a light stand ... or grow area ...

a big job can be broken down into many individual hours of pleasure ...

ken

BTW: a lot of peeps used to put the sown seed on top of the fridge.. because it was a constant heat source ... todays high efficiency fridges.. dont put out the heat to be used this way .... but it is up near the ceiling.. where all the heat is anyway ... short of a ceiling fan ....

how do you clean yours? it's such a pain to try to feel every tiny wing and ferret out a good seed. i may try the sieve method. or i may throw them in the yard. lol

i dry them completely .. i grind them thru a dollar store teacup strainer ...

ken

seedling a couple weeks after first potting ... 6 oz solo

i just grind them thru the mesh with my thumb .... seeds are hard enough to not be bothered.. and a majority of the chaff just dusts thru .... the rest goes on a plate.. for further cleaning ....

if you went to college since the 60's.. im sure you get the drift.. lol ... ;) wink ...

one major suggestion ... if you have to sneeze because of the dust ... turn away FAST ... else your seeds will be all over the room .. lol

couldnt find it at dollar store ....

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/home-and-decor/kitchen-utensils-and-gadgets/kitchen-utensils-and-gadgets/6166086

hahaha i'll take my allegra and get to grinding ...makes perfect sense!

if the seed wings are not dry enough.. they will clog the strainer ...... just stop and dry them longer ...

if dry .. they will just crush thru the strainer leaving you shiny hard black seeds ...

for the same reason.. i used to sterilize the media before use ...

the reason to do this.. is that the wings can bring pathogens to your media ... perhaps causing molds ... mildews and algae in the future ... not real big problems with hosta babes ... but it much easier to avoid a problem rather than cure a future problem ....

ken

http://tipnut.com/sterilize-soil/

i vaguely recall baking my soil back in the day. its about the only thing i've baked in my oven! lol

thanks for the info! i'm ready to grow some stuff!!

you can do smaller batches in the microwave... dampen first .. as soon as you see steam.. good enough

ken

Like a few of us, I have Volunteer seedlings all over my yard. Mother Nature does my work. I have no room for grow lights, etc. More power to all of you that give it a try, hope you create some goodies!

Sherry

I have found that by using good air flow I eliminate majority of soil issues. Started batch of mini seeds just to keep time going. I should be going full force 1.1

Thought I would bump this back up to see who's started some seeds! This is my first year trying and there's no hope for me now...I'll be doing it every year

My little setup

m mw .. great follow up.. thx ... bored out of my mind in january .. lol ...

your setup echos mine ... what kind of lights.. can you move the lights closer to the plants.. or move the tray up to the light ...

the key is light intensity .. and with my plain old florescents .. an inch or two was best ... and that presumes you have no heat issue ... my set up was n the basement in winter in MI ... heat was not an issue.. lol ...

but if you do move yours.. do it slowly.. harden them off to each change ...

also ... i used gal milk jug with water.. and just enough water sol fert that the water looked a little blue.. and used it every time i watered.. VERY diluted ...

ken

Thanks Ken! They are LED lights, not sure on the exact strength. They are touching the top of the domes now so cant move them any closer. I do think I will have to order a second set down the road and have 2 lights on each shelf. Since it's my first go around I was hoping just something would grow! Haha!

Good to know about the fertilizer, great tip! Any particular kind you use? I haven't had to water them much as of yet, I was having some dampening off starting I believe so I'm waiting until they start to look dry or get big enough to water again...unless that's not how to do it!

I do have heat mats under 2 of the trays which I have read conflicting comments on them but they have really helped speed the germination from what I can tell. Right now they work since I only have a few tray but once I grow more trays I won't use them anymore - just rely on the lights.

My kids love going down and checking on them with me, bought a lighted magnifying glass so they all take turns looking at them!

i have no experience with led ... you'll have to figure it out yourself ....

once a majority of the seeds have sprouted ... get rid of the domes ...

i used heating pads.. because the basement was cold .... once sprouted ... not sure you need it ... what is the temp of the area youre working in .... dollar store thermometer will get you that ...

my fert is a 40 year old plastic can of kmart general purpose wat sol fert ... ill check the numbers later .... when i go get more coffee ...

ken

I finally planted mine last Sunday. I keep waiting for them to sprout. I decided against the basement and went w/ the laundry room, which is a warmer room in the house (still not that warm). Hope they sprout.

Empress Wu streaked seeds

I just got mine started today. Only one flat- mostly Lemon Lime; a very few Whirlwind; some Candy Dish; some Ginkgo Craig. We’ll see... By the time I even thought about collecting seed, that’s about all there was. But it’s fun to try and see what, if anything comes up!

Lol, my little scientific experiment... next to the water heater to keep them warm.

Here's a couple of cups of mine.

I have 72 cups on a heat pad and under lights 24/7.

All cups were sown with seed on 31st December - 3 weeks ago.

Some were through in 14 days, others are just specks of green and others yet to show.

Dave

Oh, great to see some new greens coming! I have planted mine as well. Update on Korean Snow. It did produce lots of seeds, most of them were light green some had specks. I kept only a couple. Made my share of mistakes. I brought in couple of sweet pepper plants just to try to overwinter. .. Well, mites came with it. So I nearly lost my hostas seedlings. Just started my most precious ones though. This year not only I managed to save my own seeds but got an unexpected present from Don Rawson Galaxy seeds as well as owner of Foxfarms shared some of his stash with me. So I am in heaven. Need more set up though...

You guys are making me want to start hosta seeds! Your seedlings are looking great!

Ken---so since you began growing hosta seedlings quite a while ago, how many did you actually keep to maturity?

I’ve got 10 trays planted. I started to repot into red solo cups yesterday. Some streakers from my large yellow streaker in the garden.

Little streakers are the cutest!

Yet another use for the Red Solo Cup! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68

Am still hopeful for few streakers. Bunch of seeds still unfurling. I think there will be some seeds at Winter conference, really like those that IAT producing.

You can see mite damage on some, most of them will not be selected. Will keep yellow and frilly right lower corner one.

sterilize your media before use.. to keep away bugs ... easier to prevent.. rather than cure....

how far away is your light ... looks like the tall one is etoliated ... and all look like they are leaning into the light ... a little anyway .... might need to fix that.. if it gets worse ...

ken

http://tipnut.com/sterilize-soil/

Good eye, Ken! For sure light is a problem. I usually do not start my shop lights set up till late Feb when I start my tomatoes and peppers. I had to throw away my pepper plants as neem oil was not touching it... sniff

Will be observing if mite problem is solved. I am more worried about introducing new seedlings into it than keeping these old ones.

It generally starts running into pretty penny by the time I get going with about dosen lights and couple of thousands tomatoes/ peppers/eggplants etc seedlings. My system is to plant tomatoes late April into Wall Of Water so I start early. Some years I can get away with early hoop house and a heater...

This year I got to decide how many seedlings from hosta will take most precious real estate under lights.

All my seeds were from crosses where the mother plant was a streaked one, mostly with large blue ones as dads. Half of them are out of my garden, half I bought at auction. My goal is to create a nice larger streaked hosta. I only had around 600 seeds when I planted them the end of November in 3 trays under 24 hrs light, on 2 shelves in the basement. I culled most of the greens (except for 8 interesting ones) and have now left around 40 streaked seedlings, to be culled further.

On Saturday I bought more seeds at the AHS Auction, so they will stay longer in pots in the basement after other plants have migrated to a shady part of the deck in May. All will get planted in the ground the middle of August.

I'm definitely seeing some germination - particularly among the Lemon Lime seeds... but I'm also seeing what I think is some algae. What should I do? Is this harmful to the seedlings?

Might be a bit too much of a moisture. Pouring peroxide helps. Drying a bit helps or most of all topping with a layer of vermiculite works for me..

I went ahead and opened the vents on the dome.

Should I add a little Hydrogen Peroxide or Chlorox to the watering mix?

I have a weak amount of all-purpose plant food in the water, as well as a small chunk of "Mosquito Dunk" - as mentioned in Josh Spece's articles on raising seedlings (to prevent gnats).

I could a few drops of either Hydrogen Peroxide or Chlorox... as long as that's safe for the seedlings...?

I have never found peroxide harmful. Considering that most hostas get dunked into bleach by sellers probably safe too..or just let top layer dry up a tiny bit and water only from the bottom... Might take care of itself...

my second pic from the top ... PIA to go up and down .. sorry ...

keepers should be potted when they can be handled at about the third or 4th leaf stage .... and the old seedling media thrown out.. ergo.. there goes all the algae ...

i dont think the algae does anything negative.. other than make you think you need to fix the problem ...

and im not sure... my top pic.. once germinated.. you even need the humidity dome ... presuming you dont have them next to the wood burning stove.. meaning... no humidity in the house ... [btw: one way i learned to cut watering.. was when i had more ice on the inside of windows in winter.. than i had outside the windows.. in other words.. if the humidity in the whole house was out of bounds.. then my plants didnt need more water ....]

and dont forget.. less water.. forces more root growth ...the best greenhouse grower i ever saw.. let whole houses wilt .. before he watered.. his theory was the stress encouraged more root growth.. probably a hormone threat release ...

never forget.. regardless of size.. they are hosta.. you could probably throw them on the driveway ... but for the fact its winter.. [at dont know if they could handle going dormant at this size.. no stroed energy to sprout in pring???] .. if you get my drift ...

in summation counselor ... dont fix whats not a problem.. and dont kill them with too much love .. they are hosta ...

ken

ps: i am sure.. if the algae was left for a year.... and covered all the media.. it would become a problem.. but you arent even close.. so dont fix it.. imo ...

pps: BTW ... i think peroxide turn into water rather fast ... breaks down .. so if you do mix it.. use it.. it wont be there later on ... you will just have water diluted in water ... but i aint no chemist.. so i would defer if that is nonsense .....

to throw in with my lack of chemistry.. lets try botany .. is algae a plant ???? .. perhaps that is why it might not be a problem?????

go figure: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091027234004AAvxm2i

btw:.. seems to me.. one of the reasons i learned to sterilize everything.. was the theory that it reduced algae .. and gnats ... thereby forestalling the necessity of having to fix either of those problems .... go figure ... no gnat eggs.. no gnats .. no algae spore.. or whatever its called.. no algae ... double go figure ....

http://tipnut.com/sterilize-soil/

ken

dont even get me started on moss ... rotflmbo ..... and whats the deal with pete ... pete moss ... or kate moss ... crikey.. im sober.. and so confused ...

ken

Ken and Lindalana - thanks... I'll probably just leave it alone for now. The algae doesn't seem to be too thick or troublesome. I actually did sterilize the media, as well as the flat and dome. Maybe I just got it all too wet, and then with the dome vent holes closed, that may have encouraged the algae. But the seedlings look like they are doing just fine.

This is really fun - I run downstairs morning and evening to take a look at them. Honestly, it was almost an afterthought to even collect the seed pods. And it was late in the season, so I didn't have a ton of them. Lemon Lime and Ginko Craig seem to bloom prolifically, so I had the most seeds from them - and they also seem to be germinating best. I had only four seeds (that appeared viable) from Whirlwind - just one seed pod - and one of those is popping up. Next summer I can hopefully be a little more deliberate about collecting seeds.

This is really fun

==>>> thats the ticket ....

what the heck else do you have to do.. garden related.. in winter ... in the cold north ... pah... anywhere the garden shuts down for winter ...

ken

small amounts of algae won't kill your plants, but it will compete for nutrients water and oxygen. its also a food for gnats. lack of oxygen supply to the roots is often an overlooked aspect of good growth in seedlings.

i control it by sprinkling a layer of dry seed starter mix on it to dry it up. that knocks it back for awhile, but again don't go crazy, let those roots breathe.

once roots are established i upcup to a mix with abundant bark. they take off at that point.

Thanks, will do!

Just a few of the seedlings growing!

m mw ....

what are the white crystals ... and the purpose ...???

is there drainage in the cups ... did you cut the bottom edge to allow such???

no etoliation.. so light is perfect ....

and what the heck are you going to do with all those spider plant babes ... lol ...

ken

Ken

White stuff is chicken grit - was told it helps with dampening off some...and its seemed to work well!

Yes all the cups have 3 drainage holes in the bottom and I've been bottom watering when they get really dry (water in gal jug with just enough fertilizer to see color like you mentioned)

The lights I've played with a little. They are all LED ones so I'm trying to find the right distance. With the domes on they were fine really close. But when I moved some by themselves with no dome the leaves started to brown a bit. So raised them a little higher. They dont seem to be getting leggy. Going to leave them on 24/7 too.

And I asked my mom for a couple of her spider plant babies and she gave me all of them haha! Going to give most of them away to other plant people

So I've had a little progress with my seedlings, and finally got around to up-potting them. I culled some, but because I'm not adept yet at recognizing good or bad qualities, I kept more than I probably should have. Some are from Lemon Lime, some from Gingko Craig - and of all of those, there are both yellow and green, strappy-leaves and slightly rounder leaves, taller and shorter. I just kept those that seemed the most vigorous. I guess, if I keep them long enough I can use them to fill in empty places in the garden, or group them for a spot of color. We'll see....

I had only one seedling from Whirlwind, and it's pretty puny... not what I'd call vigorous. But it was finally large enough to handle, so I potted it. It's the really pitiful-looking one in the front.

Off to the left are three pots - each with a caladium bulb that I'm trying to get a head start on, to use in pots.

my cups runneth over. really need to get them outside and seperated for a good culling