Germination tricks

March 18, 2015

This year I have had amazing success with germinating my seeds.  While many factors come into play, the one thing I did was to try warming the seeding beds after planting.  I use a seed starting mixture (one small bag is enough for almost all of my starts), peat trays, and Gro Lux type florescent bulbs.  When I started the first "experimental" seeds (marigolds and peppers) during the first week of March I placed 100 watt bulbs under one of the trays to speed things up.  As expected, the warmer tray germinated much faster.  The problem was that the lamps did not generate a consistent temperature, and I was a bit worried about having a "jury rigged" setup.

I went through my junk collection and found two electric heating pads that I had salvaged years ago from an old instrument (I don't even remember what the instrument was!).  I attached the two pads to the bottom of one of my aluminum trays, and hooked them into a rebuilt "Veriac" (variable voltage transformer).

A plywood board holds the heating pads securely to the tray, and a sheet of 1/4 foam underneath provides insulation to reduce heat loss.

A thermocouple was placed between the large tray and the smaller tray holding the peat pots, and the Veriac adjusted so that the temperature at that point was 80 - 85F.



Even I was surprised when many of the seeds planted on March 13 had germinated by March 18!  I found a seed germination table that listed germination times based on soil temperature, and confirmed that this was normal.  The germination rates were also excellent (nearly 100%).  As of today only the peppers have yet to emerge.

Hello Spring

March 14, 2015

This was not the first crocus in the yard, but the "early risers" did not fare so well.  They are finally looking decent, so it was time for the annual "first flower of spring" photo.

It's time!

March 13, 2015

I made a quick trip to my favorite greenhouse Wednesday and while they don't have much ready for sale (no surprise there), I took a walk through and found that they already doing the first transplant on their tomato sprouts!  What I did learn was that the trays they start the seeds in have only about 1/2" wells.  Each slot probably only holds 1/2 teaspoon of seed starter.  Their flats were probably 12" x 12", so they each held about a gross of seedlings!

After seeing how far along their tomatoes were, I decided to go ahead and get some of my plants started (I'm counting on an early spring!)  Here is today's progress.

The marigolds, ornamental peppers, "Kroger" peppers, chives and leeks are all doing well.

After planting the new seeds I took my "rolling garden" out so that the plants could get some natural sunlight!

A bit early!

March 8, 2015

The temperature is finally starting to rise!  It is above freezing today and expected to hit near 60F by mid-week (there is still about 6" of snow over most of the yard).

I realize this is really pushing things....   I actually planned to start the chives, onions, and leek seeds in mid-February.   I went ahead and planted some marigolds so that I will have something to stick out as soon as the last frost is over.  The "experimental" part of my early planting includes two pepper plants.  The one is the small ornamental peppers that I like to use for borders.  I found one of the small purple fruits dried up under the mailbox in late January and just for the heck of it planted some of it's seeds.  The second flat of peppers I credit to my wife.  We love the long red sweet peppers (from both Kroger's and Sam's), and she gave me the cores of one when she was preparing a meal, suggesting I should try growing them.  I let them dry for a few days and planted them.  Surprise, surprise!  They did germinate.  Now the question is are they actually a hybrid so that I get some runty little peppers, or will they actually be the nice big red ones I want!

The flower on the right side of the photo is one that I decided to bring in last fall.  It was a miniature about 3" tall nasturtium plant in a 2" clay pot and had lasted all summer, so I felt sorry for it.  I transplanted it into a larger pot where it thrived all winter.  I find it interesting that it has been making seeds nearly all winter long (I assume self pollinated?).  

Enough is enough!

March 2, 2015

I can't help but remember my grandmother Huffman's advice "you should plant your peas on Valentine's Day" (she explained that some times you had to poke them in the mud in order to get them in that early).   Well, Valentine's Day was several weeks ago, and I don't think the ground has been clear of snow since!  This has been one of the strangest winters, thanks to the "Polar Vortex" or some such monster.  I finally went out today with a broom and tried to knock some of the snow off the cold frames.  In spite of over a foot of snow covering nearly everything the arugula, spinach, and kale all are bright green.

If the sun stays out, there will be enough heat that most of the snow will melt off (I hope!)