Perennials: Pansy and viola seed - need advice, 0 by tigerlily123

tigerlily123 wrote:
I grow pansies for a living, so I germinate alot of them in a season-over 150,000 of them at a time. I store my seeds in a ziplock bag from the time I get them, to the time I use them up-could be a year or two. The night before I seed them, I take out what I need and leave at room temp. They say that pansies need 65 degree to germ well, but that is impossible for me in mid July, so I put a few layers of shade cloth on the grhouse to get the temps down, and then take them off after the sds have germ and starting to get their true leaves. I found this year-with the really high temps that we had, that my germ rate was the best ever!! They also popped faster too, I was surprised-but happy! lol

When I seed them, I use a seeding machine that will drop a seed in each section of a plug flat ( 288 squares/flat). They lay right on the top of the soiless mix that I use, and then they go under a mister system all day, that I turn off at night. The mister goes on for 13 secs every 5 mins or so during the day. Putting them under plastic and misting once a day would work too. Once they start to germ-usually in 3 days or so, I cut down on the amt of times that the mister comes on for a few days, and then they just get misted 2-3 times a day. When the plant comes up and you can see the leaves, then I only water when the soil is dry-and definitely uncover before now. Pansies germ better with light.

Pansies don't like really wet soil, they like to dry out a bit-even when they are very small-even before they get their true leaves. They are very susceptable to fungus-esp now when it is very hot and humid out. Their roots also grow better in dry soil-and since roots grow at night, I never water in the late afternoon or evening.

When they have a few true leaves, I transplant directly into 3.5" pots outside into full sun. Its a little tricky with the watering, because you want to water the little babies, but I have learned that they grow better and have stronger roots if you let the soil dry out some. I also start to fert with a weak solution when they are just getting their first pair of true leaves.

Here are some that I germ July 15 this year.