Hi, I have just received seeds I bought for Wizard Sun Golden Colsus. I have read a little about the Coleus plant. I believe I read that they grow slowly. This is the middle of Oct. would it be ok if I started this plant now and grew it under lights till spring? Anyone have any suggestions before I begin this? Or should I wait longer? Anyone learn the hard way in how to grow these from seed? As you see I am a newbie at growing this. Thanks for any opinions.
Starting from seed wizard sun golden coleus
I think it's a bit early. New Years Day would better. Lets see what others think.
Coleus grow very slowly from seed, and that's a mystery to me, since they grow soooo fast when you get them as "cuttings" instead of sowing them.
Alice
This message was edited Jan 3, 2012 11:09 AM
Well it depends on how much room you have and how much light. If they grow slowly, I'd start them now under lights. I use the 4 ft shop lights and they seem to do fine. Keep them 3in to 6 in from the lights. If they get too tall, you can cut them and have a stem cutting to plant. That way you'll have more and bigger plants by spring.
Whenever I start anything from seed, I start them in 5-5 inch peat pots in about 1 inch of soil, either covred or uncovered. After they grow their first set of secondary (true) leaves, I gradually add a bit more soil or potting mix. As they grow taller, I add a bit more soil. You should get a stronger root system that way. I'd start sowing some now just to see the timing. If they do well, you'll be able to make lots of cuttings for full pots by spring. I would not worry about light until you see germination, but definitely keep them warm. I like peat pots because they can be watered form the bottom and will take up just what they need without disturbing the soil. Otherwise I'd water with a fine mist.
The finer the seed, the harder it is to segregate each plant. I once grew snapdragons (antirrhinum) from powdery seed, and they were next to impossible to separate. I am sure this will be an intereting experience for you.
Marcia
Hello Cathy and everyone.
I have 50 seeds to work with so I think I will try starting with 5 or 10 I have some nice things to use in starting seeds so I think I will try tomorrow. Last few days has been crazy for me and my husband. We are trying the Dr. Ornish heart program. It is like picking us up and shaking us upside down for as greek as this program is to us. But there is so much for us to learn and I know it will help me eat healthier. But it is overwhelming in the beginning. Working on this will be good for me tomorrow. I will try to let you know how it is going when I start.
Dottie, I hope you live to 120. It is supposed to be a great program and can even reverse some damage. Persevere!
This message was edited Oct 12, 2011 7:30 AM
Well I started my seeds about a week ago. Tonight I see growth. They were such small seeds I put two in each hole. I see two in almost all holes. It will be fun to watch these grow. I am so new at growing from seed I am thrilled when see them grow.
Well tonight I am so mad. I planted my wizard sun golden coleus. I ordered from someone on line. Beautiful picture of a gorgeous orange plant. Just what I wanted. Well I now have 20 beautiful seedlings that are a plain light green! I got on line and decided to look to see what they looked like on line and they are GREEN. So I emailed the people I bought these seeds from and they sad Oh thanks for telling us. This one seed we haven't tried to grow yet. We bought these seeds from Park and they said we could use their picture!!!! I am getting a full refund. But now I have all these seedlings and I had plans for the orange coleus this spring in my pots!!! Really irratated.
Well don't ditch your plants 1234dottie. A lot of coleus look very different in the winter than they do in the summer. It's fun to see them change colors. I have some ('henna' for instance) that is pure dark red in the winter, and in the summer it is purple underneath and dark chartreuse on top. I wish I could get it to be red in the summer. The picture was taken in summer.
My henna is also green on the top of the leaf and red on the underside. When it gets more light, the leaves turn red. Coleus is a plant that grows well in shade, but may look entirely different in full light. Also, full light and full sunlight are not the same thing.
Keep in mind that these plants with thin leaves need regular watering and cannot afford to go dry. Especially the ones with frail root systems. On hardy plants they may just lose their leaves. On your little babies they have immature roots.
Dottie, we're waiting for photos....
Ok tomorrow I will take pictures. I put some today in a little Christmas bowl I've had for years and never new what to do with it. I bought the plant bowl many years ago that had a flower in it.
Here is a picture of my unwanted seeds lol. I received the wrong seeds. I put these in a christmas dish I had. Looks pretty good.
I will try to send a few other pictures of my green plants. Suppose to be orange.
few more pictures
Those are looking good! I'm mot sure about these but coleus plants are a strange lot. They change colors with lighting. This may just be winter colors. As you put them out in the spring they could change. Night temps. must be above 50 or more or they drop there leaves. Learned that the hard way!
Did I explain that right?
Dottie, they look great. I'll bet you get a few different colors based on the amount of sunlight. I have something with a similar leaf but different color in low light (very dark) and much pinker is full light.
Winter is differant. I have taken (most) of my cuttings for the winter and some of them look nothing like they did this summer. That is why these plants are so wonderful :) I can put the same plant in two places in the yard and they don't always look the same. I got about 17 more plants to take cuttings of before winter sets in.
I Just replanted about 200 coleus into my boxes around the deck. I too have a bucketful that I cut before replanting that I will root from.
I think your seedlings may turn orange next Spring. Fish Emulsion also helps bump color. I would wait until they go outside though. FE stinks.
Sidney
I definitely kept my seedlings. They are doing quite nicely still green though. I reordered the seeds I wanted they are coming up now. I will watch and see. I look forward to planting my other seeds in spring.
Good news
I reordered the coleus I wanted. I planted them a few weeks ago.
They are up and I can see orange in them already. YEA
I am so glad I did start the other ones really early I would have never known i had the wrong kind until too late to grow them for spring. I only planted half since I saw how well my other ones had done. All came up even the extra ones I through in. So I guess I will have my orange plants after all. My I didn't want plants are do wonderful as well. I decided to put a bunch of them in a big 10 inch pot. They are growing very nicely. The pot is looking pretty. But plain light green. That is what kind of plant it is. I have some beautiful coleus going from some cuttings I received through this site. I am so ready for spring. Two more months of waiting. I have lots of seeds to plant when it is time. I'm so bored and want to talk to someone about seeds. I feel like an island all by myself in how I enjoy planting and watching things grow. This site helps me feel normal. lol
Dottie, how are the seeded plants doing?
Marcia
They are gorgeous now. I have like 15 ready to go. I've had to trim them back twice because they are getting so big. My unwanted green coleus have done ok too
Update. My unwanted green plants have survived the winter. They even bloomed producing pretty blue flowers. I am so patiently waiting for spring to arrive. This gorgeous spring has made it harder to wait. Tonight suppose to get down to 29 I know it is too early it is not even April yet! I have a beautiful geranium blooming right now. I have had it outside for a week. Bringing it in to night. Today was much cooler and I was able to get much more done outside. I can't take 80 degree weather. My heart does not do well with the heat. So I am glad it has cooled back down.
Geranium should be cold hardy.
Pinch off coleus blooms to keep coleus alive.
They are grown for their bright foliage.
Sidney
Dottie, it will be interesting to see the coleus after a little bit of sun.
Yes Cathy I do look forward to see how all my coleus plants do outside. Patience, patience
I started a pack of coleus in late February. They still only have two leaves. It is really warm outside and the coleus I bought this year are doing great. (Our highs are in the high 80's and lows are in the 60's). Can I plant these out or what should I do? These are not sun coleus but I don't need that since I mostly live in a forest (though where I will be planting them is probably considered high shade).
Well I am putting out my coleuses now I got tired of tending to them indoors. I probably have around 20 plants to find homes for. I dont know if they should be in shade or sun.
I visited the garden center the other day, and they have quite a few plants for sale. The coleuses looked terrible, so I asked the owner if they froze. His did, and so did mine. I managed to keep that plant with the sweet potato all winter long, and poof! it's gone. I still have more in the house that are doing ok and need some potting up.
I kept all of mine inside all winter and won't put them out until after May 15th. A few years ago we had the threat of frost for 5/15 and dragging them all in, then all out, just wasn't fun. It's been a rough time for a lot of nurseries that don't have greenhouses to put their tender plants when frost or near frost is predicted.
Every warm day I take the caladium containers out to play in the sunshine. And every evening we stuff them into the cars for protection because the containers are too difficult to bring in.
Has not stopped me from adding 2 new coleus plants today and a kiwi fern I pickd up at Lowe's last week. Lows are in the high 40s. Keeping everything in a greenhouse is not always the best during this unusual weather, but there are still a lot of coleus indoors that I tenderly nurtured all winter long. Have been potting up things like callas like crazy and am officially tired. Will be doing it again tomorrow.
It really is that tired time of year for many of us gardeners. Over the weekend I worked 18.5 hours and slept 10 hours last night. There's always a job list no matter how hard I try to get everything done.
I took many cuttings of coleus for a friend. It did us both a favor.