What is your secret?

Tell me how you start your seeds when they are soooooo tiny!! you know like, foxglove seeds, campanula seeds and poppy seeds. The reason I ask is b/c year after year I try my hand at planting poppy seeds and I have yet to grow a poppy form them!! I have tried several different ways, like spreading the seeds on the soil and pressing them down and leaving them that way...yea they come up and sprout out. But as soon as the seedlings get up about 1.5" they die!!
I have tried to like pluck out some so they are not cramped for space. but still they all die!! I just started some Campanula(not sure exactly what kind) but it done the same thing!! and the seeds were also about the same size! On these I tried to barely cover them up with very little soil(in a 4" pot) and they did manage to come up but with in 2-3 days they were all layed over dead as a doornail !!
What am I doing wrong?????? I mean I just fell in love with the "Campanula's" and now all my seeds are dead!! Should I just wait till later in the summer and ask for some plants of these?? or should I be looking for more seeds and trying them again????? Please someone tell me what the how to's are for growing such tiny seeds?!!!!

I think the tiny seeds damp off easier than larger seeds. If you think of how tiny that little seedling stem is ... it makes sense that it would rot easier than a larger sturdier seedling. My hunch is your keeping the soil too wet. I usually start small seeds in cell packs. The little compartments are much smaller and will drain and dry out quicker than a 4-inch pot. Those little seedlings can handle being dry a lot better than they can handle being wet. Maybe watering by misting them lightly with a spray bottle at first instead of drenching them will help too. Add a little diluted chamomile tea to the sprayer - it's antifungal and will help with the damping off.

I have good luck winter sowing campanulas in coke-bottle greenhouses. I just sprinkle them on the soil surface and water them in. I put the top back on the bottle with a few vent holes poked in it and set them outside. They sprout when the temps warm up and the seedlings are much sturdier growing outside than they will be in the house. Are your poppies annual or perennial? I start the annuals right outside in the ground. They just grow better for me that way. The earlier you can plant them the better. Just throw them on the ground - don't bother covering with soil. As long as they get the spring rains - they'll germinate.

I still have some seeds if you want to try again.

how long before I know whether my poppies are going to sprout? I just threw them down, watered in, and nothing. I hate to plant something else if they are going to come up, I put all my good poppies out, that I'd traded all summer for :(

I have a large amount of both campanula medium and foxglove apricot. I may still have a few campanula poscharskyana and punctata seeds left, I will check.
It does sound like they are damping off. Try mixing a little powdered Captan fungicide in with the soil that you are sowing them in. I use vermiculite to cover the seeds. I then use a watering can with a fine rose and wet them in and put them on the heat mat @72-72*F. Once they come up, I keep them on the dry side to keep them from rotting. I have a 4inch pot full of seedlings of Foxy foxglove if you think they will ship, I can scoop you some out and send. Or I will be at Azalea's and then go on to TiG's house on Friday.

Have you tried mixing the seeds with white sand or sugar? That way it is easier to see how many seeds you are putting in one place. I am trying the colored sand this year for the first time with my poppy seeds....

tiG--If you need more of the ones I sent you .. let me know and i will send more... I have plenty!!
SYR36

tiG - I think they start sprouting when the night time temps are consistantly in the 50s. I wouldn't give up on them yet. You're still having some cold temps aren't you?

syr, you are a doll, but poppy is right, we are still having cold nights. I sure hope that's it, I have my heart set on those poppies!!!!!!

Glad to know that, since my poppies that I planted late aren't up yet, but the ones I planted in September are about 4 inches tall.

Cool Cala! Did they germinate in the fall and winter over? That's good to know. The little seedlings are pretty tough.

Poppysue, yes they have wintered over even when we had the really cold spell. The larkspur does too. My Oriental poppies and a perennial salmon colored one come up in the fall and stay green all winter too.

tiG, just read that poppies in zone 8 and south should be planted in August for spring bloom. I know you are zone 7 but when I read this, I thought of you - and me - The poppies I planted in the fall - some are up, some are still in la la land :-( Good luck...I hope they still come up...It's 22 degrees here this morning.

I think it was GrannyLois that was worried last year about her poppies sprouting early. It's good to know they'll winter over - I wonder how hers have made out.

I plant mine usually in April. They re-seed like crazy here too but the seeds don't usually sprout until spring. It's funny how seeds have their little internal clocks and know when it's time to germinate.

This message was edited Monday, Mar 11th 7:49 AM

I planted them years ago in January, when I didn't know jack squat about anything and had gorgeous poppies. I'm not giving up yet!!

So if I am understanding this correctly, the annuals can be broadcast on the ground now, and will bloom by May?

"eyes"

O Cala, Can you spare a few?? I really wanted these Campanula's and I was soo disappointed when they died. I dug around and found some more poppy seeds and I am going to take all of this good advise and hope for the best!

Mollybee - I have a couple different campanulas I'm sending. I'll mail them today.

Eyes - in your zone I'd think it would be OK to plant out hardy annuals now. As for blooming by May... I can't guarantee that. Some things might. I think tiG has planted a lot of seeds out already. Hardy Annuals should be fine... anything that can take a little frost.

I haven't direct sown anything, but have a lot of trays and coke bottles in the cold frame. I tried winter sowing and the squirrels kept taking the tops off and eating my seedlings and I had a couple that kept drying out. (don't have a good place to put them up higher) I had a lot of success before the little boogers got them.

Mollybee, I wish I'd checked this yesterday!! I will get them in the mail today. I'm sending you some campanulas and Foxglove seeds.

awww Thanks you two! I am soo excited now!! Surely I can get these to grow this time, with all this wonderful advice.
I like naming my plants after the person I recieved them from, so it looks like I will be having "PoppysueCampanula's" and "CalalilyCampanula" and even CalaFoxglove's" Yipppeeee!
Thanks again ya'll.you 2 are the sweetest!!!!!