Coleus from Seed

I just got seeds for some coleus plants, which I intend to grow as houseplants. Shall I wait until the weather gets warmer/lighter to plant them, or will they do fine indoors if I start them now?

Danak, I'm by no means an expert, but I have started my coleus seeds. They are doing great. I just make sure they have good light. I have them under flourescent shop lights. They germinated quickly & I have them in cell packs. They are one of the few seeds I have that I could start.

Here's a closer picture.
Hope that encourages you to start planting. : )

Yes, that did encourage me! I'm sure I'll be planting soon. A few people at work have coleus growing in their offices, but I'm interested to see the different coloring from the mix of seeds I have. And if I end up getting a ton of plants, I know some people I can give them to! Thanks so much for the information.

--DanaK

danak, I grew LOTS from seed last year....my only mistake was not being a good caretaker after they'd sprouted. I am one of those people who just HATE to thin out plant babies. My seedlings grew very very slowly till I finally did a good hard thinning, than they just took off and grew like 'weeds'.
I now have full size plants all over the house.
I have been snipping off branches and rooting them in jars of water in every avilable window in the house. Should have WAY to many plants by Spring.
You'll do fine with the seed.....just give them good light, and thin them out early for best results.

Marc

Yes, I imagine these could easily take over the house-- especially knowing me! I'm sure I'll have fun with them. I'll probably plant them this weekend. It's a good tip about the thinning, but I bet I'll have trouble doing it, too! I don't like killing them. :( I'll have to post pictures once they start growing. Thanks for the advice!

Coleus is one of the easiest annual plant seeds to grow (if you can manage to plant them.. with the seeds being black and round like poppy seeds, they can roll away if you are not carefull). They germinate for me at almost any temperature (within reason) which means I do not have to dedicate the heatmat to these.

I second the comments above, once you transplant the seedlings, they put on a growth spurt. They will sit in the cotyledon stage (e.g. with the two small round leaves) for what appear to be an eternity. But once the first true leaves develop, they will shoot out.

Just one note of caution. Especially the larger vareities, you should not cramp. Make sure you have enough space under the light that you can transplant to larger pots and spread them out so they do not touch. There is nothing worse than overgrown coleus, but on the other hand, these coleus do very well if pinched back a few times (it really makes them look nice).

Initially, they require relatively little water, but once the true leaves start going and they grow bigger, don't be surprised if you have to water A LOT. I like to transplant to real potting soil after a 3-4 weeks because if I don't I always end up damaging the plants by not watering frequently enough. If you draught stress a coleus, it will drop the leaves (aaaahhhhh !!!!)

Thanks for the great info! One question: will they do okay without a grow light? I don't have one yet, although I've been thinking of getting one. We have a south-facing window that all of our plants seem to like-- haven't been able to go wrong there yet, but it's getting crowded! Which is why I was thinking of getting the grow light... :)

Hmmm....my guess would be you'll be pretty leggy, unhappy babies. It really does depend on how much good light they get,a nd for how long. Seedlings need at good 14+ hours a day, and more is better.
Make sure you keep spinning the pots around so they grow straight and tall.
JMHO

Marc