I don't know why I'm have such difficulty with growing from seed...I remember growing plants from seeds when I was a child. And three years ago, I grew all of my plants from seed. Granted, all of them died after a couple of months...but that's a different story.
Now I'm finally have some decent results with purchased plants, but all the ones I want to start from seeds aren't "starting". This is my third attempt: 1st was direct planting into the pots, 2nd was using moistened potting soil in paper cups, now I'm onto those little peat pellets in the cheap little "greenhouse" container. 3 days now and still no sprouts.
Can someone please help me. I can't, for the life of me, figure this out.
Seed failure
I'm all eyes and ears on this one cause I am having the same problems. Can't understand why 4 years ago the way I planted seeds worked but will not now!
There has to be lots of people here on DG who will have great words of wisdom for us!
Dianne
I am not sure what seeds you are trying to germinate-whether they are larger-and need to be buried some under the soil (like moonvine) or some that just take a few weeks to germinate. But I will tell you how I do it and you can see if it resembles your method.
I like to germinate in seed flats-I usually germinate anywhere from 500-4000 or so of a kind, so seed flats work for me ( I put around 300 sds in a flat) but if you are using smaller amts of sds then find a smaller container that will allow you to spread out the seeds of one kind per cont. It has to have good drainage holes in the bottom. Fill it 3/4's full and wet down throughly ( I wet down the soil and mix it up in a big pot before I put it in the seed flat). Sprinkle the seeds on top of the soil and mist the seeds well. Cover with clear plastic ( you can use saran wrap) if the seeds need light to germ and use black plastic if they need dark to germ. I mist the inside of the plastic as well as the seeds and then tuck the plastic underneath the cont on all sides so no moisture escapes. I use hot water that won;t be that hot if you are using a mister head-if you don't have one ( they are sold in gardening stores-only about $8 each) then use warm water and a low pressure from your hose end. I do this in the greenhouse so it is in full sunlight, but you could do this outside now and put the cont in some sun, some filtered sun throughout the day. Once a day-in the am, I uncover and mist the seeds and the plastic and recover. If the soil is drying out ( and it shouldn't if you wet it down well) then water (mist) the soil as well.
When you see over 50% germ then keep uncovered and mist 1-2 times a day and put the cont in really filtered sun until the seedlings get a bit bigger ( I am sort of guessing here because I have never germ outside-I keep the seedlings in full sun in the grhouse-) Once you uncover and the seedlings put out the first leaves you can use a low pressure watering hose end and forget the mister. You will have to water once a day-quickly just to get the seeds still germ wet or a little longer to get the soil wet if it is drying out.
The most important factor at this stage is the water-you want to water less and less as the seedlings put out their true leaves so you get better roots and prevent a fungus. When the seedlings have a 1-2 sets of true leaves I transplant them into larger containers -like cellpacks or 3.5" pots and when those are rooted (and these should be in full sun now) then you can transplant into the garden. You may have to water twice a day at this stage as the sun is getting stronger. If the plant you are growing requires shade, then you can grow them in some shade after you tranplant into the larger cont. I hope this helps! Good luck
Tigerlily has some great suggestions so I would definitely try those. The other thing you should do is read the instructions on your seed packet and make sure you're planting them at the right depth. Some seeds like to be right on the surface barely covered with any dirt because they need light to germinate, and other seeds like to be buried a bit farther down (generally, the smaller the seed the closer to the surface it needs to be). Also, some seeds require cold treatment to germinate--this simulates what would happen to them in nature if they fell on the ground in fall and then spent the winter there and germinated in spring. If this is the case with yours, the seed packet should tell you.
Also, 3 days is not nearly long enough for many seeds so don't give up yet, many will take longer than this. I use a heat mat under my greenhouse tray to speed things up a bit, but even then there are lots of plants that take at least a week to show any sprouts.
There are lots of good discussions of seed starting over on the Propagation forum too, I would recommend browsing through the threads over there because it'll give you lots of tricks and answer lots of your questions.
I forgot to add that unless its a really large seed like a moonvine seed, I start them all on top of the soil-I rarely cover with any soil-even marigolds and salvia seeds-I just sprinkle them on top-they are exposed to the light and seem to germinate faster. Also the smaller the seed, the faster it will germinate-
I didn't go into bottom heat temp-just about using warm/hot water to keep the soil temp's up....maybe I shouldn't answer these questions so early in the am before I have enough coffee!! The reason I didn't was because I think its warm enough now to not worry about the heat-unless you are doing this in an a/c house that is sort of cool.
It's now been over a week and not a peep from the seeds. Maybe I keep my house too cold. It's really hard trying to keep a steady, regulated temperature in a mobile home. With the poor insulation and numerous crooks and crannies, it's either cold or hot...not much of an in-between.
At this time of the year, it shouldn't matter too much-your house temp is probably at 60 or above and thats what you need. It's keeping the soil evenly moist at this point-and that means watering once in the am and covering with plastic to maintain that even moisture. Are you doing that? If you covered the seed with soil, it will take longer. 7 days is not a long time
I have never been sucessful growing from seeds inside. Of course I was too cheap to invest in grow lights or heat mats. Often I would get germination but then everything would succumb to to damping off.
Have you heard of winter sowing? I tried it this year for the first time. Basically you sow seeds in useless recycled containers (I like milk jugs best). Sow them and stick outside in winter (I started in January) and leave them to the elements - rain, snow, sub zero temperatures. Miraculously, come spring, you'll thave literally thousands of beautiful healthy seedlings to plant and all for just pennies. And no damping off!!! Even though you wouldn't get the severe winters that we northerners get many southern gardeners have great results.
I started 80 some containers of varying sizes and have incredidble flowers popping out daily. I'm hooked for life.
This method has been popularized by Trudi Davidoff of GardenWeb. Both GW and Daves have entire forums devoted to it. Trudi also has her own site (wintersown.org). You really should check it out and give it a try next year. You'll be hooked for life!
http://wintersown.org/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/coldsow/all/
Karen
I start most all my seeds indoors... hundreds of varieties. Very few require darkness to germinate, but some do. For the most part, they are started in seed trays in sterilized seed starter, under fluorescent lights. Most all seeds have their own individual germination requirements, and not all germinate at the same rate of speed. Check your seed packets for germination needs and the time required for expected germination. If you do not have that info, try this site: http://tomclothier.hort.net/
Some seeds absolutely need to be started on the medium surface. Most tiny seeds are like that. I mix those with a pinch of coarse sand when I plant them so that I get an even distribution. Some of my seeds require special stratification (various temp changes) in order to germinate. If they require warm temps, then freezing, then warming up slowly, I start them indoors for a week or two, then put them outside in domed containers, misting them when the surface of the medium begins to look dry.
So plants germinate very slowly, such as two or three years, but most will come up within a couple weeks. The slower germinators are probably best sown outdoors in a spot that will be undisturbed for a long time. Some seeds require scarification, such as nicking the seeds or using an emery board to roughen the surface. This occurs in hard shell seeds, as a rule, such as Lupine.
The seeds I planted are as follows:
Korean pepper (both sweet and hot variety)
Thai chili pepper
Edible chrysanthemum aka crown daisy aka garland chrys.
perilla
Have them in one of those little peat moss greenhouses for starting seeds (Jiffy Seedstarter?). Check moisture levels everyday. Use the included cover and noticed that it collects moisture on the inside of the cover every day. Keep it on the kitchen table exposed to some mild indirect sunlight.
Not sure why, I have not started those before, but I have started ornamental chili pepper seeds many times and they come up before a week-but I don;t cover the seed with soil-that will extend the time a few days-and you have to keep the soil wetter when you cover the seed with soil. If you do cover the seed with soil, then its not necessary to cover with a cover-just water the soil well with water ( as opposed to misting the seeds and covering with a cover) once a day.
Haave you covered the seed with soil?
I covered loosely with the peat moss stuff.
Am starting to get frustrated though. Would chuck the whole thing and buy plants if I could, but no one sells the plants locally or via mail.
You might want to see if you can find a thread where someone used the messenger seed puffer. I hear it gives great results...Have a coop going now...messenger and seed puffer.
I plant alot of peppers in containers and they take forever to sprout. My jalapenos and haberneros take around 3 weeks. The thai peppers take almost 4 weeks. I have never tried Korean peppers. Pepper plants like hot weather. Give it some more time. They should sprout.
I dug them out of the peat and placed the seeds on top instead. None looked like they were planning on sprouting. In fact, one looked almost like it had rotted a bit.
*sigh* Am going to sit them out for another week. If not, I'll just have to be satisfied with my cukes, tomatoes, and herbs.
Here is the info for pepper seed germination on Tom Clothier's site: Capsicum annuum , pepper , ,Type= an , kno3 soak 4h , surface sow @ 72ºF in light, grow on @ 60ºF , 7-14d It looks like you need a pretty warm temp for germination, then down to 60 after germination. Were the seeds purchased or from a trade. Perhaps they are not viable.
Well, I gave it four more days and nothing. So into the trash they go. Bummer.