Strategies for spring seedlings

Is it too early to think about what you are going to do with your seedlings in the spring? I don't think so, but let me back up first...During the winter of 04/05 I sowed about 25 containers. Many of them had a lot of seeds and I ended up with a bunch of seedlings. I found that collecting seeds and trading seeds was fun. I found that preparing containers and sowing the seeds was pretty easy, and that it only took up a night or two a week. Mother Nature did most of the work getting the seeds to germinate. I may have watered once and a while and moved containers around a few times but most of the work was just keeping myself from worrying. But then things changed when everything started to sprout.

I found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed at times trying to manage the seedlings. I was not comfortable with the idea of planting tiny seedlings in the ground. I figured that they were sure to be killed by rain, my dog, the kids, or from neglect. I ended up purchasing a large bag of plastic cup (16 oz?) from Costco and used those to pot up my seedlings (holes drilled in the bottoms). Once they were potted up I had to worry about keeping them watered.

That worked okay, but it had drawbacks. It took quite a bit of time to pot up the seedlings and this is at a time when there are generally lots of other garden chores to be done. Also, I used up several bags of potting soil in the process, so that added about $25 to the overall cost. Some of the positives were that it was convenient to be able to give others potted up plants and the plants could grow while I was figuring our places to plant them...several plants has to spend last winter in their pots.

Wow this post has gotten long...the short of it is that as I am starting to plan my winter sowing for the year and acquire seeds and set aside containers, I could probably sow 50 containers but there is no way I could manager the seedlings that 50 containers could produce...at least not without a different strategy.

So what have you done that has worked? Do you plant your seedlings directly in the ground? Do you pot them up? Do you sow light enough that the plants can mature directly in their container? What about that "hunk of seedling" method that I hear about? Do you have any other tips or ideas?

- Brent

Hi Brent,
Most I transplant directly to the bed that will be their new homes, some I repot until they are larger and some go to my holding bed until they get bigger. You can try using larger containers to WS in and then they can stay in them longer.
Alice

Pot up those chia pets of yours? You gotta be kidding?

If you sow a little more sparingly in containers, just leave in the jug then into the ground. Or for very tender things that you know you won't plant until later in spring, you could just sow the seeds into individual cups to start with. Yogurt cups or styro coffee cups work well.

Karen

There was no middle container for me. I sowed directly from the container to the bed they were going in. Man - that's just way too much work for me. I can't even imagine what you went through. My experiences were easy and trouble free or I wouldn't be doing this again.

You guys and gals are so much help for the newbs here like me. Please keep up the educational postings on this topic :) I'm glad Brent brought this up because I hadn't thought past the containers and the seeds to seedlings...LOL! (I think I better cut down on my extravagant plans...ahem)

:)

~Sunny

I think it has a lot of do with the number of containers sown, the size of the seedlings and the Summer conditions in your growing area.

Yes, I sowed to many containers last year and was very heavy handed in the number of seeds I sowed. I'll try and improve in both areas this year.

The size of the seedlings had a lot to do with my decision to transplant them directly into the garden or to transplant them to a small sized container/plastic cup. It's hard to compare Foxglove with Violas. If I felt they were large enough to be transplanted directly to the garden, I did so. If not, many were either transplanted to a small container to grow bigger. YES, some never made it out of their wintersown containers and flowered where they had been sown......because I ran out of time & the weather got very hot & very humid, some just were left to "fend for themselves"!

However, I learned that root bound plants flower more quickly than plants that have been planted out and given more space. Case in point, Tricyrtis, "White Towers". It never got transplanted and lived its life from the very beginning of seed sowing to when it flowered in the same container! I was astonished that it bloomed it's first year!

The Summers in my growing area are hot and humid. Imagine gardening in a sauna and you'll get the picture. Plus, this Summer not only did we have a severe drought during the entire month of August, but in addition, we had an imposed watering ban from May until mid-September. Therefore, a lot of my wintersown plants were left on my deck, where I could look after them and water by hand. The ones that had been planted in the garden during the Spring had survived, which is a true testament to the hardiness of winter sown plants!

Tricyrtis, "White Towers" blooming during its first year!

Very pretty Shirley, I have never seen that plant before. Gosh, I have Soooooo much to learn and too little time!

~Sunny

I know just what Brent means. While I haven't WS'd before, I have germinated seeds before. And sometimes I have transplanted them into the garden while still small, and then a strong rain would come along or a heat wave, and that would be it for my seedlings. Or more likely, I'd get distracted by who-knows-what, and the next time I looked they were no longer there. Birds? Voles? Slugs? Who knows. Don't get me wrong, I've had lots of successes too, but enough failures that I'm all ears to learn the delicate balance between putting seedlings out too soon and waiting too long. I have always had more problems at that point than merely germinating the seeds.

My first year of winter of WSing taught me quite a few lessons. The first being that I don't have time for all those plants! That's why this year, I'm using the small soda/water bottles 16 to 20oz with one plant (3 seeds) per bottle. I intend to use 4 inches of soil and if I have to hold a plant over, it will be able to stay in the bottle until I'm ready to plant it.