This thread is of course open to one and alll -- come see what seeds we're starting and how we're doing it -- right or wrong. LOL!
Suzy
Piggie Swap babies and seed starting #2
Oh, thank you for bringing the Royal Piggy along to the new thread! I'd have missed seeing that photo... LOL!
Suzy, I'm sorry that I don't know about cana seeds for you... I'm pretty sure I've read that nicking/soaking are key, though...
These threads have already been as much fun to lurk in as the swap threads were. :-)
Hi all thanks for the information on sunroom use. I was wondering if I start butterfly bush and hardy hibiscus now in the sunroom (post cold stratification of the buddleja) will they outgrow 1 gallon pots? I have been looking for growth rate information without a lot of success but understand these two grow quite quickly, just wondering if I should wait. Thanks so much, you are all so helpful. KD
LOL - Suzy I was just about to start a new thread - thank you! I think I read the same thing Critter read about canna seeds and need to find that, as they're in my little basket to get started!
trying my DG search engine skills...
instructions from Xera: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=2372897
on getting through that tough canna seed coat: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3232886
presoaking *then* nicking for stubborn seeds (detailed explanation): http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=1306589
I posted this on the other thread, but thought I would copy it here too.
I take my canna seed and scratch the surface with the sanding bit from my dremel to where I see the undercoating or the white part. If you don't have a dremel you can rub the seeds between to bricks, this will save your fingers from using a file. Plant 1-2 inches deep and water. Mine germinated within 10 days. I will try to post a pic later tonight when my daughter brings the camera home from work.
Thank you Critter - that's exactly what we needed!
Thank you too Robynznest :-P I have the dremel for the dog's nails, now it can earn it's keep elsewhere!
X soaks her seeds, I have done this too and it still takes the same time for it to germinate for me. Right now I haveabout 20 cannas I started at the same time and only a few have been slow to start. of the 6 different pots I started one pot was presoaked and has done nothing and another was not and only 1 of 6 seeds have come up. It could be the seeds, I don't know, different reasons for both I assume. But these are my favorite to grow and I think they are very easy to do.
That's really deep planting!
Okay, Well, it was a rousing non-success on the Cannas. I tried every implement in the house, inclucing the things I am absolutely NOT allowed to touch in Mr. Clean's workshop, all with pitiful results.
They are slippery and round and they bounce. One I got a perfect clean shot into the middle of the sink, right down the drain. SWOOSH!
I finally ended up trying to cut them with a paring knife and I think, maybe, if I had a microscope, that I saw a teeny-tiny bit of white. They are soaking now. I think the cost of the tubers is worth the annoyance on this one, and might just buy some tubers from whereever I see them for sale....even those dried up bags haning near the checkout in the grocery are bound to be better tha what I've done to these poor seeds!
Suzy
Robyn, You start them from seed every year? Why don't you harvest the corms or tubers or whatever they are?
Suzy
I do harvest them and keep them in the garage during the winter, The seeds I have are from swaps of the ones I wanted and haven't been able to find down here. I have Tropicana yellow, Australian red, dwarf Firebird and numerous different noids. Now I will have Cleopatra ,Enheimer(?), Banana and a couple of others I can't remember off hand.
It seems like I saw this somewhere and now that I could use it, I can't find it. Does anyone have a list of seeds that are slow to germinate? I'd like to try and put them all in a tray together.
Suzy it will NOT look like a blue duck out of water hahaha, I bet they will look stunning with all your gorgeous annuals. I hope you will love them as much as the hummers :) I bet before you know it, you'll be digging up the rhizomes for overwintering! Did you get a peach colored one?
A few yrs back I gave a red one to my cousin who has a summer home at the Jersey shore and OMG they were really gorgeous, alot larger than mine ever were. He is hooked and has grown them ever since. He told me his secret was to feed them miracle grow. I never fed mine before.
I usually just replant the rhizomes but sometimes plant seeds. I give the seeds a few scrapes on a brick, then direct sow them. Good germination, I've never recorded the number of days though. Show us pictures when you get blooms this summer :)
I will, I'm looking for peach now. They are such neat flowers mine usually get about 6' tall, except for the dwarfs and they reached 4 foot this year.
"SWOOSH!"
I guess I shouldn't have LOL'd at Suzy's misfortune... sorry.
Maybe try soaking them first to soften the seed coat a bit before trying to nick them?
Susybell - I had thought about doing that too (putting the slow germ. seeds together) but haven't gotten organized enough yet to try to ID them. I bet there's a list in both the Annual and Perennial forums, and if not then in the Germination forum.
A metal file or metal emery board works too, it just takes a little longer. I have used sandpaper and that work, but took some of my skin with it lol. Two bricks together is another way.
Hi Dryad, Ok, I'll look there. Thanks!
Yeah, I'm doing that now, Critter -- glad I could provide comic relief for ya. Do Canna seeds always sink when you put them in water? Usually seeds that need their coat softened float.
I didn't get the peach, well, I sort of got them, and then I gave them to somebody else who really, really wanted them. I didn't think I would be a wise steward of the seeds for my first year.
Suzy
Mine sank.
I planted these January 15th.
Do you have a pair of tweezers that can hold the seed for you????? Just a thought since you kept losing them...
BTW-I love that piggy SOOOO much-maybe if I am nice to susybell, A fairy all decked out will find it's way into my mailbox for my Bday!!!JK-do love it though!!!
Some people are good at the small, tiny little crafts and stuff, like using tweezers, and some aren't. I aren't. LOL! However, I love to play in compost and dirt and the big stuff.
That's why the deno coffee filter method where you transfer the seedlings after they've germinated is too hard for me....I can't fumble fingers them around like I can with the bigger seedlings that are started the more tradtional way.
Right now I have some germinated begonias that you literally needed a magnifying glass to see for the first two weeks of their life. They are so tiny, it's hard to believe they will turn into this photo I took from mid season (July 11) last year.
Today I started Heliptrope, Bluespiral's Angelonia, The Cannas, (sort of, LOL!) from Tuink, and some Primula I got from another swap. I still have some Hibiscus 'Pink Swirl' to do. I also am soaking those PawPaw seeds durn it! I wish I had done them ages ago.
If all these germinate, I will be buying another set of two lights for sure, but I bet it won't be enough.
The T&M catalog has HA and HHA after all their annual seed listings, and LeBug gave me a T&M seed starting manual. The HA means you can direct sow them. I am going to have to direct sow a bunch of stuff at the rate I am going, so I need to go get a list from their website now.
Suzy
lol, Fairy-thanks for the compliment, anyway.
Hmm, a fairy....I don't think another pig with little pink wings would do....?? Just wouldn't have that light, delicate effect... Well, looks like your BD isn't for a while yet, anyhow, so who knows? ;) (If it was next week, you'd be SOL, lol)
Oh dear - I can see from your pic Robynznest that I gotta get me a coupla bricks and get busy!! Suzy - the next time you need to deal with them tiny seedlings gimme a call - that way if I mess them up you can blame me - LOL!
Once they start they grow pretty good with just light from my back door. Nothing special on them at all.
Lotus and Canna and all them hard seeds are really easy to nick using a dog clipper. I got tired of sanding not only my nails but my fingers, or having the seeds go poping off in a direction never to be foudn again.
year sago I was lookign for somthign sharp to nick seeds with and saw the dogs nail clippers. I picked them babies up , grabbed my seed between two fingers, held it firm over the one side f the dog clipper blade and rubbed it back and forth about four or five times, soaks the seeds and planted. Works great for me.
I used toe clipper on my canna seeds. then I soaked them. Now I will see if any germinate.
OK, I'm gonna test a few different methods: dog clippers, bricks, and the dremel. Results to be posted - provided of course that I get them potted properly!
Suzy, did you grow those begonias from seed last year? They sure are pretty I love the shinny leaves! Ive started some I got from the swap and some I ordered.
I'm debating on growing cannas but it will be a little later if I do start them I don't have any light in here to keep them happy until I can plant them out and wow if they grow that fast in a month I wouldn't be able to start them until like April, wish I had a greenhouse!
I don't see what all the fuss is about cannas anyway, they don't have all that many flowers on them do they? My neighbor grows them against the house so she doesn't have to dig them up. I don't have enough full sun around my house.
No luck with begonias so far either . . . . sigh . . . I seem to have a knack with geraniums, though - lots of those seem to be germinating :-)
The cannas I like have the vivid colors, and striping on the leaves - double the impact. They are a bit of a fuss to dig and store, but with the height they give, and colors, it's hard to find something similar. It's different in Zones where they can stay in the ground year-round - then they multiply into some really breathtaking displays.
Rub it in Seandor lol I have mine in my room, it might be a little later before they germinate but I have high hopes for them :)
Your begonias will do good too just give them time :) They might be there and you just don't see them LOL Get that mag. glass out, they are small little boogers! Smaller than a pin head LOL
Well all I see are leaves when I look down at Margrets so maybe I should get some that have the variegated leaves :) I do like foliage.
Has anybody got a Whiteflower farm catalog. The canas in there have some really cool foliage. They are a bit pricey for my likeing - I think in garden watchdog there are some comments about people expecting much larger plants than they received due to cost.
Robyn - you should have your friend read this article about miracle grow, I won't use it after reading it. http://davesgarden.com/guides/terms/go/2307/
oops
This message was edited Feb 14, 2008 7:28 PM
Oh man! I use that stuff like crazy on my pots, can't be good for the plants plus it has salts in it that I was reading about on here a few months ago, I'm just going to compost tea I've been thinking about it so this will be the year to quit supporting miracle grow I guess.
Thanks for the article Meridith!
Holy Toledo Batman!! And that article's been out there a while. I'm gonna have to go check on what they say about what I have on my shelves. On another note, here's a site I've found useful for a diverse selection of organic stuff and additives:
http://homeharvest.com/orgfert.htm?gclid=CLyG48z7xJECFQKzPAodhHFNBw
Your welcome, I started out using miracle grow as I think many people recommend it! Now I just buy bags of compost from HD, until I get my own pile going that is! This is on my big list of to-dos in spring.
I'm so glad your all talking about canna seeds because I was looking for info on them too. I think I may try the toe clippers, I usually use a knife and end up slipping.. ouch!
Thank you Tuink for the great info. You know what we really need on this site? No, I mean REALLY need on this site? Wouldn't it be cool if we could look up any plant that is in the plant files and have a little link that would take us to a page that has details on seed (Like hardy annual), germination guides and tips and techniques for growing. Talk about putting us ahead of the curve.