Starting Seeds

I have painted myself into a corner, so to speak, trying to germinate seeds. I have followed the instructions of a seed starting book dutifully, but am in a pickle.

I moistened seed starter mix and added some very small seeds, lavenda and pansies and put them in the refrigerator. Now I want to put them in flats but the seeds are so small I cannot see them in the seed starting mixture. I have limited space so need to be able to provide adequate spacing for them without using up a whole flat and having to destroy most of them to get enough plants.

Does anyone have any suggestions. I won't do this again. Live and learn. Maybe I should just get some more seeds and put the flats in the refrigerator this time. I do have some half size flats that I could use. I hope someone else has done this foolish thing and found a way to solve the problem without starting all over.

We have so much snow in Maine right now that I guess there is still time to start over as the snow will be on the ground way into the Spring. I'm just too lazy to start over.

It probably would be easier to start again. You could take a chance and put the soiless mix shallowly in a tray. But why is the mixture in the fridge? Pansies like to germinate at cool, at about 65 degrees and they do need darkness to germinate, but only need to be covered with about an 1/8 of an inch of soil. Lavender can be tricky to germinate. For me, rather than hope that something comes up, I'd start again. For annuals there's still plenty of time to sow, I don't plant most of my annuals until the middle of March. And yes, I'm sure everyone can tell a story of something they've done that wasn't the thing to to! It's not always the gardener either. A few years ago I had some seedlings that had just germinated and I put the trays on the table to take down to the basement where I have my growlights. I went to get something and when I returned my 3 year old had upended all the trays on to the floor. I can remember carefully rooting through the mess trying to find the tiny seedlings saying my babies! I did find some, but had to plant more seeds in new trays.

I don't think lavender would need cold stratification--did it tell you on the package to do it that way? It's native to warmer Mediterranean climates so I can't imagine that it would need the cold.

The other thing you could try if you don't want to start over again is fill up a flat most of the way with new seed starting mix, then take the stuff you have in the fridge and sprinkle it over the top. You won't know exactly where your seeds are, but that way the seeds will be near the top and get some light, and if they were mixed homogenously in the mix that you had in the fridge then your spacing should be OK.

SlugStomper,

I would start over again, and try using cell inserts in your plastic trays. They come in 76, 36, 18, etc. counts. This way you can see ywhere your seeds are going, and you use less soil. If you don't want to use inserts, just make furrows and plant your seeds.

"Stay Happy and Keep Gardening!"

I use little take-out containers with clear lids for starting seeds (holes in top for ventilation, holes in bottom for drainage and bottom watering)... as ecrane suggested, you can put about an inch or so of moist mix into a seed starting tray, sprinkle your mix + seeds evenly over the top, press down lightly, and wait for germination. After the seedlings get their first set of true leaves (the first leaves that open are "nurse leaves" so wait for the next set), transplant them into your little pots or cell packs.

Thank you critterologist, Ironsides, ecrane3 and tanglee. I think I will just start over. There is no excuse for me being so lazy. I am going to start some of the mixed seeds in a small flat and put them on the window sill just to see what happens though.

This is a great website, isn't it? Happy sowing to all of you!

Slugstomper

Let everyone know if you get some germination happening on the windowsill!

I was out of room under the lights, so I put a container with marigolds in it in a window right behind the TV. Didn't think about it at the time, but it was warm behind the TV, and I guess had just enough light cause they all came up.

Huh, I did something almost right and didn't even know it

Oh my! Now what do I do?

I went to my refrigerator to take out the pansy and lavenda seeds and seed starting mixture to put some of them in small trays to see if they would germinate on the window sill in such a manner that they wouldn't be so growded that I couldn't separate them to a flat with potting mix and guess what I found?

You got it! They have all sprouted right in the darkness of the refrigerator. Lots and lots of them. I have no idea why they put so many seeds in one packet. It would take me half the summer to get them all in the ground and then the rest of the summer dead heading the pansies. I don't mind killing off a few, but don't know how to handle them now. The sprouts on the pansies look "leggy" already. Lack of light when they needed it I suppose. They may not be sturdy as plants if I try to use them now, I'm thinking.

Instead of WWJD, what would you do? Isn't seed sowing a riot; full of all kinds of surprises.

Clump transplanting! Look for my article tomorrow for more information & step by step photos... but basically it's just like it sounds... put a little clump of seedlings into each pot, and take care of the legginess by planting them deep (up to the first pair of true leaves).