Yesterday I started more seeds to try my hand at more wildflower seeds and to grow additional vegetables in case some do not grow due to the original layout. This year was the first year I used plastic tray cells (9 cells per tray) and frankly, I hate them. The previous years I used yogurt containers since I would frequently by Activa by the case from Costco to feed my household. These did deteriorate after two years so I thought I would try something new. These cells do not work well unless you are planting flats and flats of the same kind of plant or that have similar germination rates and conditions.
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| Plastic 9 Cell flats (planted March 4th 2011) |
Basically, I found that individual cells offer the convenience of moving plants that have already germinated from under the plastic dome to prevent fungus which develops under hot humid conditions. It also would have been more acceptable to just grow one type of plant per flat. Either way, the newer batch of seeds were started in the cardboard seed pots (double layered). I purchased a new heat mat/dome (I really only wanted the mat but it appears its much cheaper to by a set). These were planted with no Neptune's Harvest added, however, I placed a incandescent plant bulb over the set up to raise the air temperature (roughly 85-90F). I don't know what the temperature the first batch was growing at but room air temperature is about 65-70F. The idea is that I am really going to try to hasten germination rates of difficult to grow plants. The following were planted:
Japanese Eggplant (6) California Wonder Peppers (6) Early Jalapeno (5)
Sage (4) 1 year old seed Butterfly Weed (6) Rudbeckia (6)
Lavender (Lady) (6) Golden Rod (2)
I also moved the flats that contained Rosemary seeds and Melrose and Carnival peppers planted on March 4th 2011 (Some of the peppers have already sprouted).
I would like to use less energy hungry lights or heat sources, but for now, this is just to see if I can speed up germination or even get anything at all from some of these tough seeds. Grouping plant types with similar germination rates may be beneficial. For recording purposes the original batch of seeds had the following germination rates at roughly 65-75F:
Basil / Marigolds / Tomatoes = 2-3 days
Snapdragons = 5-7 days
Bee Balm = 3-4 days
From what I have read about some of the wildflowers, cold stratification may help but I'll try this first.
